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Marcus2112

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minipile_density-proportioned_nano

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I won''t comment on the advisability of your plan, as we are certainly more timid/less ambitious cruisers. But the original question was the need for a passport. I can''t think of a good reason NOT to have a passport, regardless if you will need it for this particular trip. You have plenty of time to file for one, and they are good for about 10 years, I think. So what''s the downside?

1. Field of the Disclosure The present disclosure relates to an acoustic navigation method and apparatus using a personal digital assistant having a position detecting function, and a headphone including a geomagnetic sensor and an acceleration sensor. 2. Description of Related Art Hitherto, with regard to pedestrian course guidance navigation by means of sound, an acoustic navigation apparatus as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-5675 has been proposed. This apparatus detects a direction where a user faces (rotational direction of the head) as to a direction of travel, and with a headphone, reproduces the direction and distance perspective of a point serving as a target with sound according to a sound source existing in this point using computation by way of a transfer function. With this technology, a head rotation angle as to a direction of travel of the user (anteroposterior direction of a user's body) is obtained as follows. Specifically, the apparatus detects the shortest distance from the user's left shoulder to the left side portion of the headphone using a well-recognized laser distance detecting method, and also detects the shortest distance from the user's right shoulder to the right side portion of the headphone. Further, the apparatus detects the rotation direction of the head (clockwise or counterclockwise as viewed from the above) using a sensor worn on around the base of the head. Based on these detected two shortest distances and the rotation direction of the head, the head rotation angle as to the user's direction of travel is obtained. Based on this head rotation angle, the position of the sound source is corrected. Also, the user's direction of travel is obtained based on position information of two points (latitude and longitude) obtained by a position detecting unit (GPS) detecting positions where the user has moved during a short period of time.

Q: How to update the table with my inner join I want to update the value of column PPVGLAccountID = 5. Currently it shows 81. But the problem is there are columns which doesn't below on the same table. How can I use the query UPDATE and SET? Thank you My code is: UPDATE dbo.POInvoicingDetails SET PPVGLAccountID = '5' FROM dbo.POInvoicingDetails INNER JOIN dbo.POInvoicing PPVGLAccountID ON dbo.POInvoicingDetails.POInvoicingID WHERE dbo.POInvoicing.InvoiceNo = '421009' but I get an error where an expression of non-boolean type specified in a context where a condition is expected. A: IN your query there isn't correct syntax in INNER JOIN so have to slightly change it to the correct one as below and I hope you are using the correct conditions UPDATE dbo.POInvoicingDetails SET PPVGLAccountID ='5' FROM dbo.POInvoicingDetails --Condition were missing in the below line compare below line you will get the point INNER JOIN dbo.POInvoicing ON dbo.POInvoicing.POInvoicingID = dbo.POInvoicingDetails.POInvoicingID WHERE dbo.POInvoicing.InvoiceNo = '421009' '421009'--Should not in the quote if it's not `STRING or CHARACTER` type Note: you can use table alias to make it easy to write and shorten the code

407 So.2d 510 (1981) Linda DAY v. Maxie CASTILOW et al. No. 12309. Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit. November 30, 1981. *511 Gerald E. Meunier, Kierr, Gainsburgh, Benjamin, Fallon & Lewis, New Orleans, for Linda Day. Steven B. Witman, Johnston & Duplass, New Orleans, for defendant Robert Van Langendonck. Joseph W. Rausch, Edward N. George, III, Stassi & Rausch, New Orleans, for defendants Maxie Castilow et al. Before REDMANN, SCHOTT and KLEES, JJ. REDMANN, Judge. On this appeal from a summary judgment, the question is whether, as a matter of law, a lessor is not liable for violence against the lessee of one of two first-floor apartments by an intruder who hid in the unlockable, other first-floor apartment, after gaining access to the side patio through a gate whose lock was defective. The facts appear to be that the lessor knew of the undependability of the gate lock, and the lessor herself kept the vacant first-floor apartment unlocked, with no lock on it, for some period while she was moving things from that apartment to a second-floor apartment; and the lessor had also been told by a former tenant of the second-floor apartment that she had been assaulted in the second-floor apartment. We cannot say, as a matter of law, that the lessor did not, under the circumstances, owe to the lessee a duty both to inform her of the alleged second-floor incident and to keep the other first-floor apartment and patio gate secure against intruders. The fulfillment of those duties would have doubly protected the lessee against the violence that befell her: it would have impeded access of and ambush by the intruder, and it would also have made the lessee herself more cautious about leaving the safety of her own apartment at night to investigate noise in the patio. (When she did, she was accosted by the intruder who had hidden in the unlocked apartment.) The Louisiana law of tort is very broad: "Every act whatever of man that causes damage to another obliges him by whose fault it happened to repair it." C.C. 2315. If the lessee can prove the facts set forth above, she shows that the lessor both facilitated the concealed presence of violent intruders upon the premises and failed to warn the lessee that such an intruder had previously assaulted a tenant. In our opinion that is fault within C.C. 2315 and a cause of the lessee's injury. A lessee's obligation to maintain locks on leased premises, C.C. 2716, held controlling in Shelp v. National Surety Corp., 333 F.2d 431 (5 Cir. 1964), is not controlling here because the locks here were not locks of the portion of the lessor's premises leased to plaintiff but of other portions of the lessor's premises. Accordingly a possibility of liability on the part of the lessor exists, and the summary judgment in favor of the lessor was erroneously granted. Plaintiff also appeals from the judgment's holding she had no cause of action against the owner of the adjacent building. The allegations are that that building and the lessor's building had patio gates next to each other on the street without any dividing fence within to separate the properties as a result of a boundary dispute; that frame removal by the neighbor to facilitate painting deprived the gates of their normal support and caused plaintiff's lessor's gate not to lock properly, to the neighbor's knowledge. We agree that those allegations do not state a cause of action; they show no duty owed by the neighbor to plaintiff to resolve the boundary dispute and repair the gate and build the missing fence in common. We therefore affirm the dismissal as to the neighbor. Summary judgment reversed; otherwise affirmed.

This proposal is for a 5-year competing renewal of the University of Washington (UW) Superfund Basic Research Program Project. The theme of this program is that biomarkers measured in accessible tissues are predictive of: a) toxicant exposures;b) early indicators of damage;and/or c) unusual susceptibility to toxic agents that commonly occur at Superfund sites. The proposed UW Program includes 5 research projects (3 biomedical, 2 non-biomedical [ecotoxicology, bioremediation]), 2 of which are new (both biomedical). The program will focus most intensively on biomarker applications for investigations of adverse effects to human health and the environment from neurotoxic chemicals, primarily metals and pesticides. Collectively, these projects will develop and validate biomarkers for: elucidating underlying neurotoxicity mechanisms in humans and animal models;identifying early-stage neurologic disease processes in humans;characterizing dose-response relations for selected neurotoxicants with neurologic disease risk, severity, and progression, using PS as a model outcome;and, for implementing phytoremediation techniques. The research projects include studies of: 1) animal models of susceptibility to organophosphate pesticides, with applications to pesticide-exposed farmworkers and to persons affected with Parkinson's disease;2) metals and Parkinsonism among professional welders;3) proteomic markers of metal-induced PS;4) sub-lethal neurotoxic effects of metals and pesticides in free-living Coho salmon;and, 5) phytoremediation methods for organic solvents and pesticides. The Administrative Core will oversee all budgetary and reporting aspects of the Program, and will foster multidisciplinary interactions among projects and cores. The Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Core will provide extensive molecular biology laboratory and data analysis support to all research projects. The Research Translation Core will ensure timely and appropriate communication of our research findings to relevant stakeholders, including government agencies, community groups, and the private sector. ADMINISTRATIVE CORE (Checkoway) Description (provided by applicant) The Administrative Core provides overall direction and administrative support to the entire UW SBRP Program. This core is directed by Dr. Harvey Checkoway, who is the Program Director. Dr. Checkoway is assisted by the Deputy Director, Dr. Evan Gallagher, the Program Manager, Ms. Tran, and the Program Coordinator, Ms. Saucier. Administrative and scientific advice will be provided by an Internal Executive Committee, composed of Project and Core Directors, and the External Science Advisory Board that includes accomplished environmental scientists from academia and Federal government agencies. The essential functions of the Administrative Core are to: 1) plan and coordinate research activities, including the integration of cross-disciplinary collaborations;2) coordinate the activities of research projects with the Research Translation and the Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Cores;3) ensure efficient management of budgets and personnel matters;and, 4) oversee preparation of non-competing grant renewal applications. In addition, the Administrative Core will work closely with the Research Translation Core to implement a structured program of information dissemination of research findings to NIEHS administrators and scientists, regional and federal government administrators and scientists, community residents, and appropriate representatives from the private sector.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup lens for forcing a subject image on an image pickup element such as a CCD sensor or a CMOS sensor, and relates to an image pickup lens suitable for a video camera, a monitoring camera, a digital still camera, and the like and an image pickup apparatus including the same. 2. Description of the Related Art Of image pickup optical systems used in image pickup apparatuses such as digital video cameras in recent years, a video camera with a wide angle of field over 160° is increasingly popular. Such a video easier a with a wide angle of field is regained to be compact and have high optical performance. Many wide angle lenses have conventionally been proposed for use in the above-mentioned video camera, monitoring camera, and the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-221920 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-145256 each propose a wide angle lens including 6 lenses in 5 lens units. The image pickup lenses described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-221920 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-145256 achieve an angle of field of 160° or more, but have a problem that the total lone length is long as the distance from a lens surface on the most object side to an image plane is about 10 times the focal length. These wide angle lenses have the angle widened by inducing large negative distortion. That is, an optical image is formed by compressing a subject on the image plane. However, since lateral chromatic aberration is reflected on the image plane without being compressed, there is also a problem that the influence of lateral chromatic aberration is more noticeable when a larger amount of distortion is induced for angle widening.

Q: paging of gridview i have a gridview where i have allowed paging. but when i click second page the gridview disappears here is the c# code : protected void GridView1_PageIndexChanging(object sender, GridViewPageEventArgs e) { GridView1.PageIndex = e.NewPageIndex; OdbcDataAdapter adpState = new OdbcDataAdapter("SELECT CALL_NO,TDATE, ID_NO,NAME,CONTACT,DEPARTMENT,ISSUE,STATUS FROM TBL_ITHELPDESK WHERE (STATUS IS NULL OR STATUS <> 'CLOSED') AND TDATE= TO_DATE('" + txtDate.Text.ToString().Trim() + "','MM-DD-YYYY')", con1); DataSet ds = new DataSet(); adpState.Fill(ds); GridView1.DataSource = ds; GridView1.DataBind(); } can anyone help to find where i'm going wrong A: You have to check multiple things. Check the query with the one that is working, Is it Same? Check the con1 variable is defined outside of any other method. Define con1 in a class not in a method, something like that odbcConnection con = new odbcConnection(ConectionString);

La confidentialité pour toutes les applications!

Q: Which songs were performed more than once on Glee? On Glee, some songs were sung multiple times. Don't Stop Believin' comes to mind, and also episode 5x12 100 contains several tunes that had previously appeared, but the vast majority of songs did not return for a second performance on the show. Thus I think that a song being performed a second (or third, or ...) time indicates a theme or a character development being highlighted (e.g. Kurt taking over Finn's role in Don't Stop Believin' as performed in 5x13 New Directions). Which songs were performed more than once on Glee, and in which episodes? A: According to the Wikipedia list of songs in Glee, the following songs were performed more than once on Glee. A House is Not a Home (Dionne Warwick) 1x16 - Home - Kurt Hummel with Finn Hudson 1x16 - Home - April Rhodes and Will Schuester (as part of a mash-up with Barbra Streisand's One Less Bell to Answer) All by Myself (Eric Carmen) 1x02 - Showmance - Emma Pilsbury (short flashback scene, crying in her car, singing along to the radio) 2x17 - A Night of Neglect - Sunshine Corazon (singing the Céline Dion version) And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going (Dreamgirls) 1x13 - Sectionals - Mercedes Jones 1x13 - Sectionals - Jane Addams Girls Choir Big Spender (Sweet Charity) 1x19 - Dream On - (auditioning woman) 3x01 - The Purple Piano Project - Sugar Motta (her audition song) Daydream Believer (The Monkees) 1x19 - Dream On - Bryan Ryan 6x13 - Dreams Come True - Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson with schoolchildren Defying Gravity (Wicked) 1x09 - Wheels - Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry 5x12 - 100 - Mercedes Jones, Kurt Hummel and Rachel Berry Don't Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl) 1x13 - Sectionals - Rachel Berry 3x09 - Choke - Rachel Berry 5x09 - Frenemies - Santana Lopez Don't Stop Believin' (Journey) 1x01 - Pilot - Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson with New Directions 1x05 - The Rhodes Not Taken - Quinn Fabray and Finn Hudson with New Directions 1x13 - Sectionals - Haverbrook Deaf Choir 1x22 - Journey to Regionals - New Directions 4x19 - Sweet Dreams - Rachel Berry with original New Directions (her musical audition) 5x13 - New Directions - New Directions and Will Schuester 6x12 - 2009 - New Directions (using footage from 1x01) I Kissed a Girl (Katy Perry) 1x01 - Pilot - Tina Cohen-Chang 3x07 - I Kissed a Girl - Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry with Tina Cohen-Chang, Quinn Fabray, Mercedes Jones, Sugar Motta and Brittany Pierce 6x12 - 2009 - Tina Cohen-Chang (the audition in 1x01, using new footage) I'll Stand by You (The Pretenders) 1x10 - Ballad - Finn Hudson 5x03 - The Quarterback - Mercedes Jones with New Directions I'm the Greatest Star (Funny Girl) 3x02 - I Am Unicorn - Kurt Hummel 5x17 - Opening Night - Rachel Berry Keep Holding On (Avril Lavigne) 1x07 - Throwdown - New Directions 5x12 - 100 - Noah Puckerman with original and current New Directions members Loser Like Me 2x16 - Original Song - Rachel Berry, Santana Lopez, Finn Hudson and Brittany Pierce with New Directions 5x13 - New Directions - Blaine Anderson, Sam Evans, Tina Cohen-Chang and Artie Abrams (acoustic version) Mister Cellophane (Chicago) 1x01 - Pilot - Kurt Hummel 6x12 - 2009 - Kurt Hummel (the audition in 1x01, using new footage, showing Kurt only from behind) Piano Man (Billy Joel) 1x19 - Dream On - Will Schuester and Bryan Ryan 5x06 - Movin' Out - Blaine Anderson with Spotlight Diner patrons and employees Proud Mary (Ike and Tina Turner) 1x09 - Wheels - New Directions 1x13 - Sectionals - Jane Addams Girls Choir Raise Your Glass (P!nk) 2x16 - Original Song - Dalton Academy Warblers 5x12 - 100 - April Rhodes and Will Schuester with original and current New Directions members Single Ladies (Beyoncé) 1x04 - Preggers - Kurt Hummel with Tina Cohen-Chang and Brittany Pierce; 3x22 - Goodbye - Burt Hummel with Tina Cohen-Chang and Brittany Pierce Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat (Guys and Dolls) 1x01 - Pilot - Artie Abrams with New Directions 3x22 - Goodbye - Artie Abrams, Rachel Berry, Tina Cohen-Chang, Kurt Hummel and Mercedes Jones Teenage Dream (Katy Perry) 2x06 - Never Been Kissed - Dalton Academy Warblers 4x04 - The Break Up - Blaine Anderson (acoustic version) That's the Way (I Like It) (KC and the Sunshine Band) 1x01 - Pilot - 1993 McKinley High Glee Club (only faint audio on Emma's laptop; 6x12 2009 shows a part of this video, but not this particular song) 3x16 - Saturday Night Glee-ver - 1993 McKinley High Glee Club (short flashback) Tonight (West Side Story) 1x04 - Preggers - Tina Cohen-Chang 3x05 - The First Time - Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson Toxic (Britney Spears) 2x02 - Britney/Brittany - Brittany Pierce, Santana Lopez, Will Schuester, Rachel Berry and Tina Cohen-Chang with New Directions 5x12 - 100 - Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce Valerie (Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse) 2x09 - Special Education - Santana Lopez with New Directions 5x12 - 100 - Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce with Mike Chang and Jake Puckerman You're the One That I Want (Grease) 1x01 - Pilot - Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson with New Directions 1x11 - Hairography - Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson (in Rachel's room) 4x06 - Glease - Ryder Lynn, Marley Rose, Finn Hudson, Rachel Berry, Santana Lopez, Blaine Anderson, Kurt Hummel and Brittany Pierce (includes flashbacks to the 1x01 performance) The only songs performed more than twice are Don't Stop Believin' (5x), one performance reuses old footage Don't Rain on My Parade (3x), one performance ends prematurely I Kissed a Girl (3x), two of these show the same in-universe performance, but with different footage You're the One That I Want (3x), two of these performances end prematurely

Rhinos and buffaloes are seen in the flooded Kaziranga National Park in Assam's Nagaon district. (Reuters phot... Read More GUWAHATI: A week-long flood in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) has left altogether 117 animals dead till Wednesday. Animal casualty in Kaziranga since last month’s flood has crossed 200. From August 10 to August 16 when Kaziranga came under the grip of second wave of flood, 99 Hog deer, six rhinos, two elephants, three wild boar, two swamp deer, one each Asiatic buffalo , Sambar and porcupine were drowned. Two Hog deer were killed in vehicle hit while crossing the national highway 37 for reaching highlands in neighbouring Karbi Anglong . Also two Hog deer succumbed to injuries. “We could also rescue 48 different animals including five rhino calves and 41 Hog deer during the week-long flood,” a senior Park official said. Flood situation in the World Heritage Site, about 250 KM from here, has significantly improved on Wednesday with inundated area coming down to 59 % of Kaziranga’s 430 Sq KM. Park officials said that flood levels have dropped by 15 cm on Wednesday. 105 anti-poaching camps out of 178 are still under water. Kaziranga, located on the flood plains of Brahmaputra, experienced one of the worst deluges in three decades on Sunday, when over 80% of the Park area was inundated and water levels rose to six feet at several places. “As water levels are dropping there are chances of more animal carcasses surfacing up. Still large swathe of the Park is only accessible on boats. Our field staff is constantly monitoring the situation both within and outside the Park. Large number of animals are still taking shelter on highlands of Karbi Anglong,” the official added. In last month’s flood in Kaziranga, at least 107 animals including seven rhinos perished. Of the total casualty, about 13 animals were killed in vehicle hit while crossing the highway when large swathe of Kaziranga was under water last month. Home to a large population of Big Five (rhinos, elephants, tigers, wild buffalos and Eastern swamp deer), Kaziranga suffered an infrastructure damage worth Rs 7.35 crore in last month’s flood.

Chasnaow found a number shortcomings in the complaint. For example, she said, the plaintiffs didn’t allege "any facts to support an inference that the investigative processes were the result of gender discrimination.” She also found that they didn’t back up claims of a conspiracy among all the defendants.

elegyinthree: What compels people to post things on social media? When someone sees an article, what exactly is the motivation to click on the “share” button, write a neat little summary of your thoughts, tag friends who you think might like it, and press “post”? It’s not much of a surprise that this is a mystery to me. Really, most things that people do are a mystery - and to live is to find our way out of that seemingly bottomless hole. Or is it the other way down - the more we know, the farther down the rabbit hole we get? There’s a few sides that have led to my curiosity about this topic. On the widest level, you have the societal narratives about social media: waste of time, millennials, self-indulgence, social network, globalization, narcissism, hashtags, filters. You know, stuff about social media that you hear out there. On a personal level, I’ve seen multiple people talk about their own perceptions of social media. One of movements towards “consciousness” regarding it is the idea that it’s a person’s “highlight reel”: where they show off the best parts of their lives, and generally not the mundane, dreary, or downright sad. I find this perspective interesting, but it still doesn’t feel like quite a complete picture. Before social media was created, people got along just fine. It’s not a need; people will live if Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram disappear overnight. And of course, it’s not difficult to understand the bigger picture of the *why*. Ask anyone and they’ll have their own motivations. Personally, I’ve been an advocate of keeping my Facebook account just for the sake of opportunity. If I want to connect with any one of my friends (who are on Facebook), it just takes a few clicks and a few seconds of typing to convey a message. It’s also a way of being personal without having to be *too* personal. You can “snoop” in on everyone else’s lives without actually putting in the in-person time. Efficient: that’s something we love in the 21st century, right? I’m perplexed by why I do things, and why I don’t. If you’re my Facebook friend, you probably, well, haven’t noticed me on the site much. I really rarely post anything at all, and if I do, it’s something somewhat detached. Pictures of food, checking in at a location, maybe an article I found interesting. But for a site that’s so focused on yourself, I feel like the caveat is that you have to try at being myself at the will of thousands of other people. That’s where the idea of the “composed self” comes in: the pictures that you post; the articles that represent your intellect; the comments that depict your opinions - whether you like it or not, it’s how everyone else sees you. Who cares about the intent of all of these things? We’ve all been there where we meet someone new, “Facebook stalk” them, and make some kind of qualitative judgment, whether conscious or subconscious. And yet if I don’t have any content on social media, where does that put me? Everything that I’ve done with friends is just a memory - which is a fine thing, which is how people have lived for ages - but in the end, *should* I make an effort to put my print on my narrative? After all, while past generations didn’t have a Facebook, they still had their own ways of depicting themselves. Anne Frank’s struggle lived through her diary; Beethoven’s personal strife resonates in his symphonies; the Brownings’ love endures from their love letters. And while none of the above were *social media*, they were social in the sense that expression was captured beyond our heads. You know that old paradox about if a tree falls alone in a distant forest and there’s no one to hear it? Expression that is created alone might not be inherently social. But it’s a transformation of the personal, which has the *potential* to become something felt in peoples’ hearts. After all, if just one person heard that tree falling, they themselves know it happened, and that is infinitely greater than the previous void. So perhaps social media is one of the greatest narratives of society captured yet. Each post, tweet, and picture is a part of a story from people - people who are meant to be social - and capturing that *potential* to share ourselves. Sure, it might be an artifiically crafted self, but when there’s no way to truly tap into one’s brain (as of yet), the closest we can get is what people choose to show. And from there, there’s the chance of engagement, communication, and the development of true social bonds.

Contents Object Backup Export objects from the pie menu. Import and export objects from the File menu. In Imprudence 1.2 and later, you can export objects that you have created inworld, save them on your hard drive, and import them again later. This allows creators to keep backups of things they have created, so they can be sure their creations won't be lost by an asset server problem. You can also use this feature to move your creations from one grid to another! For example, you could build in the comfort of your own OpenSim (with free and fast texture uploads), then import the final version to SL. Or, you could export something you've already created in SL, and move it to an OpenSim grid to expand into a new audience or market. What objects can I export? You can export any object that you own, created yourself, and have full permission for the prims (Modify, Copy, and Transfer). The permissions of object contents do not matter, because the contents are not exported. All prims in the object must have been created by you. As of this writing, there is no support for exporting objects with multiple creators. However, support for that might be added in the future. When you export an object, Imprudence saves the shapes of all the prims in the object to an XML file on your computer. It also downloads the textures (and sculpt textures, if any) of the object as JPEG2000 image files the same directory as the XML file. The texture files are used by the "File > Upload & Import" command. Note: Object export feature does not yet save any object contents, including scripts. Only the prims and textures are saved. Exporting Objects Exporting an object is easy: Rez the object inworld. There are two ways to export. They both do the same thing, so use whichever is more convenient for you: Right click (or Cmd-click, on Mac) on the object to open the pie menu, then select "More > More > Export". (If the "Export" command is grayed out, that means you don't have permission to export it. See the "What objects can I export?" section, above.) Or, select the object(s) in Edit mode, then use "File > Export Selected Objects..." in the main menu. A file save window will appear. Select the directory and name of the file you want to save the object as. That's it! The object's prims will be saved to the file you selected, and its textures will be downloaded into that same directory. Tip: You can export multiple objects at once, saving them to the same file. Just rez all the objects, select them all in Edit mode, then export as above. Importing Objects Importing objects is just as simple: Go to an area where you can build, and which has enough spare prims to fit your object. Select the "Import Object" or "Import + Upload..." command from the main File menu. "Import Object..." imports the object, and re-uses the same exact texture assets (same UUID) that it had when you exported it. "Import + Upload..." imports the object, and also uploads the object's textures as new texture items. This is most useful when moving to a new grid, where the old texture UUIDs don't exist. Note: The uploads cost the same as regular texture uploads. So uploading and importing an object to SL will cost L$10 per texture used! A file open window will appear. Select the XML file for the object you want to import. The object will be built, and textures uploaded (if using "Import & Upload") and applied, just like magic! Script Backup Save and load scripts from the script window's File menu. You can save and load scripts from your hard drive. To save: Open the script you want to save. Select "File > Save to Disk" from the script window menus. A file save window will appear. Select the directory and name of the file you want to save the script as. To load: Open a new script, or a script you want to replace. Select "File > Load from Disk" from the script window menus. A file open window will appear. Select the script file you want to load. The code in the script window will be replaced with the contents of the file you selected. Avatar Body Part Backup Import and export avatar body parts from the Appearance window. You can import and export any avatar shape, skin, or hair that you created.

Quiz: Howstuffworks Mount Everest: Seriously Dangerous Nathan Chandler Image: shutterstock About This Quiz Mount Everest is more than a mountain. It's an inspirational icon to climbers and nature lovers from around the world. Its steep slopes, though, are a siren call that baits many adventurers to early graves. How much do you know about its deadly peaks? Mount Everest is more than 29,000 feet tall. What does that mean in more useful terms? it's 3.5 miles tall it's 4 miles tall it's 5.5 miles tall From sea level to sky, Everest is the world's tallest mountain. At more than 5.5 miles high, its peak is higher than the flight paths of some airliners. Everest was first summited in 1953. How many people have climbed the mountain? about 400 about 4,000 about 12,000 Since Edmund Hillary first reached Everest's summit in 1953, about 4,000 people have conquered the mountain's slopes. It is no longer an indomitable challenge, but it is still plenty hazardous. These days, about how many people try to climb the mountain each year? about 8,000 about 2,000 about 800 Each year, about 800 people throw in their hats (and lives) and give Everest a shot. Many of them will fail. And some of them will die. Of the people who perish on Everest, how do most of them die? cold avalanches falls Unstable ice and snow results in avalanches, which cause most climber deaths. Falls are the second-leading cause of death. In April 2014, an avalanche resulted in the single deadliest day ever on the mountain. How many people died? 16 39 51 A total of 16 climbers were killed that fateful day. The climbers were still 10,000 feet below the summit when they died. Of the 16 people who died that day, how many of them were foreigners? zero three 10 Foreign climbers make up the bulk of summit attempts, but this day it was the local Sherpas who died. They were ferrying equipment up the mountain for other climbers when the avalanche struck. Most climber deaths occur at which altitude? between 16,000 and 18,000 feet between 18,000 and 21,000 feet above 26,000 feet The most dangerous part of the journey is between 18,000 and 21,000 feet. There, the ice and snow are notoriously treacherous. How many people (so far) have died climbing Everest? about 280 about 380 about 580 Just under 300 people have died on Everest. Many of their bodies are strewn across the mountain as grim reminders of the dangers involved. Why are climbers' bodies often simply left on the mountainside? they're too high they're frozen to the ground they're lost The incredible altitude and steepness sometimes make it impossible to retrieve the bodies. Today's climbers often march right past bodies that have been frozen in the snow for years. In May of that year, an incredible blizzard struck as climbers were ascending. A bottleneck caused by too many climbers contributed to the climbers being stranded on the slopes. What is "mountain sickness"? cerebral hemorrhage altitude sickness extreme exhaustion Mountain sickness is another term for altitude sickness, which is mostly caused by lack of oxygen. It causes nausea, confusion and contributes to many climber deaths. Everest's base camp resides at about 17,500 feet. How much oxygen is there at that altitude? about 50 percent of sea level about 70 percent of sea level about 80 percent of sea level Even at "just" 17,500 feet, the air is very thin -- with only half of the oxygen found at sea level. It's no wonder so many people die on this mountain. Altitude sickness can also lead to what other rather unpleasant condition? ulcers heart attack fluid buildup The extreme altitude can cause fluid to build up in the lungs or even in the brain. Both conditions can and do kill climbers. What's the fatality rate for climbers? about 1.6 percent about 16 percent about 27 percent Given the hundreds of people who try the mountain each year, not many die -- around 1.6 percent. But each climbing season several people will definitely be killed by Everest's extremes. Where do most falls occur on the mountain? just above base camp between 19,000 and 20,000 feet near the mountain's peak Most falls occur at Everest's highest points. The air is thinner, the climbing is harder and the climbers themselves are weary. What nationality were the climbers who first died on Everest? British Nepalese Chinese In 1922, the British made one of several attempts on the summit. Seven Sherpas died...but no British men perished. About how many corpses are there on the mountain? about 40 about 100 about 200 Of the roughly 300 people who've died on Everest, most of them never made it home. About 200 bodies are permanently frozen to the slopes. The Khumbu Icefall is one of the most dangerous parts of the mountain. It is what kind of structure? a glacier a huge icicle a rockslide The Icefall is part of a massive glacier that moves with alarming alacrity. Sometimes, huge gaps will suddenly swallow climbers whole. When do most climbers attempt to climb the Khumbu Icefall? morning afternoon night Most climbers attempt the Icefall in the morning when temperatures are still cold and the ice is mostly -- mostly -- solid. Even then, it's a perilous ordeal. The Icefall is full of wide, steep crevasses. How do climbers pass these? they use ladders they climb down one side and up the other they totally avoid them Brave Sherpas ascend and affix long ladders across the gaping maws of the crevasses. These ladders make the ascent much easier for people who are paying for the privilege of climbing. In 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were trying to become the first men to ascend the mountain. What happened to them? they got lost they came up just short they died The men disappeared and for decades no one knew what became of them. Finally, in 1999, Mallory's body was found at about 27,000 feet, well below the summit. When did scientists first discover that Everest was the world's tallest mountain? around 1860 around 1900 around 1910 It was around 1860, just before the start of the American Civil War, that humans finally realized where Earth's tallest peak rested. It was nearly a century before they climbed it. How did Everest get its name? named after a war hero named after a British explorer named after a surveyor It was named after a Welsh surveyor named Sir George Everest. He was one of the men who first surveyed many of the mountains in the area. Few plants can survive on Everest. Which type of plant life makes it higher on the slopes than any other? cushion plant pine trees moss At just below 22,000 feet, there's one type of moss that somehow manages to survive Everest's hostile domain. It's possible that they are the highest type of plant life in the world. In 1970, a huge expedition assaulted the mountain. Eight people died. Which country led the expedition? Japan China France The ill-fated 1970 expedition was from Japan. More than 100 people worked on the effort but they didn't make it to the summit. Many people tempt fate by attacking Everest -- and many of them go home empty-handed. Sponsored Links About HowStuffWorks Play How much do you know about dinosaurs? What is an octane rating? And how do you use a proper noun? Lucky for you, HowStuffWorks Play is here to help. Our award-winning website offers reliable, easy-to-understand explanations about how the world works. 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Tuesday, December 29, 2009 Cancer charity donates less than 1pc And officialdom just waffles. It's a warning about whom NOT to donate to, however. I mostly donate directly to individuals. That way I know that my money is not going to support parasites and con-men. If you want to donate to cancer research, give it directly to a university medical school. You will even get more thanks that way LESS than one cent in every dollar raised by an Australian charity has gone to its intended cause in its first two financial years, documents show. The Adelaide-based National Cancer Research Foundation last year picked up $387,864 in donations but gave just $4900 away, according to its audited profit and loss statements. The year before, it raised almost $197,160, giving away only $935. So far this financial year, one of the foundation's directors says the charity has passed on almost $30,000, but yesterday could not say how much had been raised. Most of the money raised in the past two financial years went on commissions, management fees, travelling expenses and drivers. The foundation's director, Neil Menzies, blamed the start-up costs of a charity. In heartfelt letters obtained by The Advertiser the foundation, which was launched in January 2008, outlines its fundraising aims, saying it needs hundreds of thousands of dollars for research. It says it urgently needs to raise $700,000 for ovarian cancer, $650,000 for children's cancers, $800,000 for breast cancer and $500,000 for prostate and colon cancer research. "The costs are staggering, but we will succeed again," its letters say. Mr Menzies said the company was working hard to improve its margins, claiming it had already given away almost $30,000 this financial year to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Camp Quality, and the Canberra Hospital. "More will be passed on before the end of the next financial year," he said. "We're changing our structure. Where we relied a lot on telemarketing, which is labour (intensive), we'll be more into events, golf days, dinner dances, quiz nights." "Within two or three years if we're able to pass on . . . (money) in the vicinity of $100,000 per year, that would be terrific." The Office of the Liquor and Gambling Commissioner monitors charities, under the auspices of Gambling Minister Tom Koutsantonis, who said yesterday that governments were working hard to make them more accountable. "This is what we're looking into - we're making charities publish all their financial details . . . to make them more transparent and more accountable," he said. "While we believe the majority are doing the right thing, South Australians deserve to know where their hard-earned money ends up. Philanthropy Australia chief executive officer Gina Anderson said it was difficult to pinpoint the proportion that should be passed on. She said the word "foundation", often used by charities, did not have any legal meaning, and she said Australia was finally going to accept standard accounting measures for charities. The Productivity Commission is reviewing the not-for-profit sector. In its draft report, released in October this year, it found there was a need for wide-ranging reforms. It recommended a "one-stop shop" for regulation, to ensure community organisations and charities were transparent, and to simplify regulatory processes. As Obama has vividly shown, saying one thing and doing the opposite is the Leftist way KEVIN Rudd's government has refused more freedom of information requests in its first full financial year of power than John Howard's did in its last full financial year in office despite Labor's stated program to increase transparency of public information. The annual report of the Freedom of Information Act, which was quietly released just before Christmas, shows that 1530 requests, or 6.09 per cent, were refused in the 12 months to June 30. In the 12 months to June 30, 2007, the last full financial year of the Howard government, 1499 requests were refused, or 4.39 per cent. The refusal rate in the past financial year was also higher than in the power change-over year of 2007-08 when 1368 requests were refused, or 4.36 per cent. The percentage of requests granted in full in the past financial year compared with 2006-07 also declined, from 80.6 per cent to 71 per cent. However the government's response times improved. In the 12 months to June 30, 83.29 per cent of FOI requests were dealt with in less than 30 days, compared with 67.89 per cent in the previous financial year and 77.15 per cent in 2006-07. The Prime Minister's own department granted full access to 12 of 32 requests (38 per cent), while in 2006-07 Mr Howard's department granted full access to six of 16 requests (37.5 per cent). The tighter flow of information came despite the government embarking on a series of major reforms of the FOI Act, including the abolition of conclusive certificates, which allowed ministers to veto FOI releases without any reasonable public interest explanations for their actions. The opposition seized on the figures and accused the government of keeping a tighter rein on the flow of information. Opposition legal affairs spokesman George Brandis said the Rudd government's performance on FOI was "yet another example of the mismatch between the government's rhetoric and the reality of its performance". "Early this year, the then Special Minister of State Senator (John) Faulkner launched a new FOI policy and promised a fundamental change towards a pro-disclosure policy," Senator Brandis said. "But it has sunk without trace and has not been prosecuted by the new minister, Senator (Joe) Ludwig. "The heroic pro-disclosure rhetoric stands in stark contrast to the cold, hard statistical reality that would show that there is less freedom of information under the Rudd government than under the Howard government." A spokesman for Senator Ludwig said the government remained committed to FOI reform. The report said that about 80 per cent of FOI requests related to personal information, with Centrelink (37 per cent), Veterans Affairs (22 per cent), and Immigration and Citizenship (21 per cent) receiving the most requests. AUSTRALIA is on the crest of a demographic tsunami, with the first wave of 5.3 million baby boomers eligible for the age pension from next week. The country's money box faces the double whammy of paying for older Australians who need extra care and for workers who are retiring in greater numbers than ever before. With the pension age for women still being phased up to 65, those born in 1946 – the first year of the baby boomer generation – will be entitled to claim a government-funded age pension from next year, when they turn 64. Men born in 1946 will be in line for a pension a year later, when they turn 65. KPMG demographer Bernard Salt said it signalled the start of a landmark shift in Australia's population – one that would deliver a "double whammy" to Federal Government finances. "Not only will the baby boomers demand more from the tax base, but they will also be coming out of the workforce and will stop paying tax," Mr Salt said. "It is a demographic tsunami, building up, building up and then crashing ashore." Apart from a surge in demand for age pensions, leading Australian demographers said ageing baby boomers would increase pressure on already stretched health budgets. "They are the most obese generation we've ever had, so reducing their obesity is really crucial if they are going to have healthy older years," said Adelaide University Geography professor Graeme Hugo. [Rubbish! Older people get sick more but obesity is nothing to do with it] Professor Martin Bell, from the University of Queensland's Centre for Population Research, said the retirement of the baby boomers would also exacerbate skilled labour shortages in Australia and create planning issues for growing cities such as Brisbane. "This is an intriguing transition," Prof Bell said. "I'd rank it alongside the Industrial Revolution. "It's that kind of transition in the nature of Western society – from a young, rapidly growing population, which is broad at the bottom and thin at the top, to one that is almost the other way round." In response to some of those emerging challenges, the Federal Government last year announced it would push out the pension eligibility age to 67 by 2023. But as the Federal Government considers the Henry tax review – expected to deliver the most sweeping reform of Australia's tax system since the GST was introduced in July 2000 – CommSec chief economist Craig James said the pension qualifying age might have to be revisited. "I think we may see further shifts over the next couple of years," he said. "Perhaps even pushing that pension age out further." The high cost of Australia's rapidly greying population: "Perhaps it requires more incentives for employers to take on more senior workers,'' Mr James said. Mr Salt said the problem should be met with a big rise in migration levels, targeting young skilled workers, to boost the tax base. "We either lift migration or we can ask Gen Y and Gen X to pay more tax per capita, and I don't think that's going to be popular,'' he said. Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate around 107,000 Australian women will turn 64 next year. By 2047, a quarter of all Australians will be aged over 65 years, almost double the current 13 per cent. In the last financial year, the Government supported 2.12 million seniors with age pensions, at a cost of $28 billion. In the previous year, $24.6 billion was spent providing age pensions for 2.04 million Australians. As his health begins to fail, protesting farmer Peter Spencer swore yesterday he would die before giving in to a Federal Government decision to make his farm a carbon sink. That vow came as his four children and newborn grandchild arrived in Canberra from the US to support the 58-year-old on day 37 of the protest, the Daily Telegraph reports. Mr Spencer, who is chained to a wind tower more than 20m above ground, claims the government declared his property in Shannons Flat, north of Cooma, a carbon sink without offering any compensation. He says the move has left him unable to earn a living because he cannot clear land and redevelop the farm, and he is demanding a personal meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to discuss the issue. Aaron, Emma, Kahn and Sarah Spencer, who were all raised on the property, arrived home on Christmas Day and intend to stay until January 8. Sarah, 30, a registered nurse in her adopted home of Grand Rapids, Michigan, planned to examine her father yesterday after introducing him to her four-month-old son Saxon. "I've got my stethoscope and blood pressure cuff so I want to assess him," the farmer's daughter said. "I want to listen to his lungs, check his blood pressure and look at the swelling on his ankles. The problem is even if I tell him that I think he's coming down with pneumonia or that his kidneys are weakening ... he won't come down. "It's heartbreaking ... but he's still very much with it mentally and is the same father we've always known. I just don't know how quickly he'll deteriorate. We're going to support him. He will come down if [Mr Rudd] makes an agreement or he'll die waiting." Aaron and Kahn climbed the tower to give their father warm clothes and helped set up a tent to protect him from heavy rainfall. A spokesperson for Mr Rudd yesterday said the Government had "urged" Mr Spencer to stop the protest. "The Agriculture Minister responded to Mr Spencer's letter on the Prime Minister's behalf, however the Government believes this matter should be settled through the legal system and urges Mr Spencer in the strongest possible terms to end his protest and seek medical attention," the spokesperson said. "The Government sets policy in the national interest. This policy will not be changed by threats of violence or self-harm." By Michael Asten (Michael Asten is a professorial fellow in the school of geosciences at Monash University, Melbourne) THE Copenhagen climate change summit closed two weeks ago in confusion, disagreement and, for some, disillusionment. When the political process shows such a lack of unanimity, it is pertinent to ask whether the science behind the politics is as settled as some participants maintain. Earlier this month (The Australian, December 9) I commented on recently published results showing huge swings in atmospheric carbon dioxide, both up and down, at a time of global cooling 33.6 million years ago. Paul Pearson and co-authors in a letter (The Weekend Australian, December 11) took exception to my use of their data and claimed I misrepresented their research, a claim I reject since I quoted their data (the veracity of which they do not contest) but offered an alternative hypothesis, namely that the present global warming theory (which was not the subject of their study) is inconsistent with the CO2-temperature variations of a past age. Some senior scientists, who are adherents of orthodox global warming theory, do not like authors publishing data that can be used to argue against orthodoxy, a point made by unrelated authors with startling clarity in the Climategate leaked emails from the University of East Anglia. In the scientific method, however, re-examination of data and formulation of alternative hypotheses is the essence of scientific debate. In any case, the debate on the link between atmospheric CO2 and global temperature will continue since it is not dependent on a single result. Another example is a study by Richard Zeebe and colleagues, published in Nature Geoscience, of a release of CO2 and an increase in temperature 55 million years ago. At this time there was an increase in global temperature of between 5C and 9C, from a temperature regime slightly warmer than today's (that I will call moderate Earth) to greenhouse temperatures. It can be argued this example may have a message for humanity because the rate of release of CO2 into the atmosphere at the time of this warming was of a similar order to the rate of anthropogenic release today. However, the analogy turns out to be incomplete when the data is compared with present estimates of climate sensitivity to atmospheric CO2, and Zeebe and his colleagues conclude that the large temperature increase cannot be explained by our existing understanding of CO2 temperature linkage. Indeed, they write, "our results imply a fundamental gap in our understanding of the amplitude of global warming associated with large and abrupt climate perturbations. This gap needs to be filled to confidently predict future climate change." I argue there are at least two possible hypotheses to explain the data in this study: either the link between atmospheric CO2 content and global temperature increase is significantly greater (that is, more dangerous) than the existing models show or some mechanism other than atmospheric CO2 is a significant or the main factor influencing global temperature. The first hypothesis is consistent with climate change orthodoxy. Recent writings on climate sensitivity by James Hansen are consistent with it, as was the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its pre-Copenhagen update, The Copenhagen Diagnosis. Indeed, the 26 authors of the IPCC update went a step further, and encouraged the 46,000 Copenhagen participants with the warning: "A rapid carbon release, not unlike what humans are causing today, has also occurred at least once in climate history, as sediment data from 55 million years ago show. This `Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum' brought a major global warming of 5C, a detrimental ocean acidification and a mass extinction event. It serves as a stark warning to us today." We have to treat such a warning cautiously because, as Pearson and his colleagues pointed out in their letter two weeks ago, "We caution against any attempt to derive a simple narrative linking CO2 and climate on these large time scales. This is because many other factors come into play, including other greenhouse gases, moving continents, shifting ocean currents, dramatic changes in ocean chemistry, vegetation, ice cover, sea level and variations in the Earth's orbit around the sun." Sound science also requires us to consider the second of the above two hypotheses. Otherwise, if we attempt to reconcile Zeebe's observation by inferring climate sensitivity to CO2 is greater than that used for current models, how do we explain Pearson's observation of huge swings in atmospheric CO2, both up and down, which appear poorly correlated with temperatures cooling from greenhouse Earth to moderate Earth? The two geological results discussed both show some discrepancies between observation and model predictions. Such discrepancies do not in any sense reduce the merit of the respective authors' work; rather they illustrate a healthy and continuing process of scientific discovery. In addition, unrelated satellite data analyses published in the past two years by physicist David Douglass and distinguished atmospheric scientist John Christy in two journals, International Journal of Climatology and Earth and Environment, provide observational evidence that climate sensitivity associated with CO2 is less than that used in present climate modelling, by a factor of about three. Thus we have two geological examples and two satellite data studies pointing towards a lesser role of CO2 in global warming. This argument does not discount the reality of global warming during the past century or the potential consequences should it continue at the same rate, but it does suggest we need a broader framework in considering our response. The Copenhagen summit exposed intense political differences in proposals to manage global warming. Scientists are also not unanimous in claiming to understand the complex processes driving climate change and, more important, scientific studies do not unambiguously point to a single solution. Copenhagen will indeed prove to be a historic meeting if it ushers in more open-minded debate. It is no surprise that the government doesn't count on the altruism of the Australian voter in framing policies. Rather, it relies on providing favours to powerful constituencies to buy support. Nowhere is this clearer than in its proposed emissions trading scheme, with the government strenuously proclaiming that 70 per cent of households will be "more than compensated" for any adverse effects. Generous compensation also will be provided to business. Far from the "hard reform" the Prime Minister keeps announcing, what is promised is therefore a painless warm glow. That promise is, of course, too good to be true. In fact, the compensation, far from offsetting the harm, will add to it. This flows from some basic properties of taxes on "bads", such as pollution. In theory, these are the most efficient taxes, for they raise revenue not by distorting market choices but by correcting them. However, these taxes typically raise a great deal of revenue relative to the change they purport to make. This is because while the tax is collected on every unit, the overall fall in output of the bad is small. In the case of the ETS, each emission requires the purchase of a permit, but each year total emissions fall by only a few per cent. As a result, how a tax on a bad affects efficiency depends to a large extent on what is done with the revenues. When those revenues are wasted or used to distort markets, society is worse off, even if the harm done by the bad is reduced. In the proposed ETS, there is the Swiss cheese of payments to polluters, aimed at buying the acquiescence of a business community that, for more than a century, has more than made up in rent-seeking prowess for all it lacks in insight and backbone. These payments will distort economic activity for decades to come. For example, firms that obtain free permits cannot sell them on exit from the industry. This encourages them to continue to operate even if their output could be more cheaply supplied by others. The compensation to households is even worse. Those payments will be income-based, phasing out as income rises. This will increase marginal tax rates that are already high, with the lost compensation meaning that each additional dollar in pre-tax earning could translate into less than 60c of take-home pay. Combined with the increase in prices relative to wages caused by the ETS itself, the effect will be to reduce the incentive to work. If this departs from self-interest, it is not out of altruism but folly. How great are the resulting costs? Unfortunately, none of the distortions arising from the compensation package are captured in the published Treasury modelling. As a result, that modelling provides little guidance as to the efficiency effects of the ETS. This is not to suggest that a pure ETS, pristine in its underlying economic intent, is politically possible. What it does mean is that the comparison to be made is not between a textbook ETS and less perfect alternatives. Rather, it is between an ETS mired in sordid deals and other options that may be better or worse. Were altruism to break out, goals such as reducing emissions might be achieved without give-aways and concessions. We know tragically little about how to produce some of life's most important goods, such as mutual respect, tolerance and a genuine interest in the welfare of others. Until that secret is unlocked, government interventions will be shaped by rent-seeking and will often impose costs far greater than its benefits. Business's search for handouts has long been a primary factor in this respect. Environmental fundamentalism adds dangerous impetus to the pressures. As the ETS shows, our political system, under the guise of public beneficence, panders all too readily to these single-issue voters, while shifting costs around, including on to future generations, in ways that are as opaque and inequitable as they are inefficient. No comments: Background Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party. Most academics are lockstep Leftists so readers do sometimes doubt that I have the qualifications mentioned above. Photocopies of my academic and military certificates are however all viewable here For overseas readers: The "ALP" is the Australian Labor Party -- Australia's major Leftist party. The "Liberal" party is Australia's major conservative political party. In most Australian States there are two conservative political parties, the city-based Liberal party and the rural-based National party. But in Queensland those two parties are amalgamated as the LNP. Again for overseas readers: Like the USA, Germany and India, Australia has State governments as well as the Federal government. So it may be useful to know the usual abbreviations for the Australian States: QLD (Queensland), NSW (New South Wales), WA (Western Australia), VIC (Victoria), TAS (Tasmania), SA (South Australia). For American readers: A "pensioner" is a retired person living on Social Security "Digger" is an honorific term for an Australian soldier Another lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is an example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here Two of my ancestors were convicts so my family has been in Australia for a long time. As well as that, all four of my grandparents were born in the State where I was born and still live: Queensland. And I am even a member of the world's second-most condemned minority: WASPs (the most condemned is of course the Jews -- which may be why I tend to like Jews). So I think I am as Australian as you can get. I certainly feel that way. I like all things that are iconically Australian: meat pies, Vegemite, Henry Lawson etc. I particularly pride myself on my familiarity with the great Australian slanguage. I draw the line at Iced Vo-Vos and betting on the neddies, however. So if I cannot comment insightfully on Australian affairs, who could? My son Joe On all my blogs, I express my view of what is important primarily by the readings that I select for posting. I do however on occasions add personal comments in italicized form at the beginning of an article. I am rather pleased to report that I am a lifelong conservative. Out of intellectual curiosity, I did in my youth join organizations from right across the political spectrum so I am certainly not closed-minded and am very familiar with the full spectrum of political thinking. Nonetheless, I did not have to undergo the lurch from Left to Right that so many people undergo. At age 13 I used my pocket-money to subscribe to the "Reader's Digest" -- the main conservative organ available in small town Australia of the 1950s. I have learnt much since but am pleased and amused to note that history has since confirmed most of what I thought at that early age. I imagine that the the RD is still sending mailouts to my 1950s address! I am an army man. Although my service in the Australian army was chiefly noted for its un-notability, I DID join voluntarily in the Vietnam era, I DID reach the rank of Sergeant, and I DID volunteer for a posting in Vietnam. So I think I may be forgiven for saying something that most army men think but which most don't say because they think it is too obvious: The profession of arms is the noblest profession of all because it is the only profession where you offer to lay down your life in performing your duties. Our men fought so that people could say and think what they like but I myself always treat military men with great respect -- respect which in my view is simply their due. The kneejerk response of the Green/Left to people who challenge them is to say that the challenger is in the pay of "Big Oil", "Big Business", "Big Pharma", "Exxon-Mobil", "The Pioneer Fund" or some other entity that they see, in their childish way, as a boogeyman. So I think it might be useful for me to point out that I have NEVER received one cent from anybody by way of support for what I write. As a retired person, I live entirely on my own investments. I do not work for anybody and I am not beholden to anybody. And I have NO investments in oil companies, mining companies or "Big Pharma" UPDATE: Despite my (statistical) aversion to mining stocks, I have recently bought a few shares in BHP -- the world's biggest miner, I gather. I run the grave risk of becoming a speaker of famous last words for saying this but I suspect that BHP is now so big as to be largely immune from the risks that plague most mining companies. I also know of no issue affecting BHP where my writings would have any relevance. The Left seem to have a visceral hatred of miners. I have never quite figured out why. Although I have been an atheist for all my adult life, I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament. And my Scripture blog will show that I know whereof I speak. Revered Labour Party leader Gough Whitlam was a very erudite man so he cannot have been unaware of the similarities of his famous phrase “the Party, the platform, the people” with an earlier slogan: "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer". It's basically the same slogan in reverse order. Australia's original inhabitants were a race of pygmies, some of whom survived into modern times in the mountainous regions of the Atherton tableland in far North Queensland. See also here. Below is a picture of one of them taken in 2007, when she was 105 years old and 3'7" tall Julia Gillard, a failed feminist flop. She was given the job of Prime Minister of Australia but her feminist preaching was so unpopular that she was booted out of the job by her own Leftist party. Her signature "achievements" were the carbon tax and the mining tax, both of which were repealed by the next government. A great little kid In November 2007, a four-year-old boy was found playing in a croc-infested Territory creek after sneaking off pig hunting alone with four dogs and a puppy. The toddler was found five-and-a-half hours after he set off from his parents' house playing in a creek with the puppy. Amazingly, Daniel Woditj also swam two creeks known to be inhabited by crocs during his adventurous romp. Mr Knight said that after walking for several kilometres, Daniel came to a creek and swam across it. Four of his dogs "bailed up" at the creek but the youngster continued on undaunted with his puppy to a second creek. Mr Knight said Daniel swam the second croc-infested creek and walked on for several more kilometres. "Captain is a hard bushman and Daniel is following in his footsteps. They breed them tough out bush." NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here About Me I am a 5'10" tall, jocular former university teacher aged 70 at the time of writing in early 2014 who still has a fair bit of hair. I am Australian born of working class origins and British ancestry. My doctorate is in psychology but I taught mainly sociology (Research Methods) in my 14 years as a university teacher. In High Schools I taught economics. I have taught in both traditional and "progressive" (low discipline) High Schools. My main interests are blogging, classical music, history, the stockmarket, current affairs and languages. I have been married four times to four fine women with whom I am still on amicable terms. I have one son born in 1987. I am totally non-sporting and have never owned a firearm. My brother has enough guns for the whole family. I did however enjoy my weapons training in the Army. Fuller biographical notes here

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Partial purification of a boar sperm membrane protein inducing sperm agglutinating antibody. For the development of immunological contraception, attention is being concentrated on the possibility of using a sperm membrane antigen. Boar sperm membrane was extracted with triton-X 100 and fractionated by Sephadex G-150 column chromatography. The glycosylated and nonglycosylated portions of protein peaks from the gel filtration were obtained by fractionating on concanavalin A-Sepharose and eluting the bound protein with 0.3 M methyl mannoside. A glycosylated fraction was found to induce sperm agglutinating antibodies in rabbit. The partially purified protein has a molecular weight of 30 kilodaltons, as determined by sodium dodecyl polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Further work is planned on the histochemical determination of the origin of this protein and species cross-activity of the antibody.

August 10, 2016 It was one of the main events of the convention. FBI Director James Comey strides up to the microphone and starts telling a sea of attorneys, a wall of media guys and a bunch of special agents in black suits all about the FBI’s new plans for combating cyber crimes and its newly-discovered love of transparency. “Regarding cyber crimes, we have two policies: Imposing costs and shaming. We shame the Chinese to get them to stop criminal activity.” Sounds like an unlikely plan — but go for it. And perhaps if the FBI also shames the American military-industrial complex, said complex will stop its war crimes in the Middle East as well. But that’s really unlikely. “Regarding the Clinton e-mail issue,” he says, “Our process was unprecedented — to show such transparency regarding our facts and our recommendations. We wanted to reassure the American people.” And then the moderator asked for questions from the floor, thus creating a dilemma for me. Imagine you were me — in a huge auditorium with the Director of the FBI himself, national media, a lot of special agents and over 250 attorneys in suits. Then imagine that you had a burning question to ask Director Comey. What would you do? a) Shrink down in your seat and be quiet (like most of the rest of America); b) Realize that you have a very important question to ask Director Comey but are too shy and embarrassed to ask it; c) Struggle into your Big Girl pants, take a deep breath and raise your hand to ask the Director, “How come you gave Hillary Clinton a pass on her cyber crimes against Americans, but didn’t even try to give a pass to Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange — who actually were trying to make our corporate-controlled government more transparent? d) None of the above. If you had chosen d), none of the above, then you would be right. Only two people in the audience were selected to have their questions answered — and both of them appeared to be obvious plants. Your question will never get answered. PS: On a happier note, I also got to attend an excellent break-out section at the convention — on the Ferguson question and what attorneys can do to help level the playing field for racial minorities. “We don’t need more jails. We need more education and jobs. America cannot incarcerate itself out of this problem. We’ve had 100 years of incarceration already and it hasn’t worked,” said one speaker. “Lawyers have always been leaders,” another speaker pointed out. “We have to step up and make changes ourselves. We have a moral duty. Blacks have always had to depend on the court system in America, and our court system has failed them since Day One. It is time to humanize people — all people. And to also get the ABA to take a stand.” http://shop.americanbar.org/eBus/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=227839539 It was then pointed out how much power the American Bar Association actually wields — and how they can use their power for good. For instance, the ABA could advocate for a national standard for the use of lethal force by police only if less deadly forces aren’t available. The ABA also gave a really nice reception after Director Comey’s speech — and it involved shrimp cocktails from Fisherman’s Wharf, antipasto from North Beach, quesadillas from La Mission and spring rolls from Chinatown. Now that’s a level playing field for minorities that I can really get behind. I’d advocate for that. And next time perhaps they will serve soul food from the Fillmore as well.

Plasma hormone profiles in populations at different risk for breast cancer. Evidence suggests that the reliability of urinary androgens or estrogens as prognostic discriminants for breast cancer may vary with different populations and may bear little relation to changes in plasma hormone levels. In this study the plasma estradiol level was significantly lower in Bantu, but did not in Caucasian, women with breast cancer, while the proportion of plasma androstenedione to dehydroepiandrosterone increased in Bantu patients. These changes in the plasma hormone profile in Bantu patients, a low-risk population for breast cancer, imply a change in ovarian and/or adrenal activity. Lack of similar hormone changes in Caucasian patients may be due to the initial differences in the hormone profile between the healthy Caucasian and Bantu women and to the different environmental factors that promote the breast disease in Western women.

Column: Reflections on year's stories Lt. Jay Steinke of the Appleton Police Department gives a hug to Lindsay Kastner as she talks about health issues with her family as he patrols College Avenue in Appleton, Wis., Saturday night, October 3, 2015, into the early hours of Sunday morning. The walk brings Steinke into contact with the public, many who have developed an appreciation over the years for the way he deals with people. Ron Page/Post-Crescent Media (Photo: Ron Page/Post-Crescent Media, Ron Page/Post-Crescent Media)Buy Photo Appleton police Lt. Jay Steinke rarely makes it through a bar — or even a few steps down College Avenue — without being recognized and stopped while on weekend patrols. "That (expletive) renewed my faith in police officers," one patron told Steinke's fellow officer, Capt. Larry Potter, on a recent Sunday morning patrol. John Wallschlaeger, a mental health pioneer, retired from the Appleton Police Department. With his retirement came the creation of a separate team of eight officers trained in crisis intervention who are paired with community members with mental health challenges. A then-15-year-old boy was charged in the death of a 13-year-old boy in Wausau. He was charged in the adult system with first-degree reckless homicide. This story looked at how much his sentence could differ depending on whether his case stayed in the adult court system or moved to juvenile court.

8/23/2010 Holiday in Dolní Morava 3/3 Friday 20th April Through beautiful sunny day Martin nad I went on a trip to Pastviny dam. We rented a treadle boat with a toboggan. However we did not almost used it because Martin teached me about infinitude, even and uneven numbers and so all the time. Saturday 21st August A day of a Hill running. Our hill climb menas a lot of people start at 11 AM to run from Dolní Morava municipal office on top of the mountain of Králický sněžník. Martin wanted to look at start of the run, but he was not able to get up so early in the morning. Fortunately the race route led around our house and even more around our bedroom window. It is unbelieavable the fastes runner was on top in 57 minutes. He was faster than was my breakfast. The rest of Sunday morning plan consists in a cutting grass [me] and an uprooting [Martin]. In the afternoon we visited an annual army celebration - Cihelna 2010. There were two live shows: 1) fight between Czech gandarmery and a frontier police with German gunrunners [real history] 2) German army attack on infantry bunker K-S 14 U Cihelny with Czech defense [fiction because of the Munich Agreement]. Sunday 22nd August The big housecleaning. A company on next year holiday is needed even for the last day cleaning. No comments: This blog is just one of my ways how to improve my English. I know that my English is not very good now. Be patient with me, please. And of course, correct my mistakes, if you would like.I started to write in English in November 2007 and inchmeal I would like to translate to English whole my Czech blog.

President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE’s call for a large-scale military parade in Washington, D.C., drew considerable pushback Wednesday even as the military made clear that they are moving forward with the idea. On Tuesday night, the White House confirmed a report from The Washington Post that Trump had requested that the Pentagon begin planning a military parade. ADVERTISEMENT Defense Secretary James Mattis James Norman MattisBiden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Trump says he wanted to take out Syria's Assad but Mattis opposed it Gary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November MORE said officials are working on options to present to the president. “I think we’re all aware in this country of the president’s affection and respect for the military,” Mattis told reporters at the White House. “We’ve been putting together some options. We’ll send them up to the White House for decision.” But when asked about the cost of a parade after he spent much of the briefing making the case for adequate, stable defense funding, Mattis dodged. “I think what my responsibility is to make certain I lay out the strategy and make the argument for the oversight of Congress to make the determination of fully funding us. As far as the parade goes, again, the president’s respect, his fondness for the military, I think is reflected in him asking for these options,” Mattis said. Trump has long expressed a desire for a display of the military’s might in the capital. He reportedly wanted to include tanks and missile launchers in his inauguration parade, and has also said he’s considering a military parade for the Fourth of July. According to the Post, Trump made the request the Pentagon is now planning for during a Jan. 18 meeting with Pentagon brass, including Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Asked about the parade on Wednesday, Dunford would only confirm the request. “I’m aware of the president’s request, and we are in the initial planning stages to meet the president’s direction,” Dunford said, according to reporters traveling with him in Bangkok. The Pentagon has since said the Army will take the lead on planning the parade, but it cautioned that no decisions have been made on when it will occur or what it will entail. “We are aware of the request and are in the process of determining specific details. As you can expect, this is a complex event and there are many variables that go into the planning and execution of a parade,” Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis told The Hill. “DOD will provide options for the president and send them to the White House for review.” The president’s critics quickly pounced on the idea of a military parade, saying it evokes the tactics of the Soviet Union or North Korea, not a democracy that is sure of its military strength. Reps. Ruben Gallego Ruben GallegoHispanic caucus report takes stock of accomplishments with eye toward 2021 Senators call on Pentagon to reinstate funding for Stars and Stripes newspaper Hispanic Caucus campaign chief to mount leadership bid MORE (D-Ariz.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), military veterans on the House Armed Services Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee, respectively, wrote a letter to Mattis urging him to tell Trump such a parade would be “frivolous.” “No one in the world doubts the strength of our military or the professionalism of our men and women in uniform,” they wrote. “A parade will not alter that perception. Instead, it will likely prompt ridicule from our friends and foes alike. It should go without saying that just because authoritarian regimes like Russia and North Korea hold massive military parades does not mean that we must as well.” Rep. Adam Smith David (Adam) Adam SmithWhen 'Buy American' and common sense collide Overnight Defense: Marine Corps brushes off criticism of Marines' appearance in GOP convention video | US troops injured in collision with Russian vehicle in Syria | Dems ask for probe of Vindman retaliation allegations Democrats press Pentagon watchdog to probe allegations of retaliation against Vindman brothers MORE (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, likewise said he was “greatly concerned” with the reported plans. “The military is not President Trump’s personal toy set,” Smith said in a statement. “He cannot be allowed to continue focusing on parades and ego-inflating toys instead of real, basic military needs that can jeopardize lives if they are not met.” Top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee sent a letter to Mattis demanding answers on the cost of such an event. “At a time of war, with American service members serving in harm’s way, such a parade seems to be inappropriate and wasteful,” the lawmakers wrote. “Every penny of the millions of dollars that the parade would cost and every second of the tens of thousands of personnel hours its execution would require, should be devoted to the most essential missions of the Department of Defense — protecting the American people and our security interests.” Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, said they were sympathetic to the desire to honor the military, though they raised concerns about cost and other particulars. “Cost would be a factor,” Rep. Lee Zeldin Lee ZeldinDCCC reserves new ad buys in competitive districts, adds new members to 'Red to Blue' program Overnight Defense: House panel probes Pompeo's convention speech | UN council rejects US demand to restore Iran sanctions | Court rules against Pentagon policy slowing expedited citizenship The Hill's 12:30 Report: Republicans conduct in-person convention roll call MORE (R-N.Y.) said on CNN on Tuesday night. “I don’t believe that we should have tanks or nuclear weapons going down Pennsylvania Avenue. … If there’s an idea that could have a greater celebration — obviously I have a question or two as far as costs go — but I’d be all for hearing out any ideas to make a more special July 4 Independence Day experience here in Washington, D.C.” Rep. Mac Thornberry William (Mac) McClellan ThornberryTrump payroll-tax deferral for federal workers sparks backlash Overnight Defense: Woodward book causes new firestorm | Book says Trump lashed out at generals, told Woodward about secret weapons system | US withdrawing thousands of troops from Iraq Top Armed Services Republican 'dismayed' at Trump comments on military leaders MORE (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he didn’t “know that it’s necessary” and pivoted to touting a budget deal reached Wednesday. “Any time you can show appreciation and admiration the men and women in uniform who serve in the military that’s a good thing,” he continued. “But the best way to show it is to support this budget and make that they have planes that fly and ships that sail and have the training they needs for missions.” Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg Democratic senator calls for eliminating filibuster, expanding Supreme Court if GOP fills vacancy What Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies MORE (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN he supports a parade that focuses on the troops rather than military equipment. “I don’t mind having a parade honoring the service and sacrifice of our military members,” Graham said. “I’m not looking for a Soviet-style hardware display. That’s not who we are, it’s kind of cheesy and I think it shows weakness, quite frankly.” There’s precedent for having a military parade in Washington that showcases military hardware alongside the troops. The last such parade was held in 1991, to celebrate the end of the Gulf War. In that display, President George H.W. Bush watched as Abrams tanks and Patriot missile systems rolled by 200,000 spectators on Constitution Avenue as stealth fighter planes flew above and fireworks were set off. The display cost an estimated $8 million. Trump’s supporters say critics of the parade are being disingenuous and skewing history. James Carafano, a defense policy expert at the Heritage Foundation who is close with the administration, knocked both the arguments about optics and funding, but said there are “way bigger issues” to debate than a parade. “It’s pretty fatuous that we’ve been gutting our military and readiness for years and now they’re saying something because of a parade,” he said. “Where were they in the eight years we’ve been gutting our military?” But Rebeccah Heinrichs, a national security expert at the Hudson Institute, argued it’s “out of whack to be thinking about a grand military parade in the capital,” at a time of constrained defense budgets. “The hysteria about this being authoritarian is completely overdone, but I will say right now, Congress is having a very difficult time passing a full-year defense spending bill,” she said.

# TileOverlayOptions interface ```typescript let options: TileOverlayOptions = { getTile: (x: number, y: number, zoom: number) => { return "http://tile.stamen.com/watercolor/" + zoom + "/" + x + "/" + y + ".jpg"; }, visible: true, zIndex: 0, tileSize: 512, opacity: 1.0, debug: false }; this.map.addTileOverlay(options); ``` ## Interface members <table> <tr> <th>Params</th> <th>Type</th> <th>Details</th> </tr> <tr> <td>getTile</td> <td>function</td> <td>This callback must Returns string of image URL. If no tile, you need to Returns null.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>visible</td> <td>boolean</td> <td>(optional)Set false if you want to create invisible tilelayer.(Default is true)</td> </tr> <tr> <td>zIndex</td> <td>number</td> <td>(optional)Hierarchy z-index of tilelayer</td> </tr> <tr> <td>tileSize</td> <td>number</td> <td>(optional)Default: 512px</td> </tr> <tr> <td>opacity</td> <td>number</td> <td>(optional)from 0.0 to 1.0</td> </tr> <tr> <td>debug</td> <td>boolean</td> <td>(optional)Set true if you want to display the tile information over the tile images.</td> </tr> </table>

Google’s fund that invests in budding companies said Thursday it will start a $100 million fund in Europe, making official a long-rumored move. The pot of money is smaller than many other funds operated by investors such as Index Ventures and Balderton Capital, but deep-pocketed search giant described this as “initial funding” In a blog post, Google Venture’s managing partner Bill Maris said the European arm would be similar to the group’s mission in the U.S.: help identify and guide entrepreneurs with great ideas. He said startups need more than just money, they need “engineering support, design expertise, and guidance with recruiting, marketing.” The fund is working with with more than 250 companies, Maris said, including Nest Labs, which it acquired earlier this year for $3.2 billion, Uber Technologies and Blue Bottle Coffee.

In spite of the rapid and continued emergence of drug resistant pathogens, there has been an alarming decline in drug discovery efforts in the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, there is a need to develop drugs to treat infections for pathogens.

// REQUIRED_ARGS: -o- -H -Hf${RESULTS_DIR}/compilable/testheaderudamodule.di // PERMUTE_ARGS: // POST_SCRIPT: compilable/extra-files/header-postscript.sh @(1, UDA(2)) module testheaderudamodule; struct UDA { int a; } void main() {} void foo(@(1) int bar, @UDA(2) string bebe) {}

Q: Constructing Multiplication Table for Multiplication Modulo I have this question Consider G={1,5,7,11,13,17} under Multiplication Modulo 18.Construct Multiplication Table for G.I have constructed the following Im i correct ? A: When just multiplying in the reals I get: $$\begin{array}{c|cccccc} \times & 1 & 5 & 7 & 11 & 13 & 17\\ \hline1 & 1 & 5 & 7 & 11 & 13 & 17\\ 5 & 5 & 25 & 35 & 55 & 65 & 85\\ 7 & 7 & 35 & 49 & 77 & 91 & 119\\ 11 & 11 & 55 & 77 & 121 & 143 & 187\\ 13 & 13 & 65 & 91 & 143 & 169 & 221\\ 17 & 17 & 85 & 119 & 187 & 221 & 289 \end{array} $$ Then $\mod 18$ we get $$\begin{array}{c|cccccc} \times & 1 & 5 & 7 & 11 & 13 & 17\\ \hline 1 & 1 & 5 & 7 & 11 & 13 & 17\\ 5 & 5 & 7 & 17 & 1 & 11 & 13\\ 7 & 7 & 17 & 13 & 5 & 1 & 11\\ 11 & 11 & 1 & 5 & 13 & 17 & 7\\ 13 & 13 & 11 & 1 & 17 & 7 & 5\\ 17 & 17 & 13 & 11 & 7 & 5 & 1 \end{array}$$ So only the $5$ on the bottom left is wrong, this should be $11$. As it is a commutative group, you should have a symmetry relative to the diagonal, this would provide a quick way that finds this error.

We Are Ruled By Idiots: Susan Collins/Ben Nelson division Update: TPM points out in one of their updates to this story that (a) the list of proposed cuts keeps changing and (b) that this is in fact an effort to secure the votes for passage of the bill. So on the theory that some bill is better than none, this may be worth the effort. But the choices still matter, and cutting science and technology and public health when the bill still retains less-efficient tax cuts is folly. If the 100 billion that the group seeks to cut slashed tax side money at least as much (and much better much more) than shovel-ready spending, then it would be more palatable. But given the sausage injunction, I’ve toned down the language of disdain below. From TPM comes this word: that Senator Collins (R(know nothing)-ME and Senator Nelson (D(who won that last election?)-NE) have come up the almost 80 billion dollars worth of cuts to the stimulus that will somehow speed our transition back into a simulacrum of economic health. TPM highlighted the 1.4 billion cut in stimulus funding for the NSF — 100% of the total proposed in the Democratic majority bill. But in fact the proposals are actually much worse than the topline message at TPM indicates. One thing that becomes clear from reading the details of the Nelson/Collins “compromise” is that these folks just don’t get science. Which means, in essence that they do not get how to stimulate an economy: you want to spend the money on stuff that not only gets cash into circulation fast (as buying equipment, hiring students and researchers, renting space, paying for telephony and all the rest actually do), but on stuff that will produce more money-making (and spending) activity in the future. That is to say, science and its applications leads to figuring stuff out that makes a difference in people’s lives. Tax cuts, by contrast, do so only indirectly, if at all, and at a fraction of the efficiency that comes from actually just hiring people to go out get to work. What we are seeing here, thus, is an example of the operative definition of neurosis — the repetition of an action over and over again, whilst expecting a different outcome this time — our distinguished representatives, especially almost every Republican (Ben! What are you doing in such company?) serving in Congress right now — are effectively residents of Bedlam So: what is it that that Collins and Nelson et al. can’t quite see themselves voting for: Starting from the top, at the Department of Agriculture: Whack $100 million off food research — 100 % of the total proposed. Next: $750 million gone from NASA’s exploration budget, half of the proposed total, along all of the 1.4 billion NSF money, as mentioned above. Next: NOAA gets a haircut to the tune of $422 million, a 35% trim — suck on that Florida and the rest of the hurricane belt, just for starters — while the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the most important unknown agencies in the government, loses $750 million, or half of its proposed stimulus funding. And the hits keep coming! One billion, 38% of the total, off of the DOE’s energy efficiency/renewable energy research budget — now there’s some forward looking policy! 4.5 billion — big numbers, folks — or 47% of proposed funds for DOE’s EISA energy technology loan guarantee program. That’s money that goes to folks in private industry (get that free market zealots — companies out in the world) to support commercial-potential energy research. There is a bunch of political-economy debate you can have about how best to do this, but basically this is money spent to reduce our dependence on energy sources that have been the focus of conflict for a long, long time. Dumb, dumb, dumb! The beat goes on. I’m not sure if you’d call this research, but the enriched uranium processing funds get removed altogether, to the tune of 390 mil. And the DOE Office of Science — which, for those that want to see a nuclear energy future is a major source of research funds — also loses all the proposed stimulus it would otherwise receive, $100 million. On the next page of the good senators’ proposal, Department of Homeland Security loses all of the 14 million bucks proposed for cybersecurity research. Damn — why don’t we just tell Bin Laden to get his cryptographers rolling? And this is surely not scientific research, but these deep thinkers want to cut all 20 million from the Interior Dept’s dream of creating a department wide modern computer and financial management system. Heaven forfend that the goverment might actually be given the tools to run more effectively! Let’s see. What atrocities lurk on this page? How about a 100 percent cut — 610 million — for Department of Eductation disability research. 5.185 billion, 90% of the total sought, hacked off the HHS’s desire to spend money on disease prevention. It’s somehow better for the economy to let HIV infected folks go untested and, perhaps, remain disease vectors, than it is to spend money, right now, on work that could save people’s lives. Other people will, I’m sure, comment on the foolishness of many of the other choices — one of my favorites at a time when (a) US physical infrastructure is in pieces, lagging well behind the quality of basic transport in many of our competitors, and (b) when projects that get US citizens out on the roads and bridges building stuff would be a damn good idea (wait for the new jobless claims tomorrow, if you haven’t figured that one out), these Solons seem to think hauling 5.5 billion in discretionary DOT project funds makes sense. I mean really? Just to talk for a moment to my neighbors up the highway: Maine, you need roads and bridges just like the rest of us, and you could surely use an extension of the rail line up to Brunswick at least (if you make your money off tourism, figuring out how to get tourists past the bottlenecks in the road system might be a good idea. Just sayin…), and so on and on,=. With all that, what were you thinking when you sent your pinnacle of legislative competence back to Washington last Nov? But I digress. Add up all the science/medicine/technology spending Nelson and Collins want to eliminate and it adds up to over 14 billion dollars. That’s a lot of science, technological development and public health, that won’t get done if these two have their way. And all this is spending that is, to use the mantra targeted, timely, and as temporary as anything else in government. In the end what I see here is legislative frivolousness. This isn’t a list that suggests anyone thought about what they were doing or why. It’s just a bit of Washington “bipartisanship.” If you want cuts, get rid of the tax breaks that everyone who actually studies the record of such things agree are the least effective way of adding life to our stricken economy, and spend the money on people and things right now. And if you can do it buying work that will continue to pay off in the future — that might even be good governance. Perish the thought. Yes, Sen. Nelson is close to being a “D” in name only, it’s true. That’s the only way anybody with a “D” wins in Nebraska. Though Obama did win the Omaha electoral vote by a margin of about a dozen. Is that what you call “political capital,” then? I’d like to think this is an attempt by the rep. side to shift the Overton window (and it may well be), but frankly it looks like the 100bil that they want to cut is exactly the 100bil that I actually wanted to see come out of this. Frankly I think tax cuts should be dropped from the bill altogether. Those of us working and making money aren’t really the ones being murdered by this economy. Stunted, sure, but recoverable. It’s fairly simple: huge debts like this don’t get paid out because the country cut its budget down. The debt gets covered when the GDP grows more rapidly than the deficit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/83/246565828_264a91facd.jpg Increase the GDP; reduce payout to the middle east for oil by improving the local energy situation (higher efficiency, new technologies, homegrown energy sources, and not just one). Among other things, of course, but it generally hinges on technology improvement (science). Tax refund is a republican welfare check. Anything of this nature needs to be directed at extended unemployment funding- you know, people who are still eligible to work being helped to remain a piece of the economy and hopefully retain their homes (and not continue to crash the housing market). On a related note: I did notice that as soon as mention of cutting compensation for corporations assisted by the .gov to maximum government pay scales happened, the corporations started talking about giving the money back. Funny joke, taking billions from the taxpayers for personal bonuses.

Inorganic chemicals are a combination of two or more elements other than carbon. Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbides, carbonates, and cyanides are exceptions, as these are inorganic chemicals despite having carbon. Rising demand for inorganic chemicals in the fertilizers industry is expected to be one of the prime factors driving market growth. Moreover, due to stringent government regulations and stagnant economy in the developed countries of North America and Europe, the market is estimated to fuel growth of the market in emerging economies of Asia Pacific and Middle East. Cheap labor costs in countries such as China and India, makes these the preferred production hubs for global manufacturers. This helps reduce the overall cost of production of inorganic chemicals. Increasing environmental consciousness and implementation of stringent regulations influences market players to switch technology shifting and producing environment friendly products. Inorganic Chemicals Market Taxonomy On the basis of product type, the global market is classified into: Ammonia Chlor alkali Ammonium nitrate Ammonium sulfate Inorganic acid Sodium hydroxide Hydrogen peroxide Oxygen Nitrogen Others On the basis of geography, the global market is classified into: North America U.S. Canada Europe U.K. Germany Italy France Spain Russia Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China India Japan ASEAN Australia South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of Latin America Middle East GCC Countries Israel Rest of Middle East Africa Northern Africa Central Africa South Africa Inorganic Chemicals Market Outlook – Surge in Demand for Ammonia for Agricultural Application Augmenting Market Growth Population explosion witnessed over the last five decades has put considerable strain upon the already stretched thin agricultural sector. Moreover, rapid urbanization led to steep fall in farmland which force down the farmer for duel cultivation, characterized by large volumes of fertilizers being used to maintain optimum soil fertility. Nitrogen-based fertilizers are widely used by farmers, as it is easily available, cost-effective, and rather effective in increasing fertility of the soil. This in turn is expected to fuel the inorganic chemicals market during the forecast period. Ammonia is also used for cold storage and food preservation in the food & beverages industry. Moreover, the explosive manufacturing industry uses ammonium nitrate in bomb manufacturing. Asia Pacific is expected to be one of the most lucrative markets of manufacturers of inorganic chemicals, due to strengthening of the economy and strong agricultural base in China, India, and South East Asian countries. Inorganic Chemicals Market Challenges – Fluctuating Crude Oil Price and Stringent Government Regulations Fluctuating prices of crude oil and natural gas is expected to significantly dampen growth of inorganic chemicals market. Crude oil and natural gas are the basic building blocks of numerous inorganic chemicals industry. Moreover, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for 21st Century Act upon Toxic Chemicals and Chinese State Environment Protection Administration and General Administration of Custom has enforced strict regulation upon import and export of certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides. These are few challenges for inorganic chemical manufacturing company during the forecast period. Inorganic Chemicals Market – Regulatory Scenario: February 24, 2004, U.S. Department of State enforce the Rotterdam Convention as an international treaty designed to facilitate informed decision-making by countries with regard to trade in hazardous chemicals. January 01, 2006, The State Environment Protection Administration and the General Administration of Custom of China, In order to strictly prevent illegal export of toxic chemicals and earnestly improve the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. June 22, 2016, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical safety for 21st century act updated the 1976 toxic substances control act, which allows EPA to protect the people of US from toxic chemicals. Key players in the inorganic chemicals market include Akzo Nobel, BASF SE, Bayer, The Dow Chemicals Company, DuPont, Evonik Industries, Formosa Plastics, Ineos, LG Chem, LyondellBasell Industries, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Sabic, The Royal Dutch Shell, Sinopec, Sumitomo Chemicals. Strategic mergers and acquisitions is the new trend in the industry. For instance, BASF SE and Avantium on March 15, 2016, collaborated to establish production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid and PEF based. Moreover, May 10, 2016, BASF SE launch new cross linking and water based dispersion coating product. Key Developments Increasing adoption of inorganic chemicals in various industries is expected to boost the market growth. For instance, on September 10, 2019, Reflect Scientific, Inc., a provider of products and services for the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and transportation industries, released the Cryometrix L-80 liquid chiller, for the cannabis extraction market. The L-80 liquid chiller uses a liquid nitrogen cooling technology. Key players in the market are focused on gaining product approvals to expand their product portfolio. For instance, in February 2018, Evonik Industries received pharmaceutical approvals for hydrogen peroxide (ASPERIX Vet) from the European Medicines Agency for salmon farming in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Iceland. Key players in the market are focused on adopting partnership strategies to enhance their production capabilities in order to enhance their market share. For instance, in February 2018, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals and Evonik Industries started production of chlorine and potassium hydroxide at their new joint venture in Germany. The facility has a production capacity of 120,000 metric tons of potassium hydroxide and 75,000 metric tons of chlorine, annually.

After winning 5 of 6 regular season games from Lethbridge, Kootenay took Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semi-finals series by turning a 2-0 third period deficit into a 3-2 win. Ben Maxwell (undrafted) scored his fifth of the playoffs to win the game for the Ice at the 13 minute mark of the third period. Game 2 is Saturday night in Lethbridge. The T-Birds chased All-WHL goalie Chet Pickard when they jumped out to a 6-1 lead less than 3 minutes into the third period then added one more for good measure on their way to a 7-1 win. Pickard led the WHL with a 46-12-2-2 record this year and is expected to be one of the first goalies taken at this summer’s draft. Colton Yellow Horn and Jason Reese had a short-handed breakaway for Tri-City with 30 seconds left in the first, but couldn't get the puck past Helenius. A goal there would have cut Seattle's lead to 2-1. Seattle got a hat trick from Ian MacKenzie (undrafted) to help them steal home-ice advantage from the Americans, who hadn’t played in 9 days after sweeping Kamloops. No.1 Tri-City was 5-4 against Seattle this year with both teams earning an overtime win. Game 2 is Saturday night in Kennewick, Washington. Karri Ramo allowed 3 goals on 39 shots in the loss. Ramo held the game at 1-1 despite a 2 to 1 shot disparity in favor of the Capitals until a third period power play allowed the Caps to break the deadlock for good. With just a little more goal support, Ramo might've had a signature win to close out his season. Matt Smaby was -1 in 16:20 tonight with 5 hits and 1 blocked shot. He also took a pair of minors: one for tripping and one for holding.

--- title: ChartFormat.SoftEdge Property (Word) keywords: vbawd10.chm203030534 f1_keywords: - vbawd10.chm203030534 ms.prod: word api_name: - Word.ChartFormat.SoftEdge ms.assetid: 3f70fb9e-f5f2-3bdf-a957-68d329823cb2 ms.date: 06/08/2017 --- # ChartFormat.SoftEdge Property (Word) Returns the soft edge formatting for a shape. Read-only **[SoftEdgeFormat](softedgeformat-object-word.md)** . ## Syntax _expression_ . **SoftEdge** _expression_ A variable that represents a **[ChartFormat](chartformat-object-word.md)** object. ## See also #### Concepts [ChartFormat Object](chartformat-object-word.md)

Oil hits 18-year low as lockdowns diminish demand London — Crude oil fell sharply on Monday, with U.S. crude briefly dropping below $20 and Brent hitting its lowest level in 18 years, on heightened fears that the global coronavirus shutdown could last months and demand for fuel could evaporate further. Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, was down $1.93, or %7.7, at $23.00 by 0820 GMT, after earlier dropping to $22.76, the lowest since November 2002. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.14, or %5.3, to $20.37. The price of oil is now so low that it is becoming unprofitable to many oil firms to remain active, analysts said, and higher cost producers will have no choice but to shut production, especially since storage capacities are almost full. “Global oil demand is evaporating on the back of COVID-19-related travel restrictions and social distancing measures,” said UBS oil analyst Giovanni Staunovo. “In the near term, oil prices may need to trade lower into the cash cost curve to trigger production shut-ins to start to prevent tank tops to be reached,” he added. Hussein Sayed, analyst at FXTM also said: “This game of attrition is likely to drag prices even lower and even a price of $10 per barrel is no longer unimaginable.” Besides demand destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the oil markets have also been slammed by the Saudi Arabia-Russia price war that is flooding markets with extra supply. An official from Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said on Friday the kingdom was not in talks with Russia to balance oil markets despite rising pressure from Washington to stop the rout that has cut prices by more than 60% this year. With world demand now forecast to plunge 15 million or 20 million barrels per day, a 20% drop from last year, analysts say massive production cuts will be needed beyond just the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. “OPEC, Saudi Arabia and Russia could mend their differences, but there’s not that much OPEC could do …. The demand shock from COVID-19 is just too big,” said Lachlan Shaw, National Australia Bank’s head of commodities research. The contango spread between May and November Brent crude futures LCOc1-LCOc7 reached its widest ever at $13.45 a barrel, while the six-month spread for U.S. crude CLc1-CLc7 broadened to minus $12.85 a barrel, the widest discount since February 2009. Prompt prices are lower than those in future months in a contango market, encouraging traders to store oil for future sales. Asian shares also slipped on Monday despite the all-out efforts of the central banks to bolster the markets with rate cuts and asset-buying campaigns. China’s central bank unexpectedly cut the rate on reverse repurchase agreements by 20 basis points on Monday, the largest in nearly five years, as authorities ramped up steps to relieve pressure on an economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. About Sweet Crude Limited is a media company which publishes SweetcrudeReports and provides media consultancy services for both local and foreign entities either already operating in Nigeria or looking to start up operations in-country.

Blog Archives At first everything went as planned: the vehicle separated from a B-52 Stratofortress high above a naval air warfare center sea range in California and decoupled from the rocket booster. But 31 seconds into the test, a problem developed with a cruiser control fin and the X-51A Waverider hypersonic vehicle plummeted into the Pacific Ocean, missing its target of […] India is seriously contemplating to enhance the reach of its strategic missiles. The Defence Ministry is considering a proposal to develop intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) [often labelled Surya 1 or 2] capable of hitting targets 10,000 km away. At present, there is a voluntary cap on developing missiles beyond 5,000-km range and the ICBM capabilities […]

NBA Legend Hal Greer has died, according to the Philadelphia 76ers Twitter page. Greer, who is a former NBA Champion with Philadelphia and a member of the Marshall Thundering Herd, broke the color barrier back in the 1950's. He was the first African-American to play at a state university in West Virginia. According to Marshall University, Greer scored 1,377 points and hauled in 765 rebounds. He was picked in the second round of the 1958 NBA Draft by the Syracuse nationals, who later became the Philadelphia 76ers. Greer scored more than 20,000 points in the NBA, won a championship in 1967 and has a street named after him in Huntington. According to USA Today, the 76er's will honor Greer during game 2 of their first-round series with the Miami Heat Monday night. Marshall University released the following statement about Greer's passing: Marshall athletics remembers the life of Hal Greer, who passed away on Saturday. Greer was a Marshall legend, an NBA champion and a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer. During his time at Marshall, Greer solidified his place as one of the greatest representatives of the university and Marshall athletics, while also breaking boundaries. “I’m terribly saddened by the news of Hal’s passing,” said Marshall Director of Athletics Mike Hamrick. “I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with him and his family back in February of 2012 when we closed the doors on the Veterans Memorial Field House. That is a memory I will always cherish. My thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.” Greer’s legacy includes being a Mid-American Conference MVP in 1958 and a two-time All-MAC selection, but his biggest and most significant accomplishment was becoming the first black athlete to play for Marshall and made 71 appearances in a Herd jersey. Greer was inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame for his career in basketball and baseball in 1985. “Hal was a fantastic ambassador for Marshall and a great basketball player,” Marshall men’s basketball head coach Dan D’Antoni said. “He will forever be remembered by Herd fans and will be enshrined forever with the boulevard that is named after him.” Greer enjoyed a long career in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers that included being an NBA champion in 1967, 10-time NBA All-Star, the 76ers’ all-time leader in points, field goals, field goals attempted, games and minutes played. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 and was the first player to have his number (#15) retired by the 76ers organization in 1976. We extend our deepest condolences and send our love, thoughts and prayers to the Greer family during this difficult time.

Q: Extract details from dir output in Windows XP using for loop (batch script) I am trying to understand the for loop in batch scripting; in particular with skip and tokens parameters. I have found a great example in this answer followed by this nice read. I would like to see how I can extract the date and time from a dir in Windows XP which has a slightly different dir output (see below example outputs) compared to Windows 7. In other words, how to extract creation date of a specific folder in Windows XP. The following modified code from the above mentioned links correctly extracts the date and time of a DIR in Windows 7 but fails (i.e. extracts other characters) in Windows XP: SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION set "path_of_folder=C:\folderA\folderB" for /f "skip=5 tokens=1,2,4 delims= " %%a in ( 'dir /ad /tc "%path_of_folder%\."') do IF "%%c"=="." ( set "dt=%%a" set dirdate=%%a set dirtime=%%b echo !dirdate!, !dirtime! set dirday=!dirdate:~0,2! echo !dirday! ) In Windows 7 the dir command in the command prompt outputs something similar to: Directory of C:\Windows 12/21/2016 12:56 <DIR> . 12/21/2016 12:56 <DIR> .. 09/18/2017 07.42 678 config In Windows XP the dir command in the command prompt outputs something similar to: Directory of C:\WINDOWS 12/21/2016 12:56 PM <DIR> . 12/21/2016 12:56 PM <DIR> .. 09/18/2017 07.42 PM 678 config The only difference (as far as I can notice) is the PM column(?) which does not exist in Windows 7 but does exist in Windows XP. I know this is probably a trivial question but I am new in batch scripting and seeing a specific example using a complex for loop would help my understanding. Assume use of delayed expansion. A: Time formats provided in windows listings depend on user-settings. Unfortunately, you've posted doctored listings, not actual data (evidence - exactly the same time and date for each of the data elements listed, bar the PM flag, despite their being allegedly on different systems) fix : Easy way is to align the systems' UI settings - use the same format on both machines. code to cope: @ECHO Off SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION SET "required_format=12" for /f "tokens=1-5 delims= " %%a in ( 'type q44964366.txt^|FINDSTR /L /E /c:" ."') do ( set "dt=%%a" set dirdate=%%a set dirtime=%%b IF "%%e"=="." ( REM reading 12-hr format - convert to 24-hr IF "!dirtime:~0,2!"=="12" ( IF /i "%%c"=="PM" ( SET "dirtime=12!dirtime:~2!" ) else ( SET "dirtime=00!dirtime:~2!" ) ) ELSE ( IF /i "%%c"=="PM" ( SET /a $=2!dirtime:~0,2!-88 SET "dirtime=!$:~-2!!dirtime:~2!" ) ) ) REM else is in 24-hr format already IF %required_format%==12 ( SET /a $=1!dirtime:~0,2! IF !$!==100 SET "dirtime=12!dirtime:~2! AM" IF !$! gtr 100 IF !$! leq 111 SET "dirtime=!dirtime! AM" IF !$!==112 SET "dirtime=12!dirtime:~2! PM" IF !$! gtr 112 SET /a $=$-12&SET "dirtime=!$:~-2!!dirtime:~2! PM" ) echo !dirdate!, !dirtime! set dirday=!dirdate:~0,2! echo !dirday! ) GOTO :EOF For testing, I used a file containing typical dir lines. You would need to substitute the dir command from the original for the type q44964366.txt The caret (^) before the pipe (|) tells cmd that the pipe is part of the command to be executed. The pipe outputs the data (from the dir command) and filds all those lines which /L Literally /E end /c:"string" with the constant string - note that this is Space. which neatly filters out all but the . directoryname, so proceeding with the analysis of the processing on the . name - which is the only name the findstr will allow through... Since we now are using tokens=1-5 then %%e can only be set to . if the line is in 12-hr format, else it's in 24-hr format. To convert to 24-hr format, we need to see whether %%c is PM (else it's AM) and if so, add 12 to the hours digits except for 12 in the hours digits, when we need to set the hours digits to 00 for AM and 12 for PM. The last of these conversions is obvious, but for non-12:xx PM, we take the two hours digits and append them to 2 making a string 2hh. cmd mathematics treats any numeric starting 0 as octal, so 09:xx would create an error. 209 it can cope with as it's decimal. From that, subtract 88, which is 100-12. This produces a 3-digit number which batch treats as a string, and we need the last 2 of the characters. You don't specify your preferred format, so we may need to conver to 12-hr (in the code, if that has been chosen in required_format) In 12-hr mode, we need to subtract 12 hours if the time is PM, and take care of the special values 12:xx and 00:xx. This is again done by stringing the first 2 digits of the time with a constant to form a nice 3-digit decimal value. 100 means 12:xx AM 112 means 12:xx PM 101-111 means we simply need to add AM and if it's greater than 112 (eg 15:xx in 24-hour format) then we need to subtract 12 and take the last 2 characters of the result as the hours digits; then add PM. And done. type q44964366.txt replaced by the dir command from the original 'dir /ad /tc "%path_of_folder%."^|FINDSTR /L /E /c:" ."') do (

Newsletter Login Form Watch as the sugaring process takes place. Kevin and his father Bob will take you through a sentimental journey of the old days in modern times. Making maple syrup is a love we have and pass onto you through great maple syrup. These pictures are of us creating new sugarbushes with tubing or buckets, maintaining the sugarbush, and processing syrup in our newly renovated 40X60 sugarhouse. Make yourself at home. ENJOY! Tapping is done by Kevin(left) and Bob(right). Tapping takes generally a week to do. These are only some of our buckets. These trees are on our property here at the farm. We collect these with our Kawasaki Mule with a tank in the back. This is one of many groves we have on tubing. We are expanding all the time. This is one of many releasers we have. If you look closely you can see a sap line in the end of the releaser. This is our 2X6 Algier wood fired evaporator. Bob is waiting for the sap to start boiling. This is our Waterloo/Small 3X8 oil fired evaporator. We process roughly 15 gallons of syrup an hour on R/O'd sap. The auto drawoff is on our oil evaporator. It definitely helps when we run both evaporators and sap is running more then expected. This filtering stage is only one of many that we do before it gets to the bottle on the shelf. Using our filter press helps in making a great tasting syrup. The canner has a foot operated bottling attachment that helps speed up the process, being able to handle the empty and full containers at once.

// Auto-generated - DO NOT EDIT package pg_query func (node FromExpr) Deparse() string { panic("Not Implemented") }

Online Decision Platforms Loomio - free code (AGPL) inspired by Occupy, and developed by a worker-owned cooperative. Groups can start discussions on a topic, then run through a series of consensus decisions on that topic. LiquidFeedback - free code (MIT) inspired by the Pirate Party, and developed by the Public Software Group. Implements the Liquid Democracy concept of people being able to vote on any decision, or delegate their vote to another trusted person. DemocracyOS - free code (MIT) created by the founders of the Net Party in Argentina. Uses blockchain technology inspired by BitCoin to certify decisions. Translated into 5+ languages. Votorola - "...an experimental technology for the public guidance of electoral systems, exec­u­tive of­fices, legis­latures, and other decision sys­tems. Unique­ly it combines the de­vices of re­combin­ant text, trans­i­tive voting, and vote pipes to build a max­imum of person­al freedom into its facil­i­ties. The main facil­i­ties are tree-form, de­cision guide­ways. Voto­rol­a deploys the leaf­ward edges of these in sup­port of the pub­lic sphere, where they pro­vide a pur­pose and out­let for ration­al dis­course." GroupMindExpress - Commercial and proprietary. "Your team’s collective intelligence is greater than the sum of its parts; help them align with strategic planning and organizational development tools from GroupMind™. Strategic planning, change management, and organizational development processes benefit from experienced consultants with software that leverages collective intelligence."

// SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT) use crate::deserialize::cache::*; use crate::exc::*; use crate::ffi::*; use crate::typeref::*; use crate::unicode::*; use serde::de::{self, DeserializeSeed, Deserializer, MapAccess, SeqAccess, Visitor}; use smallvec::SmallVec; use std::borrow::Cow; use std::fmt; use std::ptr::NonNull; use wyhash::wyhash; pub fn deserialize( ptr: *mut pyo3::ffi::PyObject, ) -> std::result::Result<NonNull<pyo3::ffi::PyObject>, String> { let obj_type_ptr = ob_type!(ptr); let contents: &[u8]; if is_type!(obj_type_ptr, STR_TYPE) { let mut str_size: pyo3::ffi::Py_ssize_t = 0; let uni = read_utf8_from_str(ptr, &mut str_size); if unlikely!(uni.is_null()) { return Err(INVALID_STR.to_string()); } contents = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(uni, str_size as usize) }; } else { let buffer: *const u8; let length: usize; if is_type!(obj_type_ptr, BYTES_TYPE) { buffer = unsafe { PyBytes_AS_STRING(ptr) as *const u8 }; length = unsafe { PyBytes_GET_SIZE(ptr) as usize }; } else if is_type!(obj_type_ptr, BYTEARRAY_TYPE) { buffer = ffi!(PyByteArray_AsString(ptr)) as *const u8; length = ffi!(PyByteArray_Size(ptr)) as usize; } else { return Err("Input must be bytes, bytearray, or str".to_string()); } contents = unsafe { std::slice::from_raw_parts(buffer, length) }; if encoding_rs::Encoding::utf8_valid_up_to(contents) != length { return Err(INVALID_STR.to_string()); } } let data = unsafe { std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(contents) }; let mut deserializer = serde_json::Deserializer::from_str(data); let seed = JsonValue {}; match seed.deserialize(&mut deserializer) { Ok(obj) => { deserializer.end().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?; Ok(obj) } Err(e) => Err(e.to_string()), } } #[derive(Clone, Copy)] struct JsonValue; impl<'de> DeserializeSeed<'de> for JsonValue { type Value = NonNull<pyo3::ffi::PyObject>; fn deserialize<D>(self, deserializer: D) -> Result<Self::Value, D::Error> where D: Deserializer<'de>, { deserializer.deserialize_any(self) } } impl<'de> Visitor<'de> for JsonValue { type Value = NonNull<pyo3::ffi::PyObject>; fn expecting(&self, formatter: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result { formatter.write_str("JSON") } fn visit_unit<E>(self) -> Result<Self::Value, E> { ffi!(Py_INCREF(NONE)); Ok(nonnull!(NONE)) } fn visit_bool<E>(self, value: bool) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { if value { ffi!(Py_INCREF(TRUE)); Ok(nonnull!(TRUE)) } else { ffi!(Py_INCREF(FALSE)); Ok(nonnull!(FALSE)) } } fn visit_i64<E>(self, value: i64) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { Ok(nonnull!(ffi!(PyLong_FromLongLong(value)))) } fn visit_u64<E>(self, value: u64) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { Ok(nonnull!(ffi!(PyLong_FromUnsignedLongLong(value)))) } fn visit_f64<E>(self, value: f64) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { Ok(nonnull!(ffi!(PyFloat_FromDouble(value)))) } fn visit_string<E>(self, value: String) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { Ok(nonnull!(str_to_pyobject!(value.as_str()))) } fn visit_borrowed_str<E>(self, value: &str) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { Ok(nonnull!(str_to_pyobject!(value))) } fn visit_str<E>(self, value: &str) -> Result<Self::Value, E> where E: de::Error, { Ok(nonnull!(str_to_pyobject!(value))) } fn visit_seq<A>(self, mut seq: A) -> Result<Self::Value, A::Error> where A: SeqAccess<'de>, { match seq.next_element_seed(self) { Ok(None) => Ok(nonnull!(ffi!(PyList_New(0)))), Ok(Some(elem)) => { let mut elements: SmallVec<[*mut pyo3::ffi::PyObject; 8]> = SmallVec::with_capacity(8); elements.push(elem.as_ptr()); while let Some(elem) = seq.next_element_seed(self)? { elements.push(elem.as_ptr()); } let ptr = ffi!(PyList_New(elements.len() as pyo3::ffi::Py_ssize_t)); for (i, &obj) in elements.iter().enumerate() { ffi!(PyList_SET_ITEM(ptr, i as pyo3::ffi::Py_ssize_t, obj)); } Ok(nonnull!(ptr)) } Err(err) => std::result::Result::Err(err), } } fn visit_map<A>(self, mut map: A) -> Result<Self::Value, A::Error> where A: MapAccess<'de>, { let dict_ptr = ffi!(PyDict_New()); while let Some(key) = map.next_key::<Cow<str>>()? { let pykey: *mut pyo3::ffi::PyObject; let pyhash: pyo3::ffi::Py_hash_t; if likely!(key.len() <= 64) { let hash = unsafe { wyhash(key.as_bytes(), HASH_SEED) }; { let map = unsafe { KEY_MAP .get_mut() .unwrap_or_else(|| unsafe { std::hint::unreachable_unchecked() }) }; let entry = map.entry(&hash).or_insert_with( || hash, || { let pyob = str_to_pyobject!(&key); CachedKey::new(pyob, hash_str(pyob)) }, ); let tmp = entry.get(); pykey = tmp.0; pyhash = tmp.1; } } else { pykey = str_to_pyobject!(&key); pyhash = hash_str(pykey); } let value = map.next_value_seed(self)?; let _ = ffi!(_PyDict_SetItem_KnownHash( dict_ptr, pykey, value.as_ptr(), pyhash )); // counter Py_INCREF in insertdict ffi!(Py_DECREF(pykey)); ffi!(Py_DECREF(value.as_ptr())); } Ok(nonnull!(dict_ptr)) } }

Santenay Clos de Malte, Domaine Louis Jadot This seven-hectare 'clos' forms part of the ‘climat’ of Sous la Fée towards the top of the slopes in Santenay and is wholly owned by Louis Jadot. The soil here is particularly rich in limestone and produces well-structured wines with good fruit and full tannins. Aged 12 months in oak barrels before bottling to allow the rich tannins to soften and round. The vineyard name is a reference to its former ownership by the Order of the Knights of Malta. About the wine maker In 2012, Frederic Barnier assumed the role of Senior Winemaker at Louis Jadot. Jacques Lardière’s retirement after 42 years has however, been carefully planned: Frederic worked closely alongside Jacques for a number of years and like him is also a firm advocate of terroir, keeping human intervention to a minimum at every stage of the winemaking. To maintain a smooth transition, Jacques will continue to be available should Frederic need any help or advice. Louis Henry Denis Jadot founded the business in 1859. His vision was to build a business with a high quality reputation. One of his key aims, as well as to make top wines, was to build a significant vineyard base. This vision remains core to the business today; wines from these top vineyards are clearly marked ‘Domaine Louis Jadot’. From the tip of Chablis to the toe of Beaujolais, Louis Jadot produce Burgundy and nothing but Burgundy. The familiar Bacchus head label has become a reliable stamp of quality and consistency amidst a plethora of producers. Louis Jadot works carefully with Matthew Clark, reserving some of their top wines and holding them in their cellars in Beaune until they have matured a little, giving our customers the opportunity to enjoy Burgundy at its optimum maturity. Ethical production From vineyard to bottle, sustainability is core to Louis Jadot’s approach. For the past 20 years, they have banished the use of synthetic products on their own vineyard soils applying traditional practices instead and encouraging the vines to grow their roots in such a way to mine the soil’s minerality. In the past five years, fourteen hectares of vineyards around Beaune, plus the Rochegrés vineyards at Château des Jacques in Moulin à Vent have been managed biodynamically and investments in all wineries have been made in an environmentally sympathetic way. Sign up to hear about our latest news, products & events. Subscribe to our mailing list indicates required First Name Last Name Email Address Your information Tick here if you're happy for us to pass on your information to carefully selected third parties

Q: buildozer strange errors while apk compile I cloned my own working app from github. The app using kivy but when I put buildozer android debug deploy I get: t/kiv/lib/python2.7/config-x86_64-linux-gnu/Makefile assets/private.mp3: /home/s/py/foodapp/.buildozer/android/app/data/download.png assets/private.mp3: /home/s/py/foodapp/.buildozer/android/app/data/download.jpg Traceback (most recent call last): File "build.py", line 491, in <module> make_package(args) File "build.py", line 354, in make_package subprocess.check_call([ANT, arg]) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/subprocess.py", line 540, in check_call raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd) subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['ant', 'debug']' returned non-zero exit status 1 # Command failed: /usr/bin/python build.py --name Food --version 1.2.0 --package org.test.food --private /home/s/py/foodapp/.buildozer/android/app --sdk 14 --minsdk 8 --permission INTERNET --presplash /home/s/py/foodapp/./data/download.jpg --icon /home/s/py/foodapp/./data/download.png --orientation sensor --window debug Before send to github build was successful, maybe I have to clean some cache? A: This may be related to the new sdk release, which breaks some things. We'll hopefully fix that soon, in the mean time you could try the workaround brousch suggests here. Also, if reporting build failures, please run buildozer with the --verbose option (something like buildozer --verbose android debug) and paste the full output log, not just the last bit. If the above doesn't fix your problem, you should do that here. General problems that can cause this error include (probably most frequently) missing dependencies. Make sure you have everything, including 32 bit versions if your distro is 64 bit.

Expression and regulated nuclear transport of transducers of regulated CREB 1 in retinal ganglion cells. Calcium- and cAMP-dependent activation of CREB and transcription of cAMP-responsive element (CRE)-target genes play critical roles in various physiological and pathological conditions. TORCs (transducers of regulated CREB) represent a new family of conserved CREB coactivators that function as intracellular calcium- and cAMP-sensitive coincidence detectors, controlling the kinetics of CRE-mediated responses and long-term potentiation of synaptic transmission. Here we examined the expression and activity-dependent translocation of TORCs in adult retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the primary target of acute retinal ischemic injury as well as chronic retinal degenerative diseases. We found that both mRNAs of TORC1 and TORC2, but not TORC3, were enriched in adult rat retina. Comparing with TORC2, TORC1 protein was highly and selectively expressed in RGCs. At resting condition, TORC1 protein was localized in the cytoplasm but not nucleus of RGCs. Activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors by intravitreous injection of NMDA or increase of cAMP signaling by administration of forskolin triggered nuclear accumulation of TORC1. Furthermore, transient retinal ischemic injury resulted in peri-nuclear and nuclear accumulation of TORC1 as well as transcription of BDNF in RGCs. Our results demonstrate that TORC1 is enriched in RGCs and its subcellular location could be regulated by Ca(2+) and cAMP, suggesting that manipulation of TORC1 activity may promote survival of RGCs in some optic disease conditions.

That's pretty good actually; whether factually true or not (the number 9 seemed a little fudged at the bottom loop, as did 7). That said, there is probably some seed of truth in it. This thread reminded me of a series of programmes the BBC did on Radio 4 a couple of years back about numbers, looking at some of the most important numbers and their significance in mathematics, science, and nature; including 0, 1, π, e, the golden ratio (~ 1.618), and ∞. If you're in the UK it might be worth a look up (people outside the UK may be able to get the series on the BBC World site). This thread reminded me of a series of programmes the BBC did on Radio 4 a couple of years back about numbers, looking at some of the most important numbers and their significance in mathematics, science, and nature; including 0, 1, π, e, the golden ratio (~ 1.618), and ∞. If you're in the UK it might be worth a look up (people outside the UK may be able to get the series on the BBC World site). --ETA: Largest Prime Number now known is Mersenne prime, , a 12,978,189 digit number The Second Series (From 2003) states it as, 4,053,900 digits long. There were 39 known Mersenne Primes in Oct, 2003, there are now at least 46 known, all since 1996 discovered by GIMPS <SideTrack> GIMPS at 47 TeraFlops the 5th largest distributed computing supercomputer, similar to folding@home- the fastest "computer" in the world at 8.1 PetaFlops, and SETI@Home 528 TeraFlops. By comparison, the fastest "standalone" Supercomputer as of 11/2008, IBM's Roadrunner is 1.1 Petaflops. </SideTrack> Ah yes, that was the series. I recall the first series first time around on Radio 4; I don't think I've had a listen to all of series 2. I also got it wrong slightly, 1 isn't in the first series, but i (or j to us EEs) is. Nice to see it is still accessible so I can listen again. I assume you can listen outside of the UK? --ETA: Largest Prime Number now known is Mersenne prime, , a 12,978,189 digit number The Second Series (From 2003) states it as, 4,053,900 digits long. There were 39 known Mersenne Primes in Oct, 2003, there are now at least 46 known, all since 1996 discovered by GIMPS <SideTrack> GIMPS at 47 TeraFlops the 5th largest distributed computing supercomputer, similar to folding@home- the fastest "computer" in the world at 8.1 PetaFlops, and SETI@Home 528 TeraFlops. By comparison, the fastest "standalone" Supercomputer as of 11/2008, IBM's Roadrunner is 1.1 Petaflops. </SideTrack> Click to expand... That's not bad for a standalone. The biggest problem is an OS that can manage efficiently such power and resources.

Castro Valley man confessed to double homicide, police say A Castro Valley man allegedly confessed to beating his mother and stepfather to death with a pipe wrench this week because “God told him to kill his parents,” according to court documents. Stephen Tyler Thompson, 33, was charged with two counts of murder Friday in the deaths of 57-year-old Lori Thompson, and 46-year-old James Hamilton, as well as an enhancement for committing multiple murders, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said. On Monday morning, Thompson’s younger brother, Trevor Thompson, went to check on his mother at the mobile home where she lived with Hamilton at the Chetwood Crest Mobile Homes Park on the 3900 block of Castro Valley Boulevard after she failed to show up to watch his children But when Trevor Thompson got to the front door, it was open and there was a bloody wrench on the porch, court documents allege. He called for his wife, who was waiting in the car, to call the police. Officers found James Hamilton lying dead on the floor in front of a couch with “obvious signs of blunt force trauma to the head,” court documents said. Stephen Thompson was found lying on a mattress in a small bedroom “responsive but incoherent,” where he was held at gunpoint while investigators continued to search the home. Lori Thompson was found on the floor in another bedroom with similar signs of trauma as Hamilton, though later examination would also show she had a fractured larynx, a sign that she had been strangled, according to court documents. Stephen Thompson was taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley where he was treated for a possible drug overdose until he was fit to be released into the custody of sheriff’s deputies, who arrested him there Thursday, officials said. In an interview with investigators, Stephen Thompson said that he heard God tell him to kill his parents, though he later clarified that the voice he heard in his head was his own, according to court documents. Stephen Thompson allegedly said that he hit Hamilton “several times” in the head with the wrench. He told officials that Hamilton “never saw the blows coming,” court documents said. He then put the wrench outside and found his mother in the bedroom, where he unsuccessfully tried to strangle her, investigators said in court documents, but it was “taking too long” and he got the wrench, which he used to hit her in the head. At that point, investigators said, he walked back to the living room and saw that Hamilton was still breathing and hit him several more times with the wrench. He then allegedly wrote a note found at the scene in which he accused his parents of trying to poison him. At the bottom of the note, the word “pedaphile” was written, though it was unclear what relevance that had to the slayings. Steven Thompson told police that he took his mother’s medication in an attempt to kill himself because “he could not live with the thoughts of what he had done,” officials said in court documents. He was remorseful throughout the confession, according to court documents, and at one point asked investigators if he could request the death penalty. After his arrest, Stephen Thompson was taken to Santa Rita jail in Dublin where he remains in custody without bail. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday for arraignment, the district attorney’s office said. Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @sfkale

Q: Apache kafka consumer poll infinite loop on unexpected messages I'm doing integration tests of Kafka consumer implementation. I use wurstmeister/kafka docker image and Apache Kafka consumer. The scenario that buzzes me is when I send "unexpected" messages to a topic. The kafkaConsumer.poll(POLLING_TIMEOUT) seems to go in an infinite loop in RUN mode. When I DEBUG though, it works when I pause and run back. I don't have this issue when sending messages that are expected ( do not throw an exception on deserialization). Here is my docker-compose configuration for kafka : kafka: image: wurstmeister/kafka links: - zookeeper ports: - "9092:9092" environment: KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME: localhost KAFKA_ADVERTISED_PORT: 9092 KAFKA_CREATE_TOPICS: "ProductLocation:1:1,ProductInformation:1:1,InventoryAvailableToSell:1:1" KAFKA_ZOOKEEPER_CONNECT: zookeeper:2181 volumes: - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock The Java generic consumer : @Override public Collection<T> consume() { String eventToBePublishedName = ERROR_WHILE_RESETTING_OFFSET; boolean success = false; try { kafkaConsumer.resume(kafkaAssignments); if (isPollingTypeFull) { // dummy poll because its needed before resetting offset. // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41008610/kafkaconsumer-0-10-java-api-error-message-no-current-assignment-for-partition kafkaConsumer.poll(POLLING_TIMEOUT); resetOffset(); } else if (!offsetGotResetFirstTime) { resetOffset(); offsetGotResetFirstTime = true; } eventToBePublishedName = ERROR_WHILE_POLLING; ConsumerRecords<Object, T> records; List<T> output = new ArrayList<>(); do { records = kafkaConsumer.poll(POLLING_TIMEOUT); records.forEach(cr -> { T val = cr.value(); if (val != null) { output.add(cr.value()); } }); } while (records.count() > 0); eventToBePublishedName = CONSUMING; success = true; kafkaConsumer.pause(kafkaAssignments); return output; } finally { applicationEventPublisher.publishEvent( new OperationResultApplicationEvent( this, OperationType.ConsumingOfMessages, eventToBePublishedName, success)); } } The deserializing : public T deserialize(String topic, byte[] data) { try { JsonNode jsonNode = mapper.readTree(data); JavaType javaType = mapper.getTypeFactory().constructType(getValueClass()); JsonNode value = jsonNode.get("value"); return mapper.readValue(value.toString(), javaType); } catch (IllegalArgumentException | IOException | SerializationException e) { LOGGER.error("Can't deserialize data [" + Arrays.toString(data) + "] from topic [" + topic + "]", e); return null; } } In my integration tests, I create a topic for every test by sending to a time-stamped topic name. This creates new topics and makes tests stateless. This is how I configure the Kafka consumer : Properties properties = new Properties(); properties.put("bootstrap.servers", kafkaConfiguration.getServer()); properties.put("group.id", kafkaConfiguration.getGroupId()); properties.put("key.deserializer", kafkaConfiguration.getKeyDeserializer().getName()); properties.put("value.deserializer", kafkaConfiguration.getValueDeserializer().getName()); A: If you face this, just close the consumers after using them, or pause after using and resume before starting to use.

Making a Difference One Meal At A Time When I was young and didn’t want to eat what my mom gave me, she would always say, “Silvia, did you know there are many children in the world today who have nothing to eat? This would make me eat. And I find myself saying the same thing to my kids. Did you know there are about 17 million kids who go to bed hungry each day right here in the United States? With so many hungry kids, it can be hard to know how we can make a difference. Fortunately, there are organizations and companies interested in helping and they have developed ways to do it. Interested in helping? You can make a difference. It’s easy. The folks at ConAgra Foods have been helping with the issue of child hunger for over three years, and this year, they are working with top musicians, kids, employees and moms like you and me, to donate up to 3 million meals! Let me tell you how it works. When you go to the supermarket, look for the 19 participating ConAgra Foods products, like Hunt’s, Pam, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Redi Whip and more, with the Child Hunger Ends Here logo, like this one: When you buy these products there’s a code inside the package, that is what you need. Next, come back here to Mama Latina Tips and look for the ConAgra Foods widget in the right hand column and add your code there. Or you can also do it at www.childhungerendshere.com or here at www.facebook.com/ChildHungerEndsHere For each code submitted between now and August 31st, 2013, ConAgra Foods will donate the money equivalent of one meal to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. You may have noticed when visiting Mama Latina Tips recently, a small window shows up asking you to submit your zip code (it’s optional), this is for a good reason. At the end of the campaign, ten food banks in the zip codes with the most entries will receive an additional donation of the equivalent of 80,000 meals, and that could be your own local food bank. Thank you for your understanding about the pop up, zip code window. I told you earlier that ConAgra Foods has been partnering with artists for this campaign. They are Carly Rae Jepsen, Tori Kelly, Amber Riley and Cody Simpson. In fact, I invite you to download free recordings from Amber and Cody here. You can also help this campaign by answering a very short survey. It won’t ask for any personal information, not even your name, and it will take you less than a minute to complete (I know because I just did it). The questions are regarding whether you already knew about this campaign, here it is. Thanks! Want to involve your kids in this campaign as well? Here are some ideas how: Take your kids shopping and let them look for the participating products Give your kids meal options (using the participating products), go shopping together and cook them together Let your children help you submit the codes in the widget. These are all great ways to involve your kids in charitable activities. I hope you will consider helping us get to the goal of 3 millions meals for kids! Thanks, Disclosure: This article is part of a sponsored campaign with The Motherhood and ConAgra Foods. As always my comments and opinions are my own.

Q: Can I programatically deduce the calling convention used by a C++ dll? Imagine you'd like to write a program that tests functions in a c++ dll file. You should enable the user to select a dll (we assume we are talking about c++ dlls). He should be able to obtain a list of all functions exported by the dll. Then, the user should be able to select a function name from the list, manually input a list of arguments ( the arguments are all basic types, like int, double, bool or char arrays (e.g. c-type strings) ) and attempt to run the selected function with the specified arguments. He'd like to know if the function runs with the specified arguments, or do they cause it to crash ( because they don't match the signature for example ). The main problem is that C++, being a strongly typed language, requires you to know the number and type of the arguments for a function call at compile time.And in my case, I simply don't know what these arguments are, until the user selects them at runtime. The only solution I came up with, was to use assembly to manually push the arguments on the call stack. However, I've come to understand that if I want to mess with assembly, I'd better make damn sure that I know which calling convention are the functions in the dll using. So (finally:) here's my question: can I deduce the calling convention programmaticaly? Dependency Walker won't help me, and I've no idea how to manually read PE format. A: The answer is maybe. If the functions names are C++ decorated, then you can determine the argument count and types from the name decoration, this is your best case scenario, and fairly likely if MSVC was used to write the code in the first place. If the exported functions are stdcall calling convention (the default for windows api), you can determine the number of bytes to be pushed, but not the types of the arguments. The bad news is that for C calling convention, there isn't any way to tell by looking at the symbol names. You would need to have access to the source code or the debug info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_calling_conventions The name that a function is given as an export is not required to have any relationship with the name that the linker sees, but most of the time, the exported name and the symbol name that the linker sees are the same. A: You didn't specify whether you're talking 32-bit or 64-bit here, and the difficulties outlined by you and the other posters mainly apply to 32-bit code. On 64-bit Windows, there's essentially only one calling convention (it's in also in the wikipedia article linked by John Knoeller), which means that you do know the calling convention (of course with the exception of anybody cooking up their own). Also, with the Microsoft x64 calling convention, not knowing the number of parameters of the function to be called does not stop you from calling it, providing as many parameters as you wish/the user wishes to. This is because you as a caller set aside stack space and clean it up afterwards. -- Of course, not providing the right [number of] parameters may still have the called function do silly things because you're providing invalid input, but that's another story.

Q: Xslt - How do you check for a grandchild node with a certain path name. (xpath 1.0) What I want to do is given an element as context, I want to determine if it has a child with a given name and determine if that child has a node with a given name so I can do operations with it. It is important that I do this in XPath 1.0 syntax. The code that I've gotten so far is this. <xsl:for-each select="child::*"> <xsl:if test="contains(name(), 'description')"> <xsl:for-each select="child::*"> <xsl:if test="contains(name(), 'text')"> <xsl:value-of select="node()"/> </xsl:if> </xsl:for-each> </xsl:if> </xsl:for-each> It works, but it's big and ugly and I know that there's a way to condense it. The for-eachs there are unnecessary, since I'm only expecting one child node to be named description, and for it to only have one text node. I feel like this solution should work <xsl:for-each select="./description/text"> .. </xsl:for-each> But it isn't, and I'm not really good enough with XPath Syntax to know why. The reason I'm asking is because though I've found answers that detect whether a child node has a name, and I've found answers that can get to that child node's context, I haven't found an answer that combines the two, though maybe I just haven't been searching hard enough, in which case I apologize. Edit: Woops, sorry yeah I forgot to mention that the contains() part of the code was also just a hack because I wasn't sure how to compare their values with equality. Also as long as the answer is there, <xsl:for-each select="description/text"> does not work either. A sample of the XML in question is this <leaf> <description> <text> Various Words </text> </description> </leaf> where the context is the leaf and I am trying to get to the text node. Edit: The Second Coming: The problem for me was that my XSLT file was using a default namespace (in my case named a). If I had added that then Borodin's answer would have been correct. To be specific, this is the code which ended up working for me in the end, in case anyone wants to know. <xsl:for-each select="a:description/a:text> <xsl:value-of select="node()"/> </xsl:for-each> Thanks Guys ^-^ A: Do you really want to check whether the element names contain those strings? Or, as your narrative says, do you want elements with that exact name? To do something like what you have already written, use <xsl:for-each select="*[contains(name(), 'description')]/*[contains(name(), 'text')]"> <xsl:value-of select="node()"/> </xsl:for-each> But if you know the complete names it is a lot neater: <xsl:for-each select="description/text"> <xsl:value-of select="node()"/> </xsl:for-each> If that doesn't work then we need to see more of your source XML and your transform. Update If I use this XML <leaf> <description> <text>Various Words</text> </description> <description> <text>More Words</text> </description> <description> <text>Other Words</text> </description> </leaf> and apply this stylesheet <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:output method="text"/> <xsl:template match="/leaf"> <xsl:for-each select="description/text"> <xsl:value-of select="."/> </xsl:for-each> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> the output is the expected Various WordsMore WordsOther Words. I don't know how to help you unless you describe your situation better, except to say that transforms should be written with another template rather than for-each wherever possible. Like this variation which produces the same output as above. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:output method="text"/> <xsl:template match="/leaf"> <xsl:apply-templates select="description/text"/> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="text"> <xsl:value-of select="."/> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

Introduction {#s1} ============ Viral load (VL) quantification constitutes a fundamental cornerstone of antiretroviral therapy management in HIV-1 infected subjects [@pone.0074024-Mellors1]. New, ultrasensitive real-time (RT) -PCR assays for HIV-1 RNA quantification have been developed during the last years including the Abbott Real Time HIV-1 assay (Abbott RT, Abbott Diagnostics, Wiesbaden Germany) and the COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 assay (TaqMan, Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). Both test systems differ significantly regarding their extraction system, primer target region and probe design. Shortly after the first version of the TaqMan assay (TaqMan v1.0), which targets the *gag* region, was released, numerous studies reported unusual findings including false negative or underestimated VL measurements in patients monitored with the TaqMan v1.0 assay [@pone.0074024-Bourlet1]--[@pone.0074024-Wirden1]. Single point mutations in the downstream primer of the TaqMan v1.0 assay were identified as a leading cause for these observations [@pone.0074024-Korn1], resulting in the development of an upgraded TaqMan v2.0 assay using multiplex amplification and fluorescence detection of two distinct genomic regions, the long terminal repeat and gag region, respectively. Furthermore, the limit of quantification (LOQ), as defined by the manufacturer, was reduced from 40 copies/mL to 20 copies/mL. We have shown previously that the TaqMan v2.0 and the Abbott RT assay both allowed accurate determination of viral load levels in individuals infected with HIV-1 isolates that were found falsely negative or underestimated with the Roche CTM v1.0 assay [@pone.0074024-Taylor1]. Although the overall reliability and accuracy of the TaqMan v2.0 and the Abbott RT assay, targeting the integrase region, were found to be similar [@pone.0074024-Taylor1]--[@pone.0074024-Foulongne1], initial reports describe a significant variability between these assays around the LOQ [@pone.0074024-Naeth1]. We therefore compared frequencies of viral blips in two Austrian HIV-1 patients care centers monitoring HIV-1 VL with the Taqman v2.0 or the Abbott RT assay, respectively. Methods {#s2} ======= Plasma samples were recruited from HIV-1 infected individuals from two Austrian HIV outpatient clinics in Salzburg (Salzburg Center), and in Vienna (Vienna Center). Both HIV centers are part of the Austrian HIV Cohort (AHIVCOS) and the study has been approved by the ethics committee of the Vienna Medical University (No. 898/2010) and the ethics committee of the Salzburg Federal Government (No. 1159/2010), respectively. Written informed consent was given by the patients for their information to be stored in the hospital database and used for research. Both centers followed similar hospital procedures for routine venipuncture and blood collection in ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) anticoagulated tubes. Blood was collected in 10 mL BD Vacutainer EDTA tubes and transferred within 2--4 h post collection from the clinic site to the laboratory for further processing. The EDTA tubes were centrifuged at arrival in the diagnostic laboratory for 10 min at 1,100 g for plasma separation. After centrifugation, 1 mL of plasma was transferred into secondary tubes and stored at −20°C. On the day of analysis, the plasma aliquots were thawed, vortexed and analyzed for viral load. We performed a retrospective analysis comparing both centers in order to evaluate whether significant differences in the number of elevated VL measurements in formerly virologically suppressed patients after implementation of the TaqMan v2.0 assay could be found. On August 6, 2009 the Vienna Center switched from the Cobas Ampliprep/ Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor Test v1.5 (Amplicor) (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany) to real-time PCR technology using TaqMan v2.0. Throughout the same period of time, the Salzburg Center used Abbott RT testing for HIV-1 quantification, which had formerly been introduced in August 2008. Inclusion criteria were chosen as follows: 1) Initiation of ART prior to August 6, 2008, 2) ≥1 VL measurement in the pre TaqMan v2.0 period from August 6, 2008 to August 5, 2009 (designated as time point 1) and all VL measurements below the LOQ (Amplicor: \<50 copies/mL, Abbott RT: \<40 copies/mL) and no ART changes; 3) ≥1 VL measurement during the TaqMan v2.0 period from August 6, 2009 to August 5, 2010 (designated as time point 2) and no ART changes. Furthermore, patients who reached VLs above 20 copies/mL at time point 2, were reassessed with a new VL measurement on their next clinical visit (designated as time point 3). For the Amplicor and the TaqMan v2.0 assay, automated RNA extraction was performed using the COBAS Ampliprep system. The Abbott m24 sp automated sample preparation system was used for RNA isolation for the Abbott RT HIV-1 assay. PCR amplification was then performed either on the COBAS Amplicor system using the Amplicor assay with a dynamic range from 50 to 750.000 copies/mL, on the COBAS TaqMan 48 system using the TaqMan v2.0 assay with a dynamic range from 20 to 10.000.000 copies/mL or on the m2000 rt Real- Time PCR system using the Abbott RT HIV-1 assay with a dynamic range of 40 to 10.000.000 copies/mL. Genotypic drug resistance testing was performed using the ViroSeq® HIV-1 Genotyping System (Abbott Diagnostics). Results {#s3} ======= Following the switch to the TaqMan v2.0 assay in the Vienna Center, multiple internal reports accumulated concerning an increase of detectable VLs in patients with previous long-term virological suppression. In the Vienna Center, 373 of 2078 recruited HIV-1 infected individuals met the inclusion criteria. 288 (77.2%) patients remained with a HIV-1 VL below 50 copies/mL after implementation of the TaqMan v2.0 assay. Due to increased dynamic range of the TaqMan v2.0 assay 67 patients now had quantifiable VL levels ranging from 20 to 49 copies/ml and 221 patients had VL measurements \<20 copies/ml. Interestingly for 85 subjects (22.8%) VLs \>50 copies/mL were reported. Among these patients, 63 had VLs ranging from 50--499 copies/mL while 22 patients showed VLs \>500 copies/mL ([Table 1](#pone-0074024-t001){ref-type="table"}). As a consequence all patients with VLs \>20 copies/mL as measured by TaqMan v2.0 were reassessed at time point 3. For 20 patients, VL control could not be performed. The 132 novel VL quantifications using again TaqMan v2.0 are shown in [table 2](#pone-0074024-t002){ref-type="table"}. The majority of patients that had a VL between 20 and 499 copies/mL at time point 2 were below 20 copies/mL at time point 3. Remarkably, in the group of patients who when switching to TaqMan v2.0, reached at once VLs exceeding 500 copies/mL, 28.6% became undetectable after novel VL measurement using again TaqMan v2.0, raising questions about potential assay variability at low detection limit but also beyond ([Table 2](#pone-0074024-t002){ref-type="table"}). For three patients, additional genotypic resistance tests were performed in response to the observed viral blips. One resistance test revealed a new M184V mutation, another patient had two new minor protease inhibitor mutations with no consequences for his ongoing therapy. The third genotypic testing originated from a salvage patient with no former resistance testing available, so that no clinical conclusion may be drawn in this setting. Furthermore, 6 patients underwent subsequent ART changes as stated in their case history. 10.1371/journal.pone.0074024.t001 ###### HIV-1 viral load (VL) measurements after the switch to the Taqman v2.0 assay in patients under stable ART and with VL levels below the limit of quantification (\<50 copies/ml) with the Amplicor assay for ≥1 year. {#pone-0074024-t001-1} COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan v2.0 HIV-1 assay ----------------------------------------------- ------------ ----------- ----------- ---------- ----------- VL \<20 20--49 50--499 \>500 Total N (%) 221 (59.2) 67 (18.0) 63 (16.9) 22 (5.9) 373 (100) VL: HIV-1 viral load levels representing copies /mL; N: number of patients; Amplicor: Roche Cobas Ampliprep Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor Test, v1.5; TaqMan v2.0: COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan v2.0 HIV-1 assay. 10.1371/journal.pone.0074024.t002 ###### Comparison of HIV-1 viral load measurements in patients using the Taqman v2.0 assay at two different time points. {#pone-0074024-t002-2} COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan v2.0 HIV-1 assay ---------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- ------------ ----------- ----------- ---- **VL - TP2 = 20**--**49** 36 (63.2%) 15 (26.3%) 5 (8.8%) 1 (1.7%) 10 **VL - TP2 = 50**--**499** 30 (55.6%) 9 (16.7%) 14(25.9%) 1(1.8%) 9 **VL - TP2 \>500** 6 (28.6%) 4 (19.0%) 6 (28.6%) 5 (23.8%) 1 VL-TP2; HIV-1 viral load (copies/ml) at time point 2; VL-TP3; HIV-1 viral load (copies/ml) at time point 3; N: number of patients; n.d.: not determined; TaqMan v2.0: COBAS Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan v2.0 HIV-1 assay. During the same time period, 288 HIV-1 infected individuals were recruited in the Salzburg Center and 52 patients met our inclusion criteria. For these patients, VL quantification was performed continuously using the ABB assay and only 1 patient became detectable (137 copies/mL) from August 2008 to August 2010. A new measurement resulted in a VL of \<40 copies/mL at the next clinical visit. In addition a direct comparison of the TaqMan v2.0 and the Abbott RT assay was performed at the Salzburg Center using 77 samples originating from HIV-1 infected subjects under ART with previous long-term virological suppression and with HIV-1RNA levels below the LOQ with at least one of the two assays. One sample had a VL of 76 copies/ml as measured with the Abbott RT assay but was undetectable with the TaqMan v2.0 assay whereas 12 had a VL of \>50 copies/ml with the TaqMan v2.0 assay but were below the limit of detection with the Abbott RT assay (data not shown). Discussion {#s4} ========== Transition from the Amplicor assay to the TaqMan v2.0 assay in the Vienna Center was followed by an increase of quantifiable VLs in patients with stable ART and prior successful viral suppression, which at least in part, could not be reproduced in subsequent VL measurements. We are aware that our findings are not derived from repeat measurements of the same samples but from sequential clinical visits. The implementation of newer high-sensitive RT-PCR assays with lower detection limits for HIV-RNA VL monitoring has been shown to lead to increased frequency of blips [@pone.0074024-Willig1]--[@pone.0074024-Lima1]. Over the past years, different explanations were proposed, especially concerning probe handling. For instance, freezing plasma in situ in a plasma preparation tube (PPT) containing a gel barrier for separation of blood cells from plasma upon centrifugation was associated with higher HIV-1 VL results as compared to plasma from standard EDTA tubes when tested with the Amplicor [@pone.0074024-Giordano1], [@pone.0074024-Griffith1] and TaqMan v1.0 [@pone.0074024-Kran1]. The disparity in quantification was more apparent in specimens with low viremia and was associated to transportation issues after centrifugation in PPT tubes. However, both our centers have been continuously using standard EDTA containing tubes without gel separation, for which increased levels of HIV-1 RNA have not been reported [@pone.0074024-Giordano1], [@pone.0074024-Stosor1]. Further, the most obvious handling failure in clinical settings concerning standard EDTA tubes is postponed centrifugation and plasma transfer more than 6 h after sample collection that could lead to HIV-RNA degradation. A study by Garrett et al compared the size and rate of blips between TaqMan v1.0 and 2.0 in a cohort of virologically suppressed HIV-1 patients and found similar blip rates for both test systems but a higher amplitude of blips with v2.0. Also a higher proportion of blips on TaqMan v2.0 exceeding a cut-off of 200 copies/mL was observed [@pone.0074024-Garrett1]. Previous studies have also shown that a significant percentage of HIV-1 infected patients receiving ART with undetectable VLs as monitored with the Abbott RT assay, tested positive with the TaqMan v2.0 assay [@pone.0074024-Taylor1], [@pone.0074024-Naeth1], [@pone.0074024-Wojewoda1] which is in line with our findings in 77 samples with HIV-1RNA levels below the LOQ with at least one of the two assays. A recently published paper by Naeth et al evaluated precision and concordance of both systems using longitudinal specimens from HIV-1 infected patients with stable CD4+ cell counts and found significantly higher mean VL in low viremic samples with TaqMan v2.0 as compared with Abbott RT. Additionally, higher coefficients of variation (37--59% with TaqMan v2.0 vs. 26--31% with Abbott RT) as determined by replicate testing of three specimen samples were calculated using non-log transformed data [@pone.0074024-Naeth1]. This phenomenon may reflect other issues than handling procedures such as undesirable additive effects resulting from the utilization of the same fluorescent dye for labeling of the two TaqMan probes, targeting the *LTR* and *gag* region, respectively. Although we are aware that our study does not provide any mechanistically insight this technical issue might be addressed in the future by using different fluorescent dyes for each target and calculating VLs for each target from separate calibration curves allowing comparison of two VL measurements in the same sample within the same run. The clinical significance of viral "blips" in previously stable patients is still a matter of debate and remains a source of dilemma for many clinicians. Recently, it was shown that virological blips of \>500 copies/mL were associated with increased rebound risk, whereas no significant association was observed for blips between 50--500 copies/mL [@pone.0074024-Grennan1]. However, more recently, an analysis by Geretti et al showed evidence that reliable HIV-1 detection at levels even below 50 copies/mL as determined by Abbott RT is clinically meaningful for treatment efficacy [@pone.0074024-Doyle1]. Furthermore, the exact etiology of "blips" is still unclear, reaching from HIV rebound from reservoirs [@pone.0074024-Ho1] or ongoing cycles of replication [@pone.0074024-Nettles1], to random statistical fluctuation or methodological issues, especially concerning the high variability of RT-PCR assays at the LOQ [@pone.0074024-Nettles2]. Intermittent VL elevation is also seen due to immune activation after vaccination or in face of concomitant infection such as syphilis. The latest version of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) guidelines as well as the AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG) recommend to define virological rebound as a confirmed VL of \>200 copies/mL [@pone.0074024-Panel1]. In an attempt to address the socio-economic impact of our findings, we noted that after introduction of the TaqMan v2.0 assay in the Vienna Center 132 additional VL repeat measurements as well as 3 genotypic testings were required. Considering 58€ per VL test, 16€ per CD4 cell count, 5€ per venipuncture and 171€ per genotypic resistance test, the overall cost for additional laboratory testing reached 11000€ not including the supplementary financial burden due to ART modification. Our very conservative estimate does also not take into account the increased workload and time required by clinic staff as well as the psychological stress for patients confronted with the possibility of an emerging drug resistance and numerous adherence discussions between patients and physicians. In summary, we show that transition from the Amplicor assay to a high-sensitive, dual-target RT-PCR assay (TaqMan v2.0) led to an increased frequency of reported quantifiable VLs in patients with long term viral suppression under ART. Although the control group was considerably smaller than our group of interest in Vienna, the comparison with a second center with the same clinical standards of care using the Abbott RT assay for VL monitoring questions the reliability of the Taqman v2.0 assay at the lower VL end. Furthermore, the variability of VL measurements in patients with VL above 500 copies/mL as determined by TaqMan v2.0 was surprising and constitutes an additional matter of concern. For clinicians interpretation of single detectable HIV VLs especially when longitudinal data are derived from different assays is very difficult and should not lead to immediate genotypic testing or therapy intensification. [^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. [^2]: Conceived and designed the experiments: NT HO BL. Performed the experiments: NT KG. Analyzed the data: NT KG BL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AE RG AR HO. Wrote the paper: NT HO KG.

[Proposals for the surveillance of persons exposed to aromatic amines]. The AA present the results of an epidemiological investigation in a rubber factory, where aromatic amines are used. Environmental monitoring allowed to acquired informations about environmental concentrations of aromatic amines, to identify their physical condition and so to individuate a map risk in this factory. The biological monitoring was conducted to acquire epidemiological information from archives of usual biological check up. The AA propose a methodology for epidemiological survey of people exposed to aromatic amines.

Q: Cannot get return from module in nodejs + node-mysql I got the following code on my localhost: /model/company.js var mysql = require('mysql'); var connection = mysql.createConnection({ host : 'localhost', user : 'root', password : 'admin' }); module.exports = { get: function(){ connection.query('SELECT 1 + 1 AS solution', function(err, rows, fields) { return rows; }) } } /routes/company.js var Company = require('../models/company') var express = require('express'); var router = express.Router(); router.route('/companies').get(function(req, res){ console.log(Company.get()); //res.json(Company.get()); }) I already tried some things, but I think this is how it should be. But my console.log returns me undefined. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. If I do: connection.query('SELECT 1 + 1 AS solution', function(err, rows, fields) { console.log(rows) }) It works. What do I need to do (or study)? A: Your get function returns undefined because you don't specify a return value. You specify a return value for your callback function, but your outer function doesn't know or care about that. If you want the behavior you expect, you need to pass in a callback to your get function to have access to the rows variable. Try this: module.exports = { get: function(callback){ connection.query('SELECT 1 + 1 AS solution', function(err, rows, fields) { // A 'node-style' callback will usually be callback(error, value) callback(null, rows); }) } } Your console.log will work if you do this: Company.get(function(error, rows){ console.log(rows); } For a general overview of asynchronous behavior in javascript, check out this answer.

Know more about: Among the most exciting regions of current research in the cannabinoid area is the analysis of the possible use of the compounds as antitumor drugs. Due to widespread confusion, We’d like to describe to you definite terms associated with Cannabidiol: CBD represents the very first non invasive exogenous agent that may significantly reduce Id-1 saying in metastatic breast cancer cells resulting in the down-regulation of tumor aggressiveness. [1],[2] The CBD concentrations capable of inhibiting Id-1 expression connected with those utilized to inhibit the proliferative and invasive phenotype of breast cancer cells. Even as a brand new product in a universe of a fantastic many nutritional supplements, CBD excels as in contemporary society as naturally soothing and relaxing, and more properties are being investigated. One of the five cannabinoids examined: cannabidiol, cannabigerol, cannnabichromene; cannabidiol-acid and THC-acid, it had been discovered that cannabidiol has become the most potent inhibitor of cancer cell development. cbdreamers.com A lot of men and women are becoming accustomed to the advantages of CBD solutions. Taken together, these statistics may set the foundations for a cannabinoid treatment for the management of breast cancer. [3] To discover whether you may benefit from these products, we invite you to perform your research. CBD and THC interact with particular cells mostly in our brains (but also in other organs). They also have proven that the treatment of NSCLC cell lines (A549 and SW-1573) using CB1/CB2- and CB2-specific agonists Win55,212-2 and JWH-015, respectively, substantially attenuated random in addition to expansion factor-directed from vitro chemotaxis and chemoinvasion in these cells. [6] These materials are inherently identical, and both possess a vast array of applications. Researchers at lung cancer reported they observed significant decrease in focal adhesion complex, which has an significant part in cancer migration. Until lately, even scientists thought CBD and THC have been actually exactly the exact same substance. Medical marijuana significantly inhibited in vivo tumor growth and lung metastasis (50 percent ). [7] Both substances differ broadly enough for THC to be categorized as a controlled psychotropic medication, whilst Cannabidiol is deemed safe and legal worldwide. According to pancreatic cancer it had been discovered that cannabinoids result in apoptosis of pancreatic tumor cells by means of a CB2 receptor and de novo synthesized ceramide-dependent up-regulation of p8 along with the endoplasmic reticulum stress–associated genes ATF-4 and TRB3. Read below the next couple of headings Easy and objective explanations concerning the differences between the two materials:

We held hands and kissed but were never intimate, says teen model as she splits from David Walliams after three months David Walliams has ended his three-month relationship with girlfriend Lauren Budd. The Little Britain star, 37, has been dating the lingerie model, 18, since January and appeared smitten with the leggy brunette, escorting her to a number of high-profile showbiz events and even introducing her to comic partner Matt Lucas. But it appears that the relationship has already run out of steam. Single again: David Walliams has split from teenage model girlfriend Lauren Budd

Interviewed after winning England’s Costa Prize for Literature in late January, the distinguished novelist Andrew Miller remarked that while he assumed that soon most popular fiction would be read on screen, he believed and hoped that literary fiction would continue to be read on paper. In his Man Booker Prize acceptance speech last October, Julian Barnes made his own plea for the survival of printed books. Jonathan Franzen has also declared himself of the same faith. At the university where I work, certain professors, old and young, will react with disapproval at the notion that one is reading poetry on a Kindle. It is sacrilege. Are they right? In practical terms it is all too easy to defend the e-book. We can buy a text instantly wherever we are in the world. We pay less. We use no paper, occupy no space. Kindle’s wireless system keeps our page, even when we open the book on a different reader than the one we left off. We can change the type size according to the light and our eyesight. We can change the font according to our taste. Cooped up in the press of the metro, we turn the pages by applying a light pressure of the thumb. Lying in bed, we don’t have that problem of having to use two hands to keep a fat paperback open. But I want to go beyond practicality to the reading experience itself, our engagement with the text. What is it that these literary men and women are afraid of losing should the paper novel really go into decline? Surely not the cover, so often a repository of misleading images and tediously fulsome endorsements. Surely not the pleasure of running fingers and eyes over quality paper, something that hardly alters whether one is reading Jane Austen or Dan Brown. Hopefully it is not the quality of the paper that determines our appreciation for the classics. Could it be the fact that the e-book thwarts our ability to find particular lines by remembering their position on the page? Or our love of scribbling comments (of praise and disgust) in the margin? It’s true that on first engagement with the e-book we become aware of all kinds of habits that are no longer possible, skills developed over many years that are no longer relevant. We can’t so easily flick through the pages to see where the present chapter ends, or whether so and so is going to die now or later. In general, the e-book discourages browsing, and though the bar at the bottom of the screen showing the percentage of the book we’ve completed lets us know more or less where we’re up to, we don’t have the reassuring sense of the physical weight of the thing (how proud children are when they get through their first long tome!), nor the computational pleasures of page numbers (Dad, I read 50 pages today). This can be a problem for academics: it’s hard to give a proper reference if you don’t have page numbers. But are these old habits essential? Mightn’t they actually be distracting us from the written word itself? Weren’t there perhaps specific pleasures when reading on parchment scroll that we know nothing of and have lived happily without? Certainly there were those who lamented the loss of calligraphy when the printing press made type impersonal. There were some who believed that serious readers would always prefer serious books to be copied by hand. What are the core characteristics of literature as a medium and an art form? Unlike painting there is no physical image to contemplate, nothing that impresses itself on the eye in the same way, given equal eyesight. Unlike sculpture, there is no artifact you can walk around and touch. You don’t have to travel to look at literature. You don’t have to line up or stand in the crowd, or worry about getting a good seat. Unlike music you don’t have to respect its timing, accepting an experience of a fixed duration. You can’t dance to it or sing along or take a photo or make a video with your phone. Literature is made up of words. They can be spoken or written. If spoken, volume and speed and accent can vary. If written, the words can appear in this or that type-face on any material, with any impagination. Joyce is as much Joyce in Baskerville as in Times New Roman. And we can read these words at any speed, interrupt our reading as frequently as we choose. Somebody who reads Ulysses in two weeks hasn’t read it any more or less than someone who reads it in three months, or three years. Only the sequence of the words must remain inviolate. We can change everything about a text but the words themselves and the order they appear in. The literary experience does not lie in any one moment of perception, or any physical contact with a material object (even less in the “possession” of handsome masterpieces lined up on our bookshelves), but in the movement of the mind through a sequence of words from beginning to end. More than any other art form it is pure mental material, as close as one can get to thought itself. Memorized, a poem is as surely a piece of literature in our minds as it is on the page. If we say the words in sequence, even silently without opening our mouths, then we have had a literary experience—perhaps even a more intense one than a reading from the page. It’s true that our owning the object—War and Peace or Moby Dick—and organizing these and other classics according to chronology and nation of origin will give us an illusion of control: as if we had now “acquired” and “digested” and “placed” a piece of culture. Perhaps that is what people are attached to. But in fact we all know that once the sequence of words is over and the book closed what actually remains in our possession is very difficult, wonderfully difficult to pin down, a richness (or sometimes irritation) that has nothing to do with the heavy block of paper on our shelves. The e-book, by eliminating all variations in the appearance and weight of the material object we hold in our hand and by discouraging anything but our focus on where we are in the sequence of words (the page once read disappears, the page to come has yet to appear) would seem to bring us closer than the paper book to the essence of the literary experience. Certainly it offers a more austere, direct engagement with the words appearing before us and disappearing behind us than the traditional paper book offers, giving no fetishistic gratification as we cover our walls with famous names. It is as if one had been freed from everything extraneous and distracting surrounding the text to focus on the pleasure of the words themselves. In this sense the passage from paper to e-book is not unlike the moment when we passed from illustrated children’s books to the adult version of the page that is only text. This is a medium for grown-ups. Add to that the e-book’s ease of transport, its international vocation (could the Iron Curtain have kept out e-books?), its indestructibility (you can’t burn e-books), its promise that all books will be able to remain forever in print and what is more available at reasonable prices, and it becomes harder and harder to see why the literati are not giving the phenomenon a more generous welcome.

Article content WASHINGTON — In the latest and perhaps decisive battle over the role of women in the military, Congress is embroiled in an increasingly intense debate over whether they should have to register for the draft when they turn 18. On Tuesday, the Senate approved an expansive military policy bill that would for the first time require young women to register for the draft. The shift, while fiercely opposed by some conservative lawmakers and interest groups, had surprisingly broad support among Republican leaders and women in both parties. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or U.S. Senate approves bill that would force women to register for military draft when they turn 18 Back to video The United States has not used the draft since 1973 during the Vietnam War. But the impact of such a shift, reflecting the evolving role of women in the armed services, would likely be profound. Under the Senate bill passed on Tuesday, women turning 18 on or after Jan. 1, 2018, would be forced to register for Selective Service, as men must do now. Failure to register could result in the loss of various forms of federal aid, including Pell grants, a penalty that men already face. Because the policy would not apply to women who turned 18 before 2018, it would not affect current aid arrangements.

Sarcastic fringehead The sarcastic fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi) is a small but very hardy saltwater fish that has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behavior, for which it has been given its common name. When two fringeheads have a territorial battle, they wrestle by pressing their distended mouths against each other, as if they were kissing. This allows them to determine which is the larger fish, which establishes dominance. They can be up to long, elongate and slender, and are mostly scaleless with great pectoral fins and reduced pelvic fins. The swimming movements of these fish are complicated. Their swimming consists of short, fast, dart-like movements. They are generally brown in color. Sarcastic Fringeheads are a species of tube blenny, and therefore tend to hide inside shells or crevices, though some have been found living in man-made objects such as a soda can. After the female spawns under a rock or in clam burrows, the male guards the eggs. During squid spawning season, they eat large numbers of squid eggs. They are found in the Pacific, off the coast of North America, from San Francisco, California, to central Baja California. Their depth range is from . The specific name honours Dr. S. B. Blanchard of San Diego, California who collected specimens of this blenny and passed them on to Girard who described it. References External links University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web Strange Fish Identification Website Sarcastic fringehead Category:Fish of the Pacific Ocean Category:Fish described in 1858

The pictures are dramatic — a camera at the North Pole Environmental Observatory, sitting in the middle of what appears to be either a lake or open ocean, at the height of the summer sea ice melt season. Set against the backdrop of the precipitous decline in sea ice cover in recent decades due in large part to global warming, this would seem to be yet another alarming sign of Arctic climate change. Image from one of the North Pole Environmental Observatory webcams, taken on Thursday, July 25.Credit: NSF's North Pole Environmental Observatory. These images have attracted media attention, such as this AtlanticWire post and this Daily Mail story, both of which portray the images as potential signs of an intensifying Arctic meltdown.But before concluding that Arctic climate change has entered an even more ominous phase, it’s important to examine the context behind these images.First, the cameras in question, which are attached to instruments that scientists have deposited on the sea ice at the start of each spring since 2002, may have “North Pole” in their name, but they are no longer located at the North Pole. In fact, as this map below shows, they have drifted well south of the North Pole, since they sit atop sea ice floes that move along with ocean currents. Currently, the waterlogged camera is near the prime meridian, at 85 degrees north latitude. Annotated map showing the location of the North Pole and the location of the buoys with the webcams.Credit: NSF's North Pole Environmental Observatory. “It’s moved away from the North Pole region and it will eventually exit Fram Strait,” said Mark Serreze, the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colo., in an interview. Fram Strait lies between Greenland and Norway, and is one of the main routes for sea ice to get flushed out of the Arctic Ocean.The second thing to keep in mind is that melting sea ice at or near the North Pole is actually not a rare event. Observations from the webcams dating back to 2002, and from satellite imagery and nuclear-powered submarines that have explored the ice cover since the Cold War era dating back several decades, show that sea ice around the North Pole has formed melt ponds, and even areas of open water, several times in the past.The webcam depicting what seems like open water is most likely “just sitting in a big melt pond” that has formed on top of the sea ice cover, Serreze said. This melt pond started forming around July 10, and is likely close to its peak depth and extent. The occurrence of a melt pond at or near the North Pole is “just not that unusual,” Serreze said, and is even less rare at a more southern location such as where the camera is now.“The whole Arctic sea ice cover does show melt during summer even at the North Pole,” he said, speaking of a typical melt season.Serreze said it’s usually possible to walk through these melt ponds with hip boot waders on, as opposed to having to swim, since there is ice underneath the meltwater. Video of images taken by the North Pole Environmental Observatory webcam during the 2013 melt season. (The pond starts to appear at 1:25.)James Overland, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Climate Central in an email that the melt pond does seem unusually large compared to what is typically observed in a melt season, though. “We have extensive melt ponds every year, but I do not remember such an extensive lake in previous years. The lake is more a product of how the ice was configured earlier in the year,” he said.Walt Meier, a research scientist at the NSIDC, said the lake's apparently large size may be the result of snowfall totals this winter and other factors. "The pool seems rather larger than normal, but that could likely be simply due to factors other than the temperature: how much snow fell on the area over the winter (more winter snow = more melted snow), the topography of the ice (little hills and valleys in the ice causing the water to pool in certain regions), etc.," Meier said in an email. Arctic sea ice cover has been rapidly shrinking and thinning since the start of satellite observations in 1979. Last year, sea ice extent and volume plunged to a record low. When the melt season finally ended in late September, the Arctic Ocean managed to hold onto less than half of the average sea ice extent seen during the 1979-to-2000 period.The past six years have had the six smallest sea ice extents since 1979, indicating that the ice has not recovered from the previous record low in 2007. Researchers attribute this to the loss of thicker multiyear ice, which has been replaced by thinner ice that forms in the fall and melts in the spring and summer.Serreze said the thinness of the ice cover has made it much more susceptible to weather patterns that promote ice transport and melting. So far this summer, sea ice extent has tracked above that of 2012, with a slow rate of ice melt in June followed by much more rapid melting during the first three weeks of July after weather patterns became more favorable for melting, Serreze said.“I would be extremely surprised if we were not” well below average come September, Serreze said, but the prospect of setting another record low “depends on the vagaries of the weather, and we just can’t predict that.” The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan I guess you could call the Arctic Sea a lake. You'd be an Idiot, but that has never stopped them before. The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan North Pole Sees Unprecedented July Cold – Arctic Sees Shortest Summer On Record — ‘Normally the high Arctic has about 90 days above freezing. This year there was less than half that’ The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan I was in southern Brazil last week. Spent a week freezing my you-know-what's off. And it is supposed to be mid summer! We serioously need more of that global warming we have been promised. PS: Love the quotes! Everyone should know that when it's summer in the northern hemisphere it's winter in the southern hemisphere, but it seems some people don't know that. But that's besides the point. If you had taken just a moment to look up the climate of Brazil you'd soon learn that that country has five different climate regions. Did you know that? You said you where in the south and knowing what I know now because I looked up the climates of Brazil and you did not, tells me that the temperatures you experienced were normal or near normal for that area of the country during Brazil's winter season. P.S. As climate change skeptics conclude with great misunderstanding global warming doesn't mean the global temperature all over rise uniformly to a toasty warmth. I was in southern Brazil last week. Spent a week freezing my you-know-what's off. And it is supposed to be mid summer! We serioously need more of that global warming we have been promised. PS: Love the quotes! Everyone should know that when it's summer in the northern hemisphere it's winter in the southern hemisphere, but it seems some people don't know that. But that's besides the point. If you had taken just a moment to look up the climate of Brazil you'd soon learn that that country has five different climate regions. Did you know that? You said you where in the south and knowing what I know now because I looked up the climates of Brazil and you did not, tells me that the temperatures you experienced were normal or near normal for that area of the country during Brazil's winter season. P.S. As climate change skeptics conclude with great misunderstanding global warming doesn't mean the global temperature all over rise uniformly to a toasty warmth. Much as it horrifies me to admit it, it seems that you are right about Brazil. I travel a lot and frequently end up in places that I can't even find on a map. So where is Brazil anyway? So assuming you are right and it is winter there, I wonder why were all the locals complaining that they had never experienced it so cold? Also, some of them said that they had seen snow last week, for the first time in their lives. Anyway, the next time I am there I will ask them about that. In the meantime, I have add buying an atlas to my list of things to do. I was in southern Brazil last week. Spent a week freezing my you-know-what's off. And it is supposed to be mid summer! We serioously need more of that global warming we have been promised. PS: Love the quotes! Everyone should know that when it's summer in the northern hemisphere it's winter in the southern hemisphere, but it seems some people don't know that. But that's besides the point. If you had taken just a moment to look up the climate of Brazil you'd soon learn that that country has five different climate regions. Did you know that? You said you where in the south and knowing what I know now because I looked up the climates of Brazil and you did not, tells me that the temperatures you experienced were normal or near normal for that area of the country during Brazil's winter season. P.S. As climate change skeptics conclude with great misunderstanding global warming doesn't mean the global temperature all over rise uniformly to a toasty warmth. Much as it horrifies me to admit it, it seems that you are right about Brazil. I travel a lot and frequently end up in places that I can't even find on a map. So where is Brazil anyway? So assuming you are right and it is winter there, I wonder why were all the locals complaining that they had never experienced it so cold? Also, some of them said that they had seen snow last week, for the first time in their lives. Anyway, the next time I am there I will ask them about that. In the meantime, I have add buying an atlas to my list of things to do. Thank you for dispelling my ignorance. I am surprised and at a loss for words. As for the cold and snow the weather does odd things. If this is just one odd occurrence it means nothing, but if it becomes the norm then it can be attributed to climate change. The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan Not a single person showed up at the Georgetown waterfront Tuesday for a climate change agenda event put on by Organizing for Action, the shadowy nonprofit advocacy group born out of President Obama’s 2012 campaign, the NRCC wrote in its blog.The event page for the “Climate Change Day of Action Rally” disappeared after rainy weather appeared to drive away whatever people planned to attend. The embarrassing showing follows the news that only one volunteer stayed for an OFA Obamacare event in Centreville, Va., last week to work the phones: Priceless! The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan The people who think the seas will rise and drown us all never watched Mr. Wizard......... The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan The people who think the seas will rise and drown us all never watched Mr. Wizard......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKiq5EwkzDg Loved Mr. Wizard when I was growing up but I see you only learned half of the story. While this demonstration is correct your conclusion derived from this demonstration is incorrect. You have not considered the water still frozen on land. When that flows into the ocean it will raise sea levels worldwide [which have risen]. You can do a demo of this yourself. Do what Mr. wizard just did but this time continue to add water to the glass of ice and water. The glass of water represents all of the frozen water on land and it melting into the ocean. What do you think will happen? I'm not going to get into an argument with you about a phony Government and "Scientist" Graft scheme based on the rings of one tree in Siberia that can't even be peer reviewed because the Crooks at East Anglia University burned all the "evidence" (If there was any to begin with), and has a Messiah with a carbon footprint even bigger than his BAD_WORD. It's a crock of crap floating in a sea of feces and it always has been. http://www.climatede...m-of-researche/Warmists Now ‘Blame the Volcanoes’ Global-Warming ‘Pause’: ‘Since 2000, volcanic aerosols increased their heat-blocking ability by between 4% and 7%, according to the study from a team of researchers at NASA & NOAA’ http://www.climatede...ince-the-1960s/Flashback 2008 Study: ‘Lack of observed [volcanic] dust in atmosphere could be responsible for as much as .18 to .36 degrees F rise (about 1/3rd) in avg. temp since the 1960s’ The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan So using Warmer "Logic" we should be dying of heat prostration right about now..... You mean the global cooling that happened after Krakatoa actually happened? And there were no SUVs to stop it from happening? Oh, the Humanity! The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan A spell of extreme cold weather has brought ice and snow to much of Argentina, killing at least nine. The only difference between Socialism and National Socialism is the snappy uniforms. - Logan "Aside from ending Slavery, Fascism and Communist World Domination, War has never solved anything! ""For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute! But it's "Savior of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot." - Rudyard Kipling "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."---George Orwell "Always Remember-All Lessons in Life are Expensive.....and the last one costs you everything you have." - Logan" Socialism is just Communism without a Dictator....and you can always find a Dictator!" - Logan "An Armed Man is a Citizen. An Unarmed Man is a Subject. Subject to anything anyone wants to do to him." - Logan "Without the Second Amendment there is no First Amendment...or Third or Fourth or Fifth....or 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th!" - Logan Peace is not the Absence of War. Peace is the Absence of the Opportunity for War. True Peace comes through Superior Firepower. - Logan

Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Respiratory System Disorders. Final rule. We are revising the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (listings) that we use to evaluate claims involving respiratory disorders in adults and children under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The revisions reflect our program experience and advances in medical knowledge since we last comprehensively revised this body system in 1993, as well as comments we received from medical experts and the public.

This case study shows that deforestation is a threat to rainforest mammals, but that "bushmeat" hunting may be even more of a danger. Tropical rainforests are crucial to the biodiversity of the planet, and the biggest threats to animals in those ecosystems are logging and hunting. A great deal has been written about the loss of tropical forests, and many animal advocates are aware of the issue of deforestation to make way for grazing cows. Logging reduces habitat quality and quantity, and the long-term effects of logging on animals and habitat are still being studied. On the other side of the coin, hunting occurs over even larger areas of rainforest than logging (sometimes they happen concurrently). Research on hunting has been mostly regional in scope, with few studies having looked at hunting at “landscape scales.” Even less is known about how the impacts of logging and hunting might be correlated. The purpose of this study was “to quantify how exploitation (hunting) and logging individually and jointly affect mammal occurrence and species richness.” The researchers honed in on terrestrial species, looking at non-flying species and some species of tree-dwelling animals that also live part-time on the ground. While such mammals only represent a fraction of the species richness of the rainforest, the researchers faced a “disproportionately high risk of extinction” in the study area (Southeast Asia, more specifically Malaysian Borneo). They sampled seven study areas in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, including areas that were both logged and unlogged. At these sites, the industrial logging that takes place is selective (as opposed to “clear cutting), and hunting is considered “ubiquitous.” Like some previous studies, they used camera traps to gather data. Overall, the study found that both logging (considered an “indirect impact”) and hunting (considered “direct”) had “large effects” on the species richness of the animal populations that were studied. Importantly, they found that hunting was a greater threat than logging for specific animals, including primates and ungulates. These animals are also “important as seed dispersers and herbivores in tropical forests.” The research suggests that the strong influence of hunting on mammal richness likely “stems from a growing human population,” the use of guns in hunting, and the “demands of international markets.” The study found that “strong responses by a given mammal to one factor (like logging or hunting) were not associated with strong responses to the other.” The practical application of this is that “conservation strategies addressing one threat cannot be expected to implicitly mitigate the other.” Since most conservation efforts in Borneo are focused on mitigating deforestation, it may be time to refocus on hunting. This study offers illuminating results that may provide directions for future wild animal advocacy. While deforestation is an important issue for both animal protection and environmental reasons, this study shows that hunting can put even more pressure on rainforest species. Interestingly, the study indicates that much of the hunting being done was by local villagers who were not supported economically by wild meat. The researchers here talk about “achieving sustainable exploitation levels,” which is not what most advocates would seek to accomplish as an end goal. Nonetheless, the results provide strong evidence of the negative impact that hunting has on animal species in threatened areas.

Q: Should your class implement ActionListener or use an object of an anonymous ActionListener class What's the best way for implementing the java.awt.event.ActionListener interface? Have your class implement ActionListener and add this as an ActionListener: class Foo implements ActionListener{ public Foo() { JButton button = new JButton(); button.addActionListener(this); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { } } Or add an object of an anonymous ActionListener class: class Foo{ public Foo() { JButton button = new JButton(); button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { } }); } } A: Some (jeanette/kleopatra) say to almost never use ActionListener, and to instead use Actions such as an AbstractAction. It's almost always a bad ideal to have your GUI class implement your listeners though as this breaks the Single Responsibility Principle and makes your code more difficult to maintain and extend,and so I strongly urge you not to do that. So for example, an inner class for this: import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.KeyEvent; import javax.swing.AbstractAction; import javax.swing.JButton; class Foo { public Foo() { JButton button = new JButton(new ButtonAction("Action", KeyEvent.VK_A)); } private class ButtonAction extends AbstractAction { public ButtonAction(String name, Integer mnemonic) { super(name); putValue(MNEMONIC_KEY, mnemonic); } @Override public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { System.out.println("button pressed"); } } } A: The second option (anonymous class) is certainly better, another option would be to have a nested class within Foo. I wouldn't go with the first option for two reasons: The users of Foo shouldn't have to know that it implements ActionListener. You cannot implement two different listeners in the same class. A: It depends. If you want to reuse the ActionListener across multiple components, option one is better. If the ActionListener will only ever be associated with the one button, option two is fine. Generally, you would create a separate class (or inner class), if you anticipate some growth in the project. There's no need for Foo to implement ActionListener.

Expansion and retention of pulmonary CD4+ T cells after prime boost vaccination correlates with improved longevity and strength of immunity against tularemia. Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis strain SchuS4 (Ftt) is a highly virulent intracellular bacterium. Inhalation of 10 or fewer organisms results in an acute and potentially lethal disease called pneumonic tularemia. Ftt infections occur naturally in the U.S. and Ftt was developed as a bioweapon. Thus, there is a need for vaccines that protect against this deadly pathogen. Although a live vaccine strain of Francisella tularensis (LVS) exists, LVS fails to generate long-lived protective immunity against modest challenge doses of Ftt. We recently identified an important role for high avidity CD4+ T cells in short-term protection and hypothesized that expanding this pool of cells would improve overall vaccine efficacy with regard to longevity and challenge dose. In support of our hypothesis, application of a prime/boost vaccination strategy increased the pool of high avidity CD4+ T cells which correlated with improved survival following challenge with either increased doses of virulent Ftt or at late time points after vaccination. In summary, we demonstrate that both epitope selection and vaccination strategies that expand antigen-specific T cells correlate with superior immunity to Ftt as measured by survival.

<?php $expected = array('$a++', ); $expected_not = array('switch($b) { /**/ } ', 'foreach ($b as $c) { /**/ } ', ); ?>

Q: how to avoid a loop in a calculation of mean in matlab I have a matrix A with size 100000x128. For each row of this matrix I need to calculate the mean of columns 1:16, 17:32... 98:113. The way I'm doing it is with a for loop like this: n = 8; % number of windows win_size = 128/n; for i = 1 : length(A) PAA(i,:) = [mean(reshape(A(i,:),win_size,n))]; end Any chance I could improve this without the loop? Thanks for the help. A: You may use reshape, to create another dimension for your blocks: y=reshape(x,size(x,1),win_size,size(x,2)/win_size) To get the mean per block, use mean(y,2)

Top Posts Error: Twitter did not respond. Please wait a few minutes and refresh this page. Advertisements WELCOME Welcome to The Politicizer and with it, welcome to a new perspective on politics. The Politicizer is a new kind of political blog – It is neither right wing, nor left wing, nor is it moderate. The Politicizer is not a news feed, a report, or even a journal – rather it is the voice of the generation that was the focus of the 2008 election – young people, the ‘Internet Generation’. On Tuesday, “President Obama told CNBC that the US is not in danger of overregulating the economy and that the outcome of the Iranian election will not make that much difference in his administration’s policies toward that country.” You have got to be kidding me. Even though I didn’t support Obama in the fall, I still had high hopes for him as a President. Perhaps he would bring beneficial change to America as a moderate, as he claimed during the election season. Since coming into office, I have disagreed with his policies more than agreed with them. A majority of these disagreements have been economic, especially his increased involvement in the American economy. He is expanding the Federal Government more than any other president, and is exercising control over the economy that is not his to exercise. GM, the company of whom we once said “what’s good for GM is good for America,” is now Government Motors, and we now have a “pay czar” that intrudes into the affairs of banks more than any other government post has. “Not overregulating?” Give me a break! However, despite different viewpoints on how issues should be addressed, most of the time I could still understand and agree with his underlying intent: to provide genuine help for those in need. However, his response to the current election crisis in Iran tells a different story. The Iranian people are begging for support from the rest of the world, and Obama and his administration, even though they are, in the words of Joe Biden, “deeply concerned” by the situation in Iran, have done absolutely nothing. How can he, as the leader of the free world, sit idly by as this crisis unfolds? We as Americans pride ourselves on our freedoms and liberty, and for decades our Presidents, Democratic and Republican, have actively encouraged the spread of freedom. Say what you will about George W. Bush (I myself was not a fan), but his foray into Iraq has at least brought the people more democracy than they have ever experienced and given them hope that they one day may be able to live under a government which reflects their own wishes. The Iranian people are demanding democratic representation, and have shown extraordinary courage in order to defend their fundamental human rights to liberty and freedom in the face of an oppressive regime. We should be assisting the Iranian people in any way possible. The Middle East is ready for democracy – now. So why aren’t we helping them? Honestly, I’m flabbergasted that Obama doesn’t see his policies changing in the wake of this unprecedented turmoil in Iran. Mousavi, the opposition leader, publicly stated in his campaign many times that he would like to open up diplomatic talks with the United States. For an Iranian politician, he is rather moderate, especially in comparison to Ahmadinejad. If Obama were to recognize Ahmadinejad as a legitimate ruler, which his comment would suggest, it would be an insult to democracies across the globe and humanity in general. While there is no doubt that the United States would still oppose Iran having a nuclear program, to say that the Iranian peoples’ demands for democratic representation wouldn’t change a thing is absurd. The people of Iran, and indeed people everywhere, have the right to free and fair elections. If Obama can’t stand up for freedom, what does he stand for? In an unprecedented move by a US President, Barack Obama has very nearly refused to comment, act or speak out regarding a popular uprising, wherein millions of people have risen up, protested, and endured gunfire, beatings and brutality. These people are demanding nothing more than the right to vote and live as they wish – the mantra of the United States. This is not even to mention the fact that it is occurring in a nation that the US has been trying to get to embrace democracy for decades, or that the man they are protesting in favor of, Hossein Mousavi, is an avid supporter of the United States. Throughout history, the President of the United States has embraced democratic uprisings and the dawn of freedom at nearly every turn. The most famous of which can be summarized in one quote by Ronald Reagan, “Mr. Gorbachov, tear down this wall.” Reagan not only spoke out against the Soviet oppression of the German people, he traveled Germany during the height of tensions and sided with freedom for the German People, despite its risky international and political implications. Fast forward to 2009, the protests are the same, and the goal is the same. The threat posed by radical Islamic governments is nearly the same as the Soviets. The difference: The American President. Read the rest of this entry » In the wake of the financial crisis, corporations have gotten an even worse reputation than previously held. Pundits and politicians from both parties slam ambiguous “corporations” and “CEOs” for ruining America. Let me point out what none of these spectators have – it is thanks to the same CEOs and businesses that America became so successful in the first place. Any critic has committed one of two fallacies when they express this opinion: One option is that this person actually believes that all corporations are bad and that CEOs are a bad influence – which would be a ridiculous and uneducated opinion. The other, and the more likely of the options, is that they realize that a large number of Americans are currently unfoundedly directing their anger at corporate America and are merely pandering to their collective rage. It is only a handful of corporate policies and legislative mistakes that have led to this crisis, yet the fair-weather politician begins to talk about what the voter thinks is true, rather than what actually is. So what is the truth that many politicians are ignoring? Corporations create jobs, employ millions of Americans, give them opportunity to move up through promotion and merit-based qualification, and in the end, provide nearly every American with opportunity. Read the rest of this entry » According to AMERICAblog, Barack Obama’s legal team — likely on instructions from the White House — filed a motion to dismiss a legal challenge to the “Defense” of “Marriage” Act (DOMA). The full-length, fifty-four page assault on the Constitution and queer constituents can be found here. Among some of the claims the team makes are: * Homosexuality is comparable to incest and pedophilia. Maybe if the Obama administration lawyers had a basic understanding of reality, they might comprehend that since children aren’t able to consent (unlike adults, the persons in question in same-sex marriage) the comparison to homosexuality is not a very good one. They might also understand the fact that incest has been scientifically linked to genetic problems in offspring, whereas homosexuality…not so much. The Politicizer Staff, In Solidarity. Though we are liberals, conservatives, moderates, Republicans, Democrats and independents, the struggle for freedom by the Iranian People is one that cannot be ignored. The Politicizer joins the growing chorus of blogs and social media users demanding freedom for the Iranian People and stand with them in solidarity. Today the Politicizer goes green, the color of the Iranian freedom fighters. There is no greater cause than the fight for liberty. No matter what country it rises up in, let freedom ring. Conor Rogers, Political EditorA brief note about the connection between the 2001 and 2003 US Wars and Iran today It is no coincidence that the first ‘election’ in Iran following the successful implementation of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan has been met with demands for rights, true democracy, and openness in Islamic government. Calls for liberalization are being trumpeted by thousands of people marching in levels not seen on the streets of Tehran in decades. Let me be clear, as a middle-of-the road Republican, I was not fond of how the Iraq war was initially handled, nor the fact that information was apparently manipulated by Rumsfeld et al during the course to war, call me a surge supporting-Petraeus Republican if you will, yet these recent developments may in fact vindicate the use of the Bush Doctrine in Iraq regardless of how one feels about the run up, or the initial handling of it. Read the rest of this entry » The American public is distracted. Right now, we are in the middle of a deep recession. Unemployment is the highest we have seen in decades, and your average Joe is worried about keeping his job and supporting his family. And while it is important that we be concerned about this rapid expansion of government through “stimulus” (spending), bailouts, and “spreading the wealth around”, we often have the tendency to let issues that seem urgent divert our attention away from issues of equal or greater importance. Usually, and regrettably, the neglected issue is one of foreign policy and national security. For example, while mass genocide was being committed by Nazi Germany, we were distracted at home—and it wasn’t until it directly affected us, it wasn’t until we got hit with Pearl Harbor, that we entered WWII to forcefully cease the growing German power and claim victory. America was distracted, and we came in too late. We have been at war with radical Islamic fundamentalists ever since 9/11, but they have been at war with us for decades. Read the rest of this entry » Around 100 years ago, the notion of social Darwinism was wildly popular amongst the well-to-do. Since then, it has been largely derided as unacceptable, cruel, and just plain incorrect. Apparently it’s reared its ugly head again, this time in Michele’s post and a Republican Party seemingly dedicated to driving itself into the ground. Michele says that it bothers her that “the recession, and its effects, are regarded as ‘unfortunate'”. Already irked at her statement, I was even more flabbergasted by her reasoning. She claims that regarding the recession as “unfortunate” implies that “we are entitled to having fortunate things happen to us” — when, in reality, that is not the case at all. In my experience, at least, the recession is regarded as unfortunate not because of a sense of ‘entitlement’ but rather because I — and others — recognize that it is sad when people lose their job, lose their home, and have to struggle to get by. Read the rest of this entry » It is no news that our nation, and the rest of the world, is currently experiencing one of the most severe economic downturns in recent times. In 2009 alone, almost 3 million jobs have been lost in the United States already. It is truly an unfortunate occurrence. That, however, bothers me – the fact that the recession, and its effects, are regarded as “unfortunate;” it implies that we are entitled to having fortunate things happen to us, all the time, which is hardly the case. Yes, I agree, the job losses and other effects on the economy are perhaps not the most pleasant occurrences; on the other hand, we as a nation – whether we are blue-collar workers, Wall Street bankers, middle-class families or politicians – must keep our heads about us. It also bothers me how everyone is content running around acting as if the sky is falling, acting as if we will never, ever, ever be able to get out of this recession and recover – that is, unless the government pours money into businesses. I would like to offer an alternate perspective: we should let failing companies fail, and we should let the economy recover on its own; the economy will turn around. It will be brutal for a few years – especially in the beginning, with job losses and the like – but new businesses will open, and the economy will go on. Read the rest of this entry »

DELETE FROM service WHERE short_name='plugin_proftpd'; DROP TABLE IF EXISTS plugin_proftpd_xferlog; DROP VIEW IF EXISTS ftpgroups; DROP VIEW IF EXISTS ftpusers;

Basically: the language specification. But actually, Type.FullName uses the BCL definitions, not the C# definitions - and interestingly they disagree. For example: namespace X { public class Y { public class Z {} } } To C#, Z is X.Y.Z; to the BCL it is X.Y+Z. The representation of generics changes too - with the BCL using back-ticks and numbers rather than angular brackets. I believe the BCL uses the CLI's format of types (which has a separate specification), but if you think about it: it is not required to do so (except for during reflection-emit). AFAIK, these separators are not exposed via anything like Path.PathSeparator - but is, as you say, hard coded into the Type etc classes.

Q: how do I get the string to the right side of a character? connectionString=Data Source=SERVER1;Initial Catalog=DATABASE1;Integrated Security=True I want to capture EVERYTHING to the right of "=". How would I go about doing this? Console.WriteLine(connectionString); Data Source=SERVER1;Initial Catalog=DATABASE1;Integrated Security=True I tried: variable = string.Split('=')[1] but it only gives me "Data Source" A: Like this: var str = "connectionString=Data Source=SERVER1;Initial Catalog=DATABASE1;Integrated Security=True"; var res = str.Substring(str.IndexOf('=')+1); Note that of there is no '=' character in the string, the entire string will be returned. If there are multiple '=' characters present, the first character will be used as the "cutting point", and the remaining ones will be ignored. Link to a demo on ideone.

SANTA MONICA -- Walk into an independently owned 7-Eleven store in and around this sunny beach town and you'll find that the price of a dozen large white eggs ranges from $1.59 to $1.99. But at local outlets of Southern California's three major supermarket chains -- Lucky, Ralphs and Vons--the price is markedly higher: a uniform $2.09. A similar discrepancy prevails throughout much of Southern California, with independent grocers and convenience stores charging less for eggs than the big chains that dominate the market. Why the difference? The chains say the answer is simple: Given the basic law of supply and demand, they can command these higher prices. It is, they maintain, the free market at work. But according to the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court, the reason is much more sinister: In their view, there's an illegal price-fixing agreement among the major supermarkets. Over the past five years, they contend, consumers have paid $250 million more for eggs than they would have in a truly competitive market. The case, originally filed in 1996 with little fanfare, was recently set for trial; jury selection is scheduled to begin Nov. 2. The plaintiffs say they will not only prove that egg prices in Southern California are higher than those in other parts of the country, but that Lucky, Ralphs and Vons share pricing information through trade associations and other intermediaries and have at least a tacit agreement to keep prices high. "There is a mechanism...where the majors turn in their egg prices. It's 'You show me yours and I'll show you mine,'" contends plaintiffs' attorney Don Howarth of Los Angeles. "If everyone stays with the program, there's a benefit to all the participants. If not...the prices will spiral down." Perfectly orchestrated, Mr. Howarth says, the "conspiracy" manages to prop prices at the highest level, while keeping "the purchasing public sullen but not mutinous." The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that would prevent the price of eggs from being fixed and unspecified monetary damages. Suit Alleges Grocers Fixed Egg Prices. The supermarkets flatly deny the charge, and in court papers have challenged everything from the suit's factual premise to the qualifications of the named plaintiffs -- a sister and a friend of the young attorney who first filed the case--to represent the class of all egg consumers in Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties. Vons Co. "has never entered into any agreement with any competitor to fix the price of any product it sells, including eggs," the Los Angeles-based supermarket chain said in a statement released by its attorney. Gregory Stone of Munger, Tolles & Olson, "Vons' frequent promotions and discounting of eggs results in an average sales price that is well below the egg prices of Vons' major Southern California competitors." The attorney for Dublin-based Lucky Stores Inc., Mark Spooner of the Los Angeles firm Arnold & Porter, also calls the case "really, totally baseless." The prices on any given item, he says, "are going to vary from market to market, and what really matters is the mix of prices. There are literally thousands of items sold in grocery stores, and you can't judge competition based on any one item." (Ralphs Grocery Co. of Compton didn't respond to request for comment.) Even with all the wrangling, two things seem beyond dispute. First, despite controversies over their health implications, eggs remain a popular food. Consumption is down from its peak in the 1940s-- when the average American ate 400 eggs a year-- but Californians still consume about 240 eggs annually, some 30% of them as recipe ingredients. Second, although California is the nation's largest egg producer, with roughly one laying hen for each of the state's 33 million residents, its supermarket egg prices are generally the highest in the U.S. This has been so since 1983, when an epidemic of avian influenza wiped out much of the nation's chicken population and "prices went through the roof," says Donald Bell, a poultry specialist at the University of California-Riverside. But after the industry recovered, "the rest of the country took their retail prices back down--and California did not." According to Mr. Bell, the wholesale price of a dozen large eggs in California is now around 64 cents--meaning the supermarkets are marking up their eggs by about $1.45 per carton. Still, he says, "it's going to be very difficult to prove a willful agreement between those parties to do whatever they're doing. You can always look at any price in a store and say, 'Boy that's high.' But that's part of capitalism." Howard Shelanski, a law professor and antitrust expert at the University of California-Berkeley, agrees. "High margins can be the result of ...rational behavior" on the part of each supermarket acting independently, rather than through collusion, Prof. Shelanski says. Antitrust law, he adds, "has always wrestled with the problem of how to handle "high prices in a sector in which there is just a handful of particularly large players--an oligopoly. "Generally, the position has been to watch those industries carefully," the professor explains, "but you don't punish the firms" simply for charging as much as they can. 'Cash and Carrie' The assault on supermarket egg prices was initiated by a San Diego attorney named Cash J. Bonas. Mr. Bonas specializes in antitrust matters; as he puts it, "Price-fixing is what I do." Shortly after his 1995 graduation from the University of Idaho law school, Mr. Bonas began comparing egg prices with his sister, Carrie O'Husky, an Oceanside schoolteacher. "It really kind of hit us that there was definitely something wrong, economically speaking." Mr. Bonas persuaded his sister and a college friend, Sheri McCampbell of Hermosa Beach, to serve as the named plaintiffs in the class-action suit against Lucky, Ralphs and Vons. Three other firms signed on as plaintiff's attorneys, including L.A.'s Howarth & Smith, which has participated in high-profile litigation against tobacco companies and an antitrust claim against the National Football League. The supermarkets have been vigorously fighting the case--and at times, things have gotten personal. Mr. Spooner, the Lucky attorney, not only questioned Ms. McCampbell during her deposition about economic models of egg pricing, but also whether she had ever been "romantically involved" with Mr. Bonas. (The answer: No.) In an effort to show that the named plaintiffs hadn't suffered sufficient injury, Vons went so far as to note that both "are Vons Club members and use their cards regularly" and that "Carrie O'Husky received a free turkey this past Thanksgiving" thanks to a store promotion. And in a case egg-ceptionally vulnerable to puns, there have been moments of levity. Pausing during the deposition of Ms. O'Husky, Ralphs attorney Eliot Disner marveled at the first names of Mr. Bonas and his client/sister. "Cash and Carrie. I don't believe it," he said. "Are there any other siblings?" (One: Michael.) Despite the joking, consumer advocates say the litigation underscores a serious matter. "The major supermarket chains are gouging consumers on the basic necessities of life," charges Harry Snyder, senior advocate at Consumers Union's West Coast regional office in San Francisco, which has released studies showing that supermarket milk prices in Los Angeles and San Francisco are far higher than those of independent grocers. 'Tacit or Explicit' "They have some sort of agreement, either tacit or explicit, to maintain higher-than-competitive pricing," Mr. Snyder says, because "traditionally it's thought that consumption" won't fall on basic commodities like milk and eggs, even if prices rise. Trying to prove such an "agreement" exists, however, is bound to be an extremely complex matter. Mr. Howarth claims that the majors share information by reporting their prices to intermediaries, such as the Chicago based market-data firm Information Resources Inc., which then tell the supermarkets what the others are charging. But Information Resources denies that. While it does report "average" prices in the region, "we would not tell Ralphs what's going on with Lucky or Vons," says Bob Bregenzer, a senior vice president at Information Resources. Other claims by the plaintiffs as to how the alleged cartel operates are vague. For instance, the plaintiffs say in court papers that they will "present evidence of close professional and personal relationships among the officers and directors of Vons, Ralphs and Lucky" and of those executives "many opportunities to collude through, for example, their participation in professional organizations." Citing confidentiality orders imposed by the court, plaintiff attorneys wouldn't elaborate. Some Inconsistencies What's more, it remains unclear whether there really is price uniformity among the chain supermarkets. It's true that in the Santa Monica area, the majors last weekend where charging $2.09 for a dozen large white eggs, while prices were lower at the local 7-Elevens, the discount gourmet grocery Trader Joe's ($1.19) and the upscale natural foods market Wild Oats ($1.69). But at the same time, Vons supermarket in Riverside were charging only $1.49--exactly the same price as Vons outlets in Las Vegas, a city that the plaintiffs cite for its low egg prices and assert is not part of the alleged Southern California egg cartel. Meanwhile, at an El Cerrito Lucky--in the Bay Area's Contra Costa County, outside the region covered by the suit--the price was, again, $2.09. Mr. Bonas insists that despite these pricing anomalies, he will prove his egg conspiracy at trial. And win or lose, one thing is certain, "I used to like omelets with bacon and onions," Mr. Bonas says, "But now I never want to see another egg again."

The 2006-07 basketball season is over for Pitt, but recruiting never ends; as such, Jamie Dixon and his staff are currently working on getting commitments from the class of 2008. In the meantime, the Pantherlair is taking a look at Dixon's most recent class of recruits, the class of 2007. Today the Pantherlair takes a look at DeJuan Blair. DeJuan Blair Profile Name: DeJuan Blair Rating: Position: Power forward Height: 6'7" Weight: 260 Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pa. High school: Schenley Recruiting coordinator: Orlando Antigua Profile The premier player in Pitt's 2007 class, Blair is a hometown product who has starred at Schenley High School for the past few years led Schenley to the state championship this season named Player of the Year in Pa. by the Associated Press this season led Schenley to a 30-2 record and an appearance in the state championship game as a junior named to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Fabulous Five" and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Terrific Ten finished his high school career with 563 points projects as a post player, either at center or power forward What has been your most memorable moment on the basketball court? Winning a state championship. Who is your role model on the basketball court? My brother Greg. He pushes me all the time. He knows how to bring out the best in me, through my best games and worst games.

Q: Measuring and conditioning ignition coil secondary signal I would like to measure and log the ignition advance timing angle of a vintage (70s) car. That is, mechanical distributor points (Kettering system), no electronic ignition, no RPM sensor. For this, amongst other things, I need to monitor the signal that is sent from the ignition coil via the distributor points to spark plug #1, which determines the start of the ignition event for my purposes. This signal is coming from the secondary side of the coil, and it's a periodic pulse signal in the order of kV. A single period looks like this: Essentially, I want to convert the burn line region on the picture to a square signal of TTL level, which I can then read with a microcontroller. This question and its answer explain a way how to do that for the primary side of the coil. As the secondary side mirrors the primary side, the concept of how to condition the input signal is the same: add low pass filtering, clamp the maximum and minimum voltage with diodes, buffer and convert to square wave with a Schmitt trigger. However, the main difference here is that while the primary magnitudes are in the order of tenths of volts, the secondary ones are in the order of kilo Volts. This brings a whole new set of considerations: obviously if not managed safely, it can pose a risk to the signal conditioning electronics, or more importantly, to the person handling them. My experience is with lower voltage signals, and I'm assuming that there has to be more thought put into it than simply adding more attenuation (or optoisolation) to the signal going into the microcontroller. This "Testing your ignition with an oscilloscope" document (coincidentally, the same vintage as the car) describes part of what I'm trying to do. On page 5, section Connecting the scope, a homemade pick up capacitor is coupled to the ignition wire. I'd like to think technology has advanced since the 70s and there is a more refined way of doing it. Furthermore, I do not often drive with tin foil wrapped around engine wires :) How would I best go about: Measuring the signal with a scope for testing/prototyping? Using a capacitive or inductive probe with built-in attenuation? Permanently connecting, i.e. interfacing the signal to a microcontroller for monitoring purposes? I'm not asking for an actual circuit (*), rather a recommendation on the best way to physically connect the signal from the ignition cable to the stage that would condition it before going into the microcontroller, which would sit in a box in the engine compartment. Would that be the same answer as the oscilloscope question? I. e. capacitive/inductive probe? Or a regular resistive attenuator? Thanks. (*) although suggestions are welcome. A: Measuring: use a capacitive probe with 1000:1 attenuation to measure the signal on the scope. By wrapping around the ignition cable, the clamp of the capacitive probe effectively forms a cylindrical capacitor in the order of a few pF. The attenuation block in the probe most probably completes the circuit with a capacitive divider, similar to what your linked document depicts. Permanently connecting: you can use the same arrangement as the measurement and build yourself a capacitive clamp and attenuation circuit. Another option is to use inductive coupling. An example is the VW 113-919-105 sensor that was used to detect the spark on cylinder #1 for some vintage Volkswagen vehicles (Type 2 and Type 3). It was a ring in which the HT wire was inserted, which makes it probably more resistant to vibration than a bigger clamp plus attenuator block.

Purps Passions: Why We Love Purple Marijuana Strains Purple marijuana is one of the most beautiful cannabis plants in the world, and that’s one reason purple marijuana strains have become extremely popular in the last ten years. From Purple Kush to Granddaddy Purps to Cherry Pie, purps marijuana is luscious to inhale and look at. In this first article of a two-part series on purple marijuana, we’ll look at what makes purple marijuana different, and why marijuana turns purple. Hint: it’s not because of temperatures, nitrogen, or hitting your plants with a stick. We’re also going to talk about purple marijuana as medical marijuana. Because that special purple color comes from compounds known to have medical benefits. In our follow-up part two article coming soon, we’ll line out the strongest, rarest, and most sought-after purple marijuana strains, and look at ways to maximize the value and potency of your purple marijuana. So here’s the inside story on beautiful marijuana purps… People used to believe marijuana is triggered to turn purple solely for the same type of reason that trees’ leaves change color in autumn. This involves temperature getting colder, less sunlight, decreased and degraded chlorophyll, and the presence of “anthocyanin” pigments that give marijuana purple, burgundy, and reddish tones. Some in the marijuana growing community believe that environmental conditions (usually influenced by time of year or indoor garden light cycles, cooler nights, stress, and nutritional factors) automatically produce purple marijuana, regardless of the cannabis genetics involved. This theory says that almost any strain of marijuana will go purple if night temperatures get cold enough, if you deprive the plants of nitrogen, and for other alleged reasons. I believed those theories too, and tried to induce purpling by having low dark-cycle temperatures, by manipulating nutrition, by letting my hydroponics plants go way past late bloom, etc. Don’t get me wrong—sometimes my cannabis plants’ leaves or bud hairs did go purple, but it seemed to me it wasn’t my techniques making it happen. Then I started growing purple marijuana strains. Not just trying to make any marijuana go purple, but getting seeds for Grand Daddy Purp and other purple strains. I had abandoned the idea that giving plants harsh conditions (such as night temperatures at 57 degrees Fahrenheit) would create purpling in any marijuana strain. I maintained optimum grow room and hydroponics nutrients protocols and followed the recommended bloom phase lengths for purple strains I grew. Like magic, in controlled grow room conditions, these purple strains turned purple or maroon when they wanted to, kind of like the way that autoflowering marijuana flowers when it wants to. Note that some purple strains, like all marijuana strains grown from seed, may express different phenotypes. Not every marijuana plant grown from seeds of a purple strain will go purple: you could buy ten cannabis seeds that are said to be a purple strain, grow them out, and find that some go purple all the way, others only show a little purple, and some don’t go purple at all. Beautiful Querkle purple marijuana from TGA Seeds My experience is if you have actual purple marijuana strains genetically set up to go purple, most seed-grown individual plants from that strain will go purple in optimum grow room conditions. You might find other purple cannabis strains that go purple only in sub-optimum conditions (such as unusually cold nights). But the vast majority of cannabis strains won’t go purple at all. Remember also that purple stems or leaves can be a sign of nutrients deficiency involving phosphorus, potassium, or copper. If you’re growing a non-purple strain and you see purple stems, purple leaf veins, or purple stalks, fix your nutrients program and root zone pH. In part two of this article topic, I’ll line out the most reliable and tasty purple strains that produce large harvests of very strong purple bud. But one thing I’ve asked myself is, why are purple strains so popular? Is it just because they’re really pretty, or that some purple strains taste like berries or grapes? In my research, I discovered that purple cannabis strains have a high percentage of Indica genetics, and they contain anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are said to have medical effects. You find them in healthy foods like berries and purple cabbage. These compounds are said to be anti-oxidants, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cholesterol. However, nobody is yet sure if anthocyanin medical benefits transfer to you if you combust or vape purple marijuana. It could be that only by extracting purple cannabis into oils or butter and ingesting it as medibles, topicals, or tinctures will you get the full medical benefits of anthocyanins. In our next article on purple marijuana, you’ll get a list of the best and most valuable purple marijuana strains, and good info on how to grow them for maximum purpling, potency, and harvest weight. The Only Website Made By Marijuana Growers for Marijuana Growers Reproduction whole or in part of any words, images, or any other material from any BigBudsMag.Com pages without first obtaining explicit written permission from BigBudsMag.com is strictly prohibited and is theft of intellectual property that could result in criminal or civil charges.

MPs secure hostile target during WAREX Soldiers assigned to the 324th Military Police Battalion arrive at a cordon and search area here July 25. This event is part of the larger Warrior Exercise (WAREX) 91 14-03, which places Soldiers in a simulated wartime environment and utilized their basic and advanced-individual Soldier skills. (Photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Cooper T. Cash, 319th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Verinbrunalis Not very clever: it is Latin for “spring in winter”. It’s happening right now in Seattle. The news is full of blizzards, and for some that is marvelous (see post by Karyn here), but here the air is full of the scent of daphne odora and “that plant that starts with an ‘s’, smells divine and blooms in January”. Snowdrops in the moss. The leaves and buds of bulbs are thrusting vigorously up through the mulch of partially decayed leaves…but winter is not necessarily over. This little party will end with a shift of the wind. In some ways that makes it all the more precious. For that reason it is also accompanied by a sense of urgency to get outside. This differs from what we call the “pineapple express” which is warm but comes with a lot of rain. I have several ideas for posts for this site, but my grandmother took two falls, about a week apart; the second one resulted in a broken hip. Dealing with the fall out (Pun intended, I need humor wherever I can find it right now!) has really knocked the words right out of me. We won’t … Continue reading "Things were going so well-then Grandma fell" […]

November 17, 2012 Wretched Rossi is very happy with herself… As mentioned earlier, Wretched was awarded $500,000 PLUS $23,500 in punitive damages… that’s a total of $523,500 awarded to Wretched by a jury. An award which Wretched will, more than … Continue reading →

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor article that can suitably be used for producing a semiconductor device such as a semiconductor integrated circuit, a solar cell, a semiconductor laser device or a light emitting diode. More particularly, it relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor article comprising a step of transferring a semiconductor layer onto a substrate. 2. Related Background Art Semiconductor articles are popular in terms of semiconductor wafers, semiconductor substrates and various semiconductor devices and include those adapted for producing semiconductor devices by utilizing the semiconductor region thereof and those used as preforms for producing semiconductor devices. Some semiconductor articles of the type under consideration comprise a semiconductor layer arranged on an insulator. The technology of forming a single crystal silicon semiconductor layer on an insulator is referred to as silicon on insulator (SOI) technology, which is widely known. Various research has been done to exploit the remarkable advantages of SOI that cannot be achieved by using the bulk Si substrates that are used for producing ordinary Si integrated circuits. The advantages of the SOI technology include: 1. the ease of dielectric isolation that allows an enhanced degree of integration; PA1 2. the excellent resistivity against radiation; PA1 3. a reduced floating capacitance that allows a high device operation speed; PA1 4. the omission of the well forming step; PA1 5. the effect of latch up prevention; and PA1 6. the possibility of producing fully depleted field effect transistors using the thin film technology. The advantages of the SOI technology are thoroughly discussed in the Special Issue: "Single-crystal silicon on non-single-crystal insulators"; edited by G. W. Cullen, Journal of Crystal Growth, volume 63, No. 3, pp. 429-590 (1983). PA1 (1) polishing; PA1 (2) local plasma etching; and PA1 (3) selective etching. PA1 applying sufficiently strong tensile force or pressure onto a surface of the combined wafers along a direction perpendicular to the surface; PA1 applying wave energy in the form of an ultrasonic wave or the like to the combined wafers; PA1 causing the porous layer to be exposed at an end surface of the combined wafers, etching the porous Si layer to a certain extent and inserting the edge of a blade; PA1 causing the porous layer to be fully exposed at an end surface of the wafers, soaking the porous Si layer with liquid that may be water and causing the liquid to expand by entirely heating or cooling the combined wafers; and PA1 applying force to the first (or second) substrate along a direction parallel to the second (or first) substrate in order to destroy the porous Si layer. In recent years, a number of reports have been published on the SOI technology for providing substrates that can realize high speed operation and low power consumption for MOSFETs (IEEE SOI conference 1994). The process of manufacturing a semiconductor device can be significantly shortened by using the SOI structure if compared with the corresponding process of manufacturing a device on a bulk Si wafer, because of the implementation of a very simplified device isolation step. Thus, the use of the SOI technology can provide a significant cost reduction in manufacturing a semiconductor device, particularly in terms of the wafer cost and the process cost if viewed from the conventional technology of manufacturing a MOSFET or an IC on a bulk Si substrate, to say nothing of the remarkable performance of such a semiconductor device. Fully depleted MOSFETs are very promising for achieving high speed operation and low power consumption if provided with improved drive power. Generally speaking, the threshold voltage (Vth) of a MOSFET is determined as a function of the impurity concentration of its channel section but, in the case of a fully depleted (FD) MOSFET, the characteristics of the depletion layer are influenced by the SOI film thickness. Therefore, the SOI film thickness has to be rigorously controlled in order to improve the yield of manufacturing LSIs. Meanwhile, a device formed on a compound semiconductor shows a remarkable level of performance that cannot be expected from silicon, particularly in terms of high speed operation and light emission. Such devices are currently formed by means of epitaxial growth on a compound semiconductor substrate that may be made of GaAs or a similar compound. However, a compound semiconductor substrate is costly and mechanically not very strong, so that it is not adapted to produce a large wafer. Thus, efforts have been made to form a compound substrate by hetero-epitaxial growth on a Si wafer that is inexpensive, mechanically strong and good for producing a large wafer. Research on forming SOI substrates became significant in the 1970s. Initially, attention was paid to the technique of producing single crystal silicon by epitaxial growth on a sapphire substrate (SOS: silicon on sapphire), that of producing an SOI structure through full isolation by porous oxidized silicon (FIPOS) and the oxygen ion implantation technique. The FIPOS method comprises steps of forming an islanded N-type Si layer on a P-type single crystal Si substrate by proton/ion implantation (Imai et al., J. Crystal Growth, Vol. 63,547 (1983)) or by epitaxial growth and patterning, transforming only the P-type Si substrate into a porous substrate by anodization in a HF solution, shielding the Si islands from the surface, and then subjecting the N-type Si islands to dielectric isolation by accelerated oxidation. This technique is, however, accompanied by a problem that the isolated Si region is defined before the process of producing devices, therefore restricting the freedom of device design. The oxygen ion implantation method is also referred to as the SIMOX method, which was proposed by K. Izumi for the first time. With this technique, oxygen ions are implanted into a Si wafer to a concentration level of 10.sup.17 to 10.sup.18 /cm.sup.2 and then the latter is annealed at high temperature of about 1,320.degree. C. in an argon/oxygen atmosphere. As a result, the implanted oxygen ions are chemically combined with Si atoms to produce a silicon oxide layer that is centered at a depth corresponding to the projection range (Rp) of the implanted ions. Under this condition, an upper portion of the Si oxide layer that is turned into an amorphous state by the oxygen ion implantation is recrystallized to produce a single crystal Si layer. While the surface Si layer used to show a defect rate as high as 10.sup.5 /cm.sup.2, a recent technological development has made it possible to reduce the defect rate down to about 10.sup.2 /cm.sup.2 by selecting a rate of oxygen implantation of about 4.times.10.sup.17 /cm.sup.2. However, the allowable range of energy infusion and that of ion implantation are limited if the film quality of the Si oxide layer and the crystallinity of the surface Si layer are to be held to respective desired levels and hence the film thickness of the surface Si layer and that of the buried Si oxide (BOX; buried oxide) layer are allowed to take only limited values. In other words, a process of sacrifice oxidation or epitaxial growth is indispensable to realize a surface Si layer having a desired film thickness. Such a process, in turn, gives rise to a problem of uneven film thickness due to the intrinsic adverse effect of the process. There have been reports saying that SIMOX can produce defective Si oxide regions in the Si oxide layer that are referred to as pipes. One of the possible causes of the phenomenon may be foreign objects such as dust introduced into the layer at the time of ion implantation. The device produced in a pipe region can show degraded characteristics due to the leak current between the active layer and the underlying substrate. The SIMOX technique involves the use of a large volume of ions that is by far greater than the volume used in the ordinary semiconductor process and hence the ion implantation process may take a long time if a specifically designed apparatus is used for it. Since the ion implantation process is performed typically by means of raster scan of an ion beam showing a predetermined flow rate of electric current or by spreading an ion beam, a long time may be required for processing a large wafer. Additionally, when a large wafer is processed at high temperature, the slip problem due to an uneven temperature distribution within the wafer can become very serious. Since the SIMOX process requires the use of extraordinary high temperature that is as high as 1,320.degree. C., which is not observed in the ordinary Si semiconductor process, the problem of uneven temperature distribution will become more serious if a large wafer has to be prepared unless a highly effective apparatus is not realized. Beside the above-described known techniques of forming SOI, a technique of bonding a single crystal Si substrate to another single crystal Si substrate that has been thermally oxized to produce an SOI structure has been proposed recently. This method requires the use of an active layer having an even thickness for the devices to be formed on it. More specifically, a single crystal Si substrate that is as thick as several hundred micrometers has to be made as thin as several micrometers or less. Three techniques have been known for thinning a single crystal Si layer that include: It is difficult to achieve an even film thickness by means of the polishing technique. Particularly, the mean deviation in the film thickness can be as large as tens of several percent to make the technique unfeasible when the film is thinned to an order of sub-micrometer. This problem will become more significant for wafers having a large diameter. The technique of local plasma etching is typically used in combination with that of polishing. More specifically, the film is thinned by means of polishing to about 1 to 3 .mu.m and the distribution of film thickness is determined by observing the film thickness at a number of points. Then, the film is subjected to an etching operation where the film is scanned with plasma of SF.sub.6 particles having a diameter of several millimeters, correcting the distribution of film thickness, until a desired film thickness is obtained. There has been a report that the distribution of film thickness can be confined within about .+-.10 nm or less by means of this technique. However, this process is accompanied by a drawback that, if foreign objects are present on the substrate in the form of particles during the plasma etching, they operate as etching masks to produce projections on the substrate when the etching operation is over. Additionally, since the substrate shows a coarse surface immediately after the etching operation, a touch-polishing operation has to be conducted on the surface after the end of the plasma etching and the operation is controlled only in terms of its duration. Then, again the problem of deviations in the film thickness due to polishing arises. Still additionally, a polishing agent typically containing colloidal silica is used for the polishing operation and hence the layer for making an active layer is directly scraped by the polishing agent so that a crushed and/or distorted layer may be produced. The throughput of the process can be significantly reduced when large wafers are treated because the duration of the plasma etching operation is prolonged as a function of the surface area of the wafer being processed. Selective etching involves the use of a film configuration for the substrate to be thinned that comprises one or more film layers adapted to selective etching. For example, assume that a P.sup.+ -Si thin layer containing boron by more than 10.sup.19 /cm.sup.3 and a P-type Si thin layer are made to grow sequentially on a P-type substrate by means of epitaxial growth to produce a first substrate, which is then bonded to a second substrate with an insulation layer interposed therebetween, the insulation layer being typically an oxide film, and that the rear surface of the first substrate is made sufficiently thin in advance by scraping and polishing. Subsequently, the P.sup.+ -layer is exposed by selectively etching the overlying P-type layer and then the P-type substrate is exposed by selectively etching the P.sup.+ -layer to produce an SOI structure. This technique is discussed in detail in a report by Maszara (W. P. Maszara, J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 138,341 (1991)). While the selective etching technique is effective for producing a thin film with an even film thickness, it is accompanied by the drawbacks as identified below. The selective etching ratio is not satisfactory and will be as low as 10.sup.2 at most. A touch-polishing operation is required to smooth the surface after the etching operation because of the coarse surface produced by the etching operation. Therefore, the film thickness can lose the uniformity as it is reduced by polishing. Particularly, while the polishing operation is controlled by the duration of the operation, it is difficult to rigorously control the operation because the polishing rate can vary significantly from time to time. Thus, this problem becomes significant when forming an extremely thin SOI layer that is as thin as 100 nm. The produced SOI layer can show a poor crystallinity due to the use of a film forming technique that involves ion implantation and epitaxial or hetero-epitaxial growth on a Si layer that is densely doped with B. Additionally, the bonded surface of the substrate may show a degree of smoothness that is inferior relative to that of a conventional Si wafer (C. Harendt, et al., J. Elect. Mater. Vol. 20,267 (1991), H. Baumgart, et al., Extended Abstract of ECS first International Symposium of Wafer Bonding, pp-733 (1991), C. E. Hunt, Extended Abstract of ECS first International Symposium of Wafer Bonding, pp-696 (1991)). Still additionally, there is a problem that the selectivity of the selective etching technique heavily depends on the concentration difference among the impurities such as boron contained in the substrate and the steepness of the concentration profile of the impurities along the depth of the substrate. Therefore, if the bonding anneal is conducted at high temperature to improve the bonding strength of the layers and the epitaxial growth is carried out also at high temperature to enhance the crystallinity of the SOI layer, the concentration profile of the impurities along the depth becomes flattened to reduce the selectivity of the etching operation. Simply stated, the improvement of the etching selectivity and hence that of the crystallinity and the improvement of the bonding strength are conflicting requirements that cannot be met at the same time. Under these circumstances, the inventors of the present invention proposed a novel method of manufacturing a semiconductor article in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-21338. According to the invention, the proposed method is characterized by forming an article by arranging a nonporous single crystal semiconductor region on a porous single crystal semiconductor region, bonding the surface of a material carrying an insulating material thereon to the corresponding surface of said porous single crystal semiconductor region and subsequently removing said porous single crystal semiconductor region by etching. T. Yonehara et al., who are the inventors of the present invention, also reported a bonded SOI that is excellent in terms of even film thickness and crystallinity and adapted to batch processing (T. Yonehara et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. Vol. 64,2108 (1994)). Now, the proposed method of manufacturing a bonded SOI will be summarily described below by referring to FIGS. 3A through 3C of the accompanying drawings. The proposed method uses a porous layer 32 formed on a first Si substrate 31 as a layer to be selectively etched. After forming a nonporous single crystal Si layer 33 on the porous layer 32 by epitaxial growth, it is bonded to a second substrate 34 with a Si oxide layer 35 interposed therebetween (FIG. 3A). Then, the porous Si layer is exposed over the entire surface area of the first substrate by scraping off the first substrate from the rear side (FIG. 3B). The exposed porous Si is then etched out by means of a selective etching solution typically containing KOH or HF+H.sub.2 O.sub.2 (FIG. 3C). Since the selective etching ratio of the operation of etching the porous Si layer relative to the bulk Si layer (nonporous single crystal Si layer) can be made as high as hundreds of thousands with this technique, the nonporous single crystal Si layer formed on the porous layer in advance can be transferred onto the second substrate to produce a SOI substrate without reducing the thickness of the nonporous single crystal Si layer. Thus, the uniformity of the film thickness of the SOI substrate is determined during the epitaxial growth step. According to a report by Sato et al., since a CVD system adapted to an ordinary semiconductor process can be used for the epitaxial growth, a degree of uniformity of the film thickness as high as 100 nm.+-.2% can be realized. Additionally, the epitaxial Si layer shows an excellent crystallinity of about 3.5.times.10.sup.2 /cm.sup.2. Since the selectivity of any conventional selective etching technique heavily depends on the concentration difference among the impurities contained in the substrate and the steepness of the concentration profile of the impurities along the depth of the substrate as described above, the temperature of the heat treatment (for bonding, epitaxial growth, oxidation and so on) is limited to as low as 800.degree. C. at most because the impurity concentration profile becomes flattened above that temperature limit. On the other hand, the etching rate of the proposed etching technique is mainly determined by the structural difference between the porous layer and the bulk layer so that the heat treatment is not subjected to such a rigorous limitation and temperature as high as 1,180.degree. C. can be used. It is known that a heat treatment process conducted after the bonding operation can remarkably improve the bonding strength between wafers and reduce the size and number of voids on the bonding interface. Additionally, with a selective etching operation depending the structural difference between the porous layer and the bulk layer, the uniformity of the film thickness is not adversely affected by fine particles that can be adhering to the porous Si layer. However, a semiconductor substrate produced by a bonding process inevitably requires at least two wafers as starting materials, one of which is substantially wasted away in the course of polishing and etching to consume the limited natural resources almost for nothing. In other words, a SOI manufacturing process is required to realize low cost and economic feasibility in addition to an enhanced degree of process controllability and an improved uniformity of the film thickness. Differently stated, the requirements of a process for manufacturing a high quality SOI substrate include an excellent reproducibility, an enhanced level of resource saving capability through the repeated use of a same wafer and low manufacturing cost. Under these circumstances, the inventors of the present invention proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-302889 a method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate, with which a pair of substrates are bonded together and subsequently separated from each other through a porous layer arranged therebetween so that one of the substrates may be reused by removing the porous substance remaining on it. The disclosed method will now be summarily described below by referring to FIGS. 4A through 4C of the accompanying drawings. It comprises steps of forming a porous layer 42 by transforming a surface layer of a first Si substrate 41 into a porous state, forming a single crystal Si layer 43 on the porous layer, bonding the single crystal Si layer to the main surface of a second Si substrate 44 with an insulation layer 45 interposed therebetween (FIG. 4A). It further comprises steps of separating the wafers bonded together with the porous layer arranged therebetween (FIG. 4B) and selectively removing the exposed porous Si layer on the surface of the second Si substrate to produce a SOI substrate (FIG. 4C). With this method, the first substrate 41 can be reused after removing the residual porous layer. The bonded wafers may be separated from each other typically by way of one of the following techniques; The above listed techniques are based on the idea that, while the mechanical strength of the porous Si layer depends on the porosity of the layer, it is sufficiently lower than that of a bulk Si layer. As a rule of thumb, a porous Si layer having a porosity of 50% shows a mechanical strength about a half of that of a corresponding bulk Si layer. In short, when a pair of bonded wafers is subjected to compressive, tensile or shearing force, the porous Si layer will be destroyed to begin with. A porous layer showing a higher degree of porosity can be destroyed with less force. However, in reality, efforts have been paid to reduce the porosity of the surface layer of the porous Si in order to realize an excellent epitaxial growth in terms of the quality of the device formed on the SOI substrate, while increasing the porosity of the inside of the porous Si for easy separation of the bonded wafers. Thus, as described in an example disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-302889, it has been a known practice to modify the porosity of the porous Si layer by controlling the electric current used in an anodization process. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-213645 discloses a method of mechanically destroying a porous Si layer in order to separate a device forming layer from a substrate to which the former has been bonded, although it does not describe the configuration of the porous layer. Anyhow, conventionally, a pair of bonded substrates are separated along a porous layer arranged therebetween either by mechanically destroying the porous layer or by controlling the electric current used in an anodization process to modify the porosity of the porous layer. Of these, the technique of applying external force to the bonded wafers to separate them along the porous layer disposed therebetween can result in unintended separation of the wafers along the bonded surfaces thereof if the bonding strength holding the wafers together is smaller than the mechanical strength of the porous Si layer or if the porous layer has one or more than one mechanically weak local regions. If a technique that does not involve a bonding process is employed, the process of separating the wafers along the porous layer has to be controlled rigorously in order to separate them mechanically without fail. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-211128 proposes a method of separating a pair of bonded wafers comprising a step of forming a bubble layer by ion implantation and a subsequent step of crystal rearrangement and cohesion of bubbles by heat treatment so that the wafers may be peeled off from each other along the bubble layer. However, this method is accompanied by a problem of difficulty with which the heat treatment is optimized and the use of a low temperature range between 400 and 600.degree. C. It is not possible to suppress the above-described generation of voids with such a low temperature range, which voids cannot be eliminated if the bonded wafers are subjected to another heat treatment process after the formation of a thin film. In other words, the reduction in the size and number of voids is a phenomenon that appears when the pair of bonded wafers are heat treated at high temperature and would not occur if the bonded wafers are heat treated after the formation of a thin film. The net result of such an additional heat treatment will be an increased strength of the zone binding the wafers together. Additionally, this method involves a step of polishing the surfaces of the substrates after they are peeled off from each other, which step can degrade the distribution of film thickness. As described above, each of the known techniques of separating a substrate along a porous layer is accompanied by its specific problems that have to be dissolved to adapt itself to the rapidly expanding applications of the bonded SOI technology, which will be summarily described below. A light transmitting substrate typically made of glass plays an important role in a contact sensor comprising a light receiving device or a projection type liquid crystal image display apparatus. A high performance drive device is required to realize a higher density, an enhanced resolution and an improved definition for the pixels arranged in such a sensor or a display apparatus. To meet this requirement, it is necessary to form a single crystal layer on a light transmitting substrate so that the devices arranged on the substrate may also show an excellent crystallinity. Additionally, the use of such a single crystal layer makes it possible to implement a peripheral circuit for driving pixels and a circuit for processing images on a substrate carrying the pixels on it in order to downsize the chip and increase its operating speed. However, a light transmitting substrate typically of glass can carry thereon only a non-crystalline thin Si layer or a polycrystalline thin Si layer at best to reflect the disorganized crystal structure of the substrate and hence such a substrate is not adapted to high performance devices. This is principally because the substrate shows a non-crystalline structure and hence cannot produce a high quality single crystal layer on it if a Si layer is formed thereon by deposition. In other words, a non-crystalline Si layer or a polycrystalline Si layer is not adapted to produce a drive circuit on it that operates satisfactorily because of its defective crystal structure. This is why there is an ever-increasing demand for an advanced SOI technology for producing SOI substrates including bonded SOI substrates. Although the use of a compound semiconductor substrate is indispensable for manufacturing a compound semiconductor device, compound semiconductor substrates are costly and mechanically not strong so that they are not adapted to producing large wafers. Therefore, efforts have been paid to produce a compound semiconductor by hetero-epitaxial growth on a Si wafer that can easily be made to have a large surface area. While research is being made to epitaxially grow a compound semiconductor such as GaAs on a Si substrate, the grown film typically shows a poor crystallinity and hence is poorly adapted to being used for semiconductor devices mainly due to the difference in the lattice constant and the thermal expansion coefficient between them. Meanwhile, research is also being made to epitaxially grow a compound semiconductor on a porous Si layer in order to mitigate the above identified lattice misfit. However, a porous Si layer is thermally unstable and can change with time so that it is not stable or reliable as a substrate during and after the operation of forming devices thereon. Thus, there is a need for a technology of producing a bonded SOI substrate with which a compound semiconductor is made to epitaxially grow on a porous Si layer and the grown compound semiconductor is transferred onto another substrate.

God of War A majestic adventure across Norse mythology in the company of buttoned-up old god Kratos and his young son Atreus. Alongside jaw-dropping encounters and fights with the creatures, places and gods of the Norse canon, it unexpectedly has a lot to say about family dynamics and grief. The current high bar for action games. • Read the review Horizon: Zero Dawn A post-apocalyptic game that’s decidedly exciting, imagining a world in which robot dinosaurs have taken over the Earth and humans have once again become cave dwelling hunter-gatherers. Fighting the machines is great fun, as is getting around this fascinating world. • Read the review Shadow of the Colossus ‘Understatedly profound’ … Shadow of the Colossus (PS4). Photograph: Sony Combines astounding beauty with an understatedly profound story about grief, loss and power. In this game your task is to ride into a forsaken wilderness, find moss-covered ancient colossi and bring them down with a pathetic little sword and a bow – though it’s not long before you start to question your motivations. • Read the review Bloodborne This electrifyingly scary horror-action game starts in a doomed Victorian-styled city and gets steadily more disturbing as you go on. Through exploring and fighting properly terrifying beasts, you slowly piece together what happened in this dreadful place. It is a challenge both for the reflexes and the intellect; there are no other games out there with this level of conceptual sophistication, except director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s other masterpiece, Dark Souls. • Read the review Yakuza 0 A prequel to a long series of Japanese gangster soap operas that offers you the chance to beat up thugs in back alleys, sing karaoke and eat and endless selection of photorealistic food in Osaka restaurants. More accessible than any of the other Yakuza games thanks to the absence of convoluted backstory, Yakuza 0 is a unique, lovable combination of melodrama, fun and ridiculousness. Persona 5 ‘Enormously stylish’ … Persona 5 for PlayStation 4. Photograph: Atlus A group of teenagers form a small anarchist rebellion in Tokyo, studying and hanging out by day and delving into a parallel universe to do battle with the corrupt adults’ psyches by night. Enormously stylish, with a vibrant sense of place. • Read the review The Witcher 3 Taking well-worn fantasy tropes and twisting them into something memorable and blackly comic, The Witcher 3 is an enormous, sprawling game in which everything nonetheless feels authored. A pinnacle for open-world role-playing games. • Read the review What Remains of Edith Finch Discover the sad tale of a very unfortunate family by exploring their abandoned home. This magic-realist story is short but profoundly affecting, grounding its flights of fancy in a relatable tale about family and the fear of living. • Read the review Monster Hunter World ‘Incredible fun’ … Monster Hunter World. Photograph: Capcom Mean-eyed dragons, amphibious leonine creatures, bat-like wyverns that puff themselves up like fluffy hamsters – Monster Hunter World’s creatures are amazing, and hunting them with a selection of overblown, cartoonish weapons is incredible fun. Enjoyable as much for the believable fictional ecology as the David-v-Goliath face-offs against enormous foes. • Read the review Ni no Kuni 2 Playful but not childish, this Studio Ghibli-styled game about a young catboy prince is an innovative and gorgeous feelgood fantasy, especially refreshing for the aesthetically sensitive player tired of the grey-brown-green colour palette of many photorealistic games. • Read the review Red Dead Redemption 2 A stubbornly slow-paced, obsessively detailed American epic, placing you in the spurred boots of outlaw Arthur Morgan in the dying days of the wild west. Its creators’ determination to immerse you in the incredible world it has created means that this is not the kind of game that slips down easy, but it is so lifelike, well-written and beautifully shot that it is well worth the time and attention it demands. A true landmark game. • Read the review

Weekend Movies: Phantom Thread, The Post & I, Tonya If only PHANTOM THREAD had been based on real life couture god Charles James. At least the clothes would have been beautiful. Here Daniel Day-Lewis as designer Reynolds Woodcock spends the entire movie needling his seamstresses as they sweat over what look like aproned doilies and lumpy Halloween costumes. OK. A few of those gowns were passable, but I had high hopes for the film; I love fashion, English period pieces, Daniel Day-lewis, and sometimes, Paul Thomas Anderson. Not this time. The script is strangely obvious and dramatically flat, something I NEVER thought I’d say about the creator of THERE WILL BE BLOOD, MAGNOLIA, THE MASTER, BOOGIE NIGHTS. Here, Anderson channels Bergman minus the complexity, and Hitchcock minus the suspense, and comes up with a tedious concoction that not even a deluge of frogs or Daniel Day-Lewis could rescue. The universally acclaimed Oscar winning actor Day-Lewis has declared that this is his last role as an actor. Say it isn’t so. Don’t leave us with this weirdly drab, psycho-sexual pretension about a mommy-obsessed neurotic with a hankering for a mate who Munchausens him into submission. That mate would be Alma, his latest muse and lover, played by alluringly subtle newcomer Vicky Krieps. Together Alma and Woodcock generate a flameless heat which left me cold. Mr. Woodcock’s scrupulously groomed appearance, magenta socks, and fussy affect would have been entertaining had they been the result of some intriguing inner dilemma. Alas, the meticulously prepped Day-Lewis may have been able to sew a couture gown from scratch as part of his preparation, but is unable to invest this off-putting character with a compelling or merely mysterious inner life. Woodcock is persnickety on the surface and wearisome underneath. When he flinched at the deafening sound of Alma buttering her toast, or flew into a rage over her “ambushing” him with a home-cooked meal, I wanted to slap him and his tightlipped dominatrix of a sister Cyril (Lesley Manville by way of “Frau Blucher.” Might this have been a comedy?) The dialogue is a sludgy porridge of innuendo: “I feel as though I have been looking for you for a very long time,” Woodcock intones after meeting Alma. But later after she prepares his asparagus incorrectly: “Are you sent here to ruin my evening and possibly my entire life?” Perhaps. “There is an air of quiet death in this house,” he mutters one afternoon in his atelier… Yeah. Love and marriage are hard. But PT Anderson unlocks no new insights, nor does he give these poor characters any reason to exist. All the gussets, draping, stitching, tailoring, lace and satin can’t disguise the tedium in progress. It’s not that the emperor has no clothes; the emperor is a phantom. As for THE POST, despite the relevance of its themes, the quality of the performances, and the prestige of cast and crew–Spielberg directing Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep onscreen together for the first time, this movie about The Washington Post defying the courts in order to publish the Pentagon Papers which would reveal the government’s awareness of the futility of continuing the war in Viet Nam– is conventional and corny. Hanks plays jaunty Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, and Streep plays the paper’s owner Katharine Graham with initial hesitation but growing confidence. Graham’s role as a woman coming into herself is especially timely, and largely unknown to me. Watching her walk into a boardroom full of grey-suited white men who don’t take her seriously was painfully familiar. We watch her rise to the occasion, her self-doubt becoming determination as she takes on the business of the newspaper inherited from her late husband, helping to forge the identity of that institution and eventually striking a crucial blow for freedom of the press. But Spielberg has no new tricks up his sleeve and we are well-acquainted with how his old story-telling tricks work: the tight shots of secret late night phone calls, sweeping shots of reporters running through the newsroom, the rolling of a pencil on a desk, echoed later and inevitably by a montage of papers rolling triumphantly off presses and landing in bundles on the streets. The shot that put me over the edge was Streep’s Kay Graham victoriously walking down the stairs of a courthouse, past the admiring upward gaze of a phalanx of awestruck young women. Yikes. The obviousness of it was embarrassing. We got it. The final scenes of the film hitch the publishing of the Pentagon Papers to the Watergate break-in, in case we weren’t sure of the ramifications of what we just saw. I hated knowing every move, every beat; there was no real suspense. I can’t vouch for the authenticity of every detail, but the air of desperation here betrays the filmmaker’s lack of confidence in the dramatic import of this material. What might have helped? A different director. I, TONYA, however, puts a provocative spin on history. Margot Robbie in a bravura, kick ass performance plays Tonya Harding the figure skater best known for maybe engineering the bashing in of her nemesis’ Nancy Kerrigan’s knee. As the media would have it, it was the queen of trailer trash vs. the ice princess– but hindsight makes a mockery of that tabloid trope. Here the tale is told by Tonya, and she wants you to get one thing straight: the path to the truth is crooked. Director Craig Gillespie (REAL GIRL) and writer Steven Rogers (HOPE FLOATS) take this idea and skate on the edge, right along with Tonya who becomes the first woman to land a triple axel in competition as well as the most reviled figure in all of skating. They also deliver a scathing indictment of the media, American class consciousness, and its corrosive impact on a superlative athlete who was apparently on thin ice from the get go. The buffoons and meanies in Tonya’s circle made her achievements all the more remarkable, from her sniveling, abusive husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and knuckle-headed body guard Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser), to her chain-smoking, parrot-toting Cruella De Vil of a mother LaVona played with rabid, hilarious intensity by Allison Janney–who just won a Golden Globe and is sure to be nominated for an Oscar. It took a while for me to adjust to the tall, gorgeous, high cheek-boned Margot Robbie playing the short-legged, pugnacious 15 year old Tonya Harding. But Robbie hunkers down and gives it her all, off and on the ice; the skating scenes are so ingeniously edited (how did they do that?) that Robbie who practiced for months and actually does a lot of the skating appears to do all of the stunts herself! She is the icing on the rink. Related Join the Conversation Joyce Kulhawik is an Emmy Award-Winning arts and entertainment critic (CBS-Boston 1981-2008), Arts Advocate, Motivational Speaker, and 3X Cancer survivor. Kulhawik is the President of the Boston Theater Critics Association, a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and Boston Online Film Critics Association. She has covered local and national events from Boston and Broadway to Hollywood, reporting live from The Oscars,The Emmys, and The Grammys. Nationally, Kulhawik has co-hosted the syndicated movie-review show "Hot Ticket" with Leonard Maltin and was a continuing co-host on “Roger Ebert & The Movies.” Joyce also Moonwalks and Yodels. Additional reviews can be found on her website JoycesChoices.com.

Conflicted UN struggles in global peace efforts At times UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has seemed to be overwhelmed by world events Why hasn't the United Nations done more to end the violence in Gaza? Or, for that matter, the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan or Ukraine? These are questions that UN officials find themselves fielding not just with mounting frequency but rising passion and frustration. For it is hard to recall a time when the world confronted so many seemingly intractable crises, and when the body designed to resolve and mediate them looked so thoroughly incapable of doing so. "Why the UN Can't Solve the World's Problems" ran an accusatory headline over the weekend in the New York Times, a newspaper that's something of a parish pump for UN diplomats. Just hot air? Certainly, there is no shortage of diplomatic effort. In February, the UN Security Council evidently had its busiest month since its creation in 1946, mainly because of a succession of meetings on the annexation of Crimea. For the past two Sundays, Council members have convened at midnight around their iconic horseshoe table. At consultations on the Middle East last week, ambassadors from more than 40 nations spoke in the chamber, in addition to the Security Council's 15 members, in a meeting that took up an entire day. August, which is usually a slow month at the UN, is expected to be unusually hectic. Decision-making at the UN's highest level has been hamstrung by discord between major world powers But to what end? Demands for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, which is what the Security Council unanimously called for in the early hours of Monday morning, have gone unheeded by both Hamas and Israel. Nor has the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's shuttle and speed-dial diplomacy so far yielded tangible results. The self-effacing South Korean, now in the seventh year of his posting, often comes across as the ineffectual head of an ineffectual organisation. His almost daily statements on Gaza run the risk of becoming the diplomatic equivalent of Muzak - background noise that people are vaguely aware of, but do not listen to intently. Deadlock and dysfunction For all that, the main reason why the United Nations seems so unproductive is because its member states are so unco-operative. The UN is the sum of its parts, and when those parts work against each other the result inevitably is deadlock and dysfunction. Its 39-floor headquarters on the banks of the East River in New York can seem like a modern-day Tower of Babel. But again that is primarily the fault of the nations rather than the United Nations. Richard Holbrooke, a former US ambassador at the UN, perhaps put it best. "Blaming the United Nations when things go wrong is like blaming Madison Square Garden when the Knicks play badly." It is hardly as if the UN is doing nothing. In the present Gaza conflict, the UN is sheltering more than 180,000 people in its schools. At least five UN employees have been killed while working in Gaza. It is also important to distinguish between UN agencies like OCHA (Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), which deliver aid and ameliorate suffering, and UN bodies like the Security Council that regularly stymie those efforts through diplomatic divisiveness. Relations between the US and Russia, who both have security council vetoes, have seriously deteriorated OCHA has wanted for months to deliver aid over the borders of Syria without the permission of the Assad regime, believing it could boost aid to some 2 million people. But it took months of tortuous negotiations to secure a Security Council resolution because of Russian concerns about the violation of Syrian sovereignty. Russian obstructionism is a recurring problem. Often the international press corps stationed outside of the Security Council spends more time covering inaction rather than action. Stymied by veto The institutional deficiencies of the UN unquestionably exacerbate its dysfunction. Handing a veto to the five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China - was obviously a recipe for gridlock. But, alas, it was the price that had to be paid to secure the involvement of the major post-war powers, and to give the UN a chance of succeeding where the League of Nations failed. The UN has so far failed to secure anything more than a few hours of quiet in Gaza The United States has used its veto 14 times since the Cold War ended, while Russia has wielded it eleven times. Both countries use their vetoes to protect allies: Israel in the case of America, and Syria more recently in the case of Russia. Many draft resolutions do not even make it to a vote, because of the threat of veto. Chill returns In recent months, a Cold War chill has returned to the Security Council chamber, especially since Russia's annexation of Crimea. Filled with caustic invective and prefabricated soundbites, it has often become a place to air grievances and trade accusations rather than to engage in constructive diplomacy. The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has only worsened the mood. With so many accusing fingers jabbed at the Russians, the chamber has felt more like a courtroom. That is not to say the body has been completely ineffectual. It has played a crucial role in helping to rid Syria of chemical weapons, following the passage of a resolution last September demanding their dismantlement. It also agreed to send a blue-helmeted peacekeeping force to the Central African Republic, though they have not yet arrived there. The downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine has been another serious international incident Besides, there are other forces at play that go some way to explaining this period of global disorder. America, wounded by the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is understandably reluctant to play the role of global policeman and to project its military power. But the corollary has been a diminution of the Obama administration's diplomatic clout, whether in Tel Aviv, Cairo, Kabul or Baghdad. Seizing on this moment of American weakness, Vladimir Putin has sought to extend Russia's influence, even if it has meant flouting international law and norms, as has been the case with the annexation of Crimea. The new world order supposedly ushered in by the end of the Cold War has given way to a new world disorder. So the UN is something of a bipolar organisation, at once active and inactive. But the main blame lies with the member states themselves: nations that are far from being united.

15 years ago Friday, two Stanford students launched their project — a search engine built on new algorithms and with a goal of organizing the quickly growing piles of information appearing on the web. On the occasion of the 15th birthday, the search giant has done what it has become known for over the years — launched an Easter Egg. Thirty years ago, Richard Stallman wrote: “Free Unix! Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu’s Not Unix), and give it away free to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed.” And thus began the revolution. Markets swung rapidly on the 2 p.m. announcement last Wednesday, with stocks, bonds, and the price of gold all skyrocketing. Somebody placed massive orders for gold futures contracts betting on exactly that outcome within a millisecond or two of 2 p.m. that day — before the seven milliseconds had passed that would allow the transmission of the information from the Fed’s “lock-up” of media organizations who get an early look at the data and the arrival of that information at Chicago’s futures markets (that’s the time it takes the data to travel at the speed of light. A millisecond is a thousandth of a second). CNBC’s Eamon Javers, citing market analysis firm Nanex, estimates that $600 million in assets could have changed hands in that fleeting moment. There would seem to be three possibilities: 1) Some trader was extraordinarily lucky, placing a massive bet just before a major announcement that would make that bet highly profitable. 2) There was a leak, either by a media organization with early access to the data or even someone at the Fed. Or 3) The laws of physics have been violated as the information traveled from Washington to Chicago faster than the speed of light. You can see why Option 2 looks the most plausible. For a wonderful treatment on Stock Market High-Frequency Trading (and many other things), listen to RadioLab’s Speed episode. This week, bookstores everywhere will begin getting copies of “Beautiful Lego,” a new book containing some amazing Lego art like: renderings of Apple’s original Macintosh, scenes from Tolkein, and faithful recreations of New York’s post-9/11 World Trade Center site. Nissan is one of the more ambitious automakers in the driver-less car game, and this week took a notable step forward when its Leaf autonomous vehicle. Nissan has stated the year 2020 is its deadline for bringing multiple AVs to market. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today continued the state’s efforts to reduce distracted driving by unveiling special “Texting Zones” along the New York State Thruway and State Highways that will give motorists a pull-off area to park and use their mobile devices. Existing Park-n-Ride facilities, rest stops, and parking areas along the Thruway and Highways will dual-function as Texting Zones, and signage will be placed along the highway to inform drivers where the Zones are located. A total of 298 signs will be located along major highways across the state, notifying motorists to 91 Texting Zone locations. Since Wednesday afternoon, Sudan’s internet has been sporadically shut off amid a fifth day of protests. Despite the attempt to cut off communications and limit organization and reporting on the ground, a group of tech-savvy people based in Khartoum have developed a map for recording key data about the protests that’s powered by cell networks. Almost all organisms, from bacteria to mammals, have a circadian clock—a mechanism in their cells which keeps them in sync with Earth’s day-and-night cycle. But many organisms follow other rhythms as well: the tides, the months, or the seasons. Although researchers have documented these behaviors, no one has been sure whether these nondaily cycles use the same components as the circadian clock, or if they have their own clocks. Two papers published today present the first evidence for clocks independent of the circadian one: a sea louse whose swimming patterns sync up with the tides, and a marine worm that matures and spawns in concert with the phases of the moon. The discoveries, by groups working independently, suggest that noncircadian clocks might be common and could explain a variety of biological rhythms. Our solar system is a big place. Big enough that it’s overwhelmingly empty of stuff. You can travel for billions of kilometers and your chances of smacking into something bigger than a dust particle are very close to zero. But given enough time, and enough stuff, eventually collisions do happen. It helps if you have a big target, too. A really, really big target. Like, say, Saturn’s rings. Open Project sends the entire app from the source device to the receiving screen. It uses a QR code to pair the devices, and then allows the controlling device to define the size and placement of the projection. Once the app appears on the destination screen, the app is able to receive commands from the receiving touch device as though the it is running locally instead of on the source device. French watchdog group ,CNIL, said “On the last day of the three-month time period given to Google, Inc., the company contested the reasoning followed by the CNIL, and notably the applicability of the French data protection law to the services used by residents in France,” the agency wrote on its Web site. Working with colleagues at the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, a group led by Harvard Professor of Physics Mikhail Lukin and MIT Professor of Physics Vladan Vuletic have managed to coax photons into binding together to form molecules – a state of matter that, until recently, had been purely theoretical.

Curtains! That’s it for the live blog on the first sitting day of 2017. It was a day dominated by Cory Bernardi, the self-proclaimed “lone wolf” from Adelaide’s leafy eastern suburbs. The Senator confirmed he has quit the Liberal Party and will establish his own party, Australian Conservatives. He said the decision had "weighed heavily on his heart". There will be more fallout from Cory Bernardi's defection and we'll bring you the latest online. Stephanie Anderson will be back with you tomorrow morning for another day. Thanks for joining us, as always.

[Cite as Wood v. Harborside Healthcare, 197 Ohio App.3d 667, 2012-Ohio-156.] Court of Appeals of Ohio EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION No. 96286 WOOD, APPELLANT, v. HARBORSIDE HEALTHCARE ET AL., APPELLEES. JUDGMENT: REVERSED AND REMANDED Civil Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CV-688279 BEFORE: Keough, J., Boyle, P.J., and S. Gallagher, J. RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: January 19, 2012  ATTORNEYS: The Dickson Firm, L.L.C., and Blake A. Dickson, for appellant. Reminger Co., L.P.A., Thomas A. Prislipsky, Martin T. Galvin, Rafael P. McLaughlin, and Brian D. Sullivan, for appellees.  KATHLEEN ANN KEOUGH, Judge. {¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, Dolores Wood (“Wood”), as the personal representative of the estate of Frank Wood, deceased, appeals from the judgment of the common pleas court in favor of defendant-appellee Harborside Healthcare–Broadview Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (“Harborside”), following a jury verdict on Wood’s claim alleging nursing-home negligence. Wood further appeals the trial court’s denial of her motion for a new trial. Finding merit to the appeal, we reverse the judgment and remand the cause for a new trial on proximate cause and damages. I {¶ 2} On July 16, 2005, 87-year-old Frank Wood was admitted to Harborside for short-term rehabilitation following knee-replacement surgery. While at Harborside, he developed a clostridium difficile infection. He was eventually taken to the hospital, where he died five days later. {¶ 3} Wood filed suit, alleging that Harborside had been negligent in failing to timely diagnose and treat Frank’s infection. Harborside denied the allegations of Wood’s complaint, asserting that its care of Frank had not been negligent and that there was no proximate-cause relationship between the care it rendered to Frank and his ultimate death. {¶ 4} The matter proceeded to a jury trial. During deliberations, the jury considered the following interrogatories: {¶ 5} Interrogatory No. 1: “Has Plaintiff proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Defendant, Harborside Healthcare, was negligent in the care and treatment of Decedent, Frank A. Wood?” {¶ 6} Interrogatory No. 2: “State in what respect(s) you find that Defendant, Harborside Healthcare, was negligent.” {¶ 7} Interrogatory No. 3: “Has Plaintiff proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the negligence of Defendant, Harborside Healthcare, was a proximate cause of injury and death of Frank A. Wood?”1 (Emphasis added.) {¶ 8} Interrogatory No. 4: “State an amount of money that you find will compensate the Plaintiff for Mr. Wood’s pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life up to the time of his death.” {¶ 9} Interrogatory No. 5: “State an amount of money you find will compensate the next of kin of Frank Wood for their damages caused by his death.” (Emphasis added.) {¶ 10} Following deliberations, the jury returned a general verdict in favor of Wood. The jury answered yes to interrogatory No. 1, finding that Harborside had been negligent in its care and treatment of Frank, and stated in its answer to interrogatory No. 2 that Harborside had been negligent as follows: “Doctor not contacted early enough about diarrhea. Senna given when it should not have. Poor charting. Chart not complete.” The jury answered no to interrogatory No. 3, finding that Harborside’s negligence was not the proximate cause of Frank’s injury and death. Consistent with the instructions, the jury 1. Following the signature lines, at the bottom of the page, the interrogatory instructed: “If you answered ‘no’ to this Interrogatory, skip to Interrogatory No. 5. If you answered ‘yes’ to this interrogatory, proceed to No. 4 and then No. 5.” skipped interrogatory No. 4 and proceeded to interrogatory No. 5, awarding $250,000 in damages to Frank’s next of kin for their damages caused by his death. {¶ 11} After reviewing the jury’s general verdict and interrogatory answers, the trial court instructed the jury that its interrogatory answers were inconsistent with the general verdict. The court instructed the jury that the instruction at the conclusion of interrogatory No. 3 was incorrect and should have stated, “[I]f you answered ‘no’ to this interrogatory, conclude deliberations.” The judge scratched out that part of the instruction that stated “skip to Interrogatory No. 5” and above it wrote, “conclude deliberations.” The court then instructed the jury to resume deliberations and “make the appropriate changes” to their interrogatory answers. The court did not provide the jury with a new general verdict form or new interrogatories. {¶ 12} When the jury returned after deliberating a second time, the jury again returned a verdict for the plaintiff. It again answered yes to interrogatory No. 1, finding that Harborside had been negligent; it again identified how Harborside had been negligent in its response to interrogatory No. 2; and it again answered no to interrogatory No. 3, finding that Harborside’s negligence was not the proximate cause of Frank Wood’s injury and death. It did not answer interrogatory No. 4, and on interrogatory No. 5, it crossed out the amount it had written in earlier. {¶ 13} The judge again told the jury that its verdict was inconsistent with its answers to the interrogatories and instructed the jury to continue its deliberations. When the jury returned after deliberating a third time, it entered a verdict for Harborside. {¶ 14} The trial court finally accepted the verdict and, after polling the jury, entered judgment on the jury’s verdict. Wood subsequently filed a motion to vacate the trial court’s judgment and/or for a new trial on the issues of proximate cause and damages. The court denied the motion and ruled that Wood was not prejudiced by the jury’s further deliberations because “Interrogatory 3 inconsistent with Interrogatory 5 and verdict, due to erroneous directions in Interrogatory #3” and Wood had not objected to the trial court’s handling of the deliberations. {¶ 15} Wood now appeals from the trial court’s judgment. II {¶ 16} In her second assignment of error, Wood contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion for a new trial on proximate cause and damages because the significant irregularities in the jury deliberations denied her a fair trial. We address this assignment of error first because it is dispositive of the appeal. {¶ 17} Civ.R. 59(A)(1) provides a trial court with discretion to grant a new trial when there is an irregularity in the proceedings that prevents a party from having a fair trial. “The rule preserves the integrity of the judicial system when the presence of serious irregularities in a proceeding could have a material adverse effect on the character of and public confidence in judicial proceedings.” Wright v. Suzuki Motor Corp., Meigs App. Nos. 03CA2, 03CA3, and 03CA4, 2005-Ohio-3494, ¶ 114. The term “irregularity” in this context is “very comprehensive” and describes “a departure from the due, orderly, and established mode of proceeding, therein, where a party, with no fault on his part, has been deprived of some right or benefit otherwise available to him.” Reeves v. Healy, 192 Ohio App.3d 769, 2011-Ohio-1487, 950 N.E.2d 605, ¶ 18. We review a trial court’s decision to grant or deny a motion for a new trial for an abuse of discretion. Id. {¶ 18} In light of the significant irregularities in the jury deliberations, we find that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Wood’s motion for new trial. The trial court denied Wood’s motion because it found the instruction at the end of interrogatory No. 3 to proceed to interrogatory No. 5 if the jury answered no to interrogatory No. 3 to be erroneous, and thus it concluded that the jury’s verdict in favor of Wood when it returned from deliberating the first time was inconsistent with its interrogatory answers. But the trial court’s ruling ignores the fact, which both parties acknowledged at oral argument, that the alleged error in interrogatory No. 3 was pointed out to the trial judge prior to jury instructions and the judge promised to correct the error, but failed to do so. The trial court did not read the interrogatories to the jury, so the attorneys were not aware prior to deliberation that the error had not been fixed. Thus, any alleged inconsistency was created by the trial court, not by Wood. {¶ 19} Furthermore, it is not apparent that the jury was, in fact, confused by the alleged erroneous instruction regarding interrogatory No. 3. It is not speculative to conclude that the jury’s initial answers to the interrogatories indicated that the jury found that although Harborside was not the proximate cause of Frank Wood’s clostridium difficile infection, i.e., his injury, its negligent actions with respect to the care and treatment of his infection, were indeed the proximate cause of his death. When the jury returned the first time, it returned a verdict for the plaintiff, found that Harborside had been negligent, explained how Harborside had been negligent, and then, in its answer to interrogatory No. 5, listed $250,000 as the amount that would adequately compensate Wood’s relatives for the damages caused by his death. The jury could have easily entered an award of $0 for Wood in interrogatory No. 5 had it found that Harborside’s negligence was not the proximate cause of Frank Wood’s death. The jury specifically did not answer interrogatory No. 4, which asked them to state an amount to compensate Wood for Frank’s suffering “up to the time of his death.” Thus, one could infer that the jury did indeed find for Wood with respect to Frank’s death and wanted to award her $250,000 for Harborside’s negligence regarding his death. {¶ 20} Nevertheless, the trial court sent the jury back for further deliberations not once but twice, until it finally returned with a defense verdict. At worst, one could conclude that the jury felt compelled by the trial court to return a defense verdict. At best, the jury’s inability to follow the judge’s instructions, which were confusing, and provide proper and consistent responses to the interrogatories was an irregularity that deprived Wood of a fair trial and just verdict. {¶ 21} In Reeves, 192 Ohio App.3d 769, 2011-Ohio-1487, the jury answered interrogatories finding that the defendant–doctor was negligent and explaining how, but it found no proximate cause and did not award damages for the plaintiff. The magistrate sent the jury back for further deliberations. When the jury returned with a second verdict, the jury answered the interrogatories indicating that the doctor had been negligent and describing how, but the jury again found no proximate cause, despite rendering a general verdict for the plaintiff and awarding the plaintiff economic damages. The magistrate ordered the jury to resume deliberations again. When the jury returned a third time, the jury’s interrogatory answers stated that the defendant–doctor had been negligent and that his negligence had proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries; the jury also entered a general verdict for the plaintiff and awarded $450,000 in damages. The magistrate granted the defendant’s motion for a new trial under Civ.R. 59(A)(1) because of an “irregularity” in the proceedings. {¶ 22} The Tenth District affirmed the grant of a new trial on appeal, finding that “[t]he jury’s repeated failure to return a verdict consistent with its responses to the interrogatories, coupled with its obvious confusion in following the [trial court’s] instructions regarding the interrogatories, [was] a ‘departure from the due, orderly, and established mode of proceeding’ that resulted in the defendants’ being deprived of the right to a fair trial and just verdict.” Id., ¶ 28, quoting Civ.R. 59(A)(1). {¶ 23} The jury in this case was obviously confused by the trial court’s instructions regarding the interrogatories. Furthermore, the judge’s instructions and his failure to provide the jury with new interrogatories and jury forms undoubtedly helped to create the irregularity in jury deliberations. Upon initially instructing the jury, the trial court did not read the verdict forms or interrogatories to the jury. Then, the first time he sent the jury back for more deliberations, the judge handwrote new instructions on the same interrogatory forms and returned the jury to further deliberations. He again did not read the interrogatories or verdict forms to the jury to make sure they understood them, but simply instructed the jury to “make the appropriate changes” to them. The next time he sent the jury back, the judge again did not read the interrogatories or verdict forms to the jury, and he again sent them back with the same verdict forms and interrogatories they had already completed, this time with instructions to make them “consistent.”  {¶ 24} As in Reeves, the jury’s obvious confusion in following the trial court’s instructions regarding the interrogatories compromised the fairness of the process and the integrity of the result. In short, through no fault of Wood, there was an irregularity in the process that deprived her of the right to a fair trial and just verdict. {¶ 25} We recognize that counsel for Wood did not object to the trial court’s instructions regarding further deliberations and thus has waived all but plain error on appeal. See Avondet v. Blankstein (1997), 118 Ohio App.3d 357, 366, 692 N.E.2d 1063. But the result is the same whether we review for abuse of discretion or plain error: the significant irregularities in the jury’s deliberations, irregularities that were not created by Wood, deprived her of her right to a fair trial and just verdict. To let the trial court’s judgment stand in the face of such irregularities could have a significant negative effect on the public’s confidence in these and other judicial proceedings. Wood’s second assignment of error is therefore sustained. The trial court’s judgment is reversed, and the cause is remanded for a new trial regarding proximate cause and damages. {¶ 26} In light of our resolution of the second assignment of error, we need not address Wood’s first assignment of error. See App.R. 12(A)(1)(c). Judgment reversed and cause remanded. GALLAGHER, J., concurs. BOYLE, P.J., dissents. MARY J. BOYLE, Presiding Judge, dissenting.  {¶ 27} Respectfully, I dissent and would affirm the trial court’s decision denying Wood’s motion for a new trial. {¶ 28} The majority holds that Wood was denied a fair trial by “significant irregularities in the jury deliberations.” I disagree. While I acknowledge that the proceedings below were not perfect, litigants are not entitled to a perfect trial, only a fair one. Grundy v. Dhillon, 120 Ohio St.3d 415, 2008-Ohio-6324, 900 N.E.2d 153, ¶ 30. {¶ 29} The one irregularity that is not disputed pertains to the faulty instruction in the original interrogatory No. 3, which stated the following: “If you answered ‘no’ to this Interrogatory, skip to Interrogatory No. 5. If you answered ‘yes’ to the Interrogatory, proceed to No. 4 and then No. 5.” The interrogatory should have instructed the jury to “conclude deliberations” if they answered no to interrogatory No.3—it should not have directed them to proceed to interrogatory No. 5. The mistake became apparent to all parties immediately after the jury returned from deliberations the first time—the jury had proceeded to interrogatory No. 5 and awarded damages despite finding no proximate cause in their answer to interrogatory No. 3. The majority focuses on this single mistake by the trial court and criticizes the trial court for failing to appreciate this mistake in ruling on the motion for a new trial. But I find that the majority’s focus is misplaced and that the majority fails to appreciate the entire context of the proceedings. {¶ 30} Notably, after the jury returned its inconsistent verdict following the first deliberation—i.e., the jury found no proximate cause in its answer to interrogatory No. 3 but proceeded to the damages question in interrogatory No. 5—no party requested that the trial court grant a new trial on the grounds that the jury had had a faulty instruction in interrogatory No. 3. To the contrary, both parties, including Wood, acquiesced in the trial court’s decision to correct the instruction and return the jury for further deliberations. Wood’s counsel never once objected to the manner in which the faulty instruction was handled. Wood’s counsel never argued that the jury’s initial verdict was consistent and should stand, thereby eliminating the need for further deliberations. The record is abundantly clear that Wood’s counsel agreed that the instruction should be corrected and the matter returned to the jury. In light of these proceedings, I fail to see how Wood can now complain and argue that she was denied a fair trial. See Gable v. Gates Mills, 103 Ohio St.3d 449, 2004-Ohio-5719, 816 N.E.2d 1049, ¶ 43 (where no timely objection is made on a particular issue, the issue is generally waived because plain error is rarely recognized in a civil case); Fennell v. Columbiana, 7th Dist. No. 09CO42, 2010-Ohio-4242 (trial court does not abuse its discretion in denying a motion for a new trial when the party failed to object and raise the issue during the trial). {¶ 31} Next, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the proceedings were so irregular by virtue of the jury’s deliberating three times that it deprived Wood of a fair trial. The majority reaches this conclusion by agreeing with Wood’s argument that the initial verdict may have been consistent with its answers to its interrogatories—i.e., that the jury answered no to interrogatory No. 3 (the proximate-cause interrogatory) solely because the interrogatory relates to both injury and death. Wood contends that the initial verdict in her favor was consistent with the jury’s answers, including the jury’s answer of no to interrogatory No. 3, because the jury separately awarded damages arising out of Frank’s death in interrogatory No. 5. Agreeing with this, the majority states that “one could infer that the jury did indeed find for Wood with respect to Frank’s death and wanted to award her $250,000 for Harborside’s negligence regarding his death.” But the jury answered no to interrogatory No. 3—the proximate-cause question. Indeed, the jury consistently answered no to this question. Therefore, I refuse to speculate that the jury intended to answer yes to that portion of the question relating to injury. {¶ 32} As for the jury initially awarding $250,000 in answering interrogatory No. 5, it was clearly a result of the faulty instruction in interrogatory No. 3 that directed the jury to answer interrogatory No. 5 and led the jury to believe that they could award damages despite finding no proximate cause. Notably, the majority emphasizes that the jury “specifically did not answer Interrogatory No. 4”—the interrogatory relating to damages for injuries to Frank proximately caused by Harborside—as evidence that the jury found no proximate cause between Harborside’s negligence and Frank’s injuries but that the jury must have found proximate cause between Harborside’s negligence and Frank’s death because it answered interrogatory No. 5. But the majority fails to recognize that the faulty instruction in interrogatory No. 3 specifically directed the jury to skip interrogatory No. 4 and proceed to interrogatory No. 5; therefore, the jury’s not answering the interrogatory was simply a matter of their following the instruction. {¶ 33} The majority further finds that the trial judge’s decision sending the jury back for further deliberations on two additional occasions could be construed “at worst” to mean that “the jury felt compelled by the trial court to return a defense verdict.” But again, this statement ignores that the trial court’s returning the jury for further deliberations was agreed to by all the parties. Wood’s counsel never once objected or asked the trial court to reduce the answers to the interrogatories and verdict to a judgment. And although the trial judge could not have entered a judgment after the first deliberations, because the answers to the interrogatories were inconsistent themselves, the trial court could have opted to enter a verdict for Harborside once the faulty instruction had been corrected and after the second round of deliberations—at that point, the answers to all the interrogatories supported a verdict for Harborside. See Civ.R. 49(B)(1) (authorizing the trial court to grant judgment in accordance with interrogatory answers when the answers are inconsistent with a general verdict). Out of an abundance of caution, and consistent with the parties’ wishes, however, the trial court returned the matter for the jury to deliberate a third time because the jury answered the interrogatories in favor of Harborside but failed to sign a general defense verdict. I fail to see how the third round of deliberations, which served only to benefit Wood, should now serve as grounds for a new trial for Wood. {¶ 34} Additionally, unlike the majority, I cannot agree that Wood was deprived of some right or benefit through no fault of her own. Here, the gravamen of Wood’s entire appeal is premised on the notion that interrogatory No. 3 was confusing because it contained a compound question relating to proximate cause: “Has Plaintiff proven, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the negligence of Defendant, Harborside Healthcare, was a proximate cause of injury and death of Frank A. Wood?” (Emphasis added.) The majority agrees with Wood that the jury may have found that Harborside’s negligence proximately caused Frank’s death but had to answer no based on how the interrogatory was worded. But Wood’s proposed interrogatory for proximate cause was substantially similar to the one adopted by the court and specifically contained a compound question related to proximate cause. Wood therefore has invited the very error that she now relies on for purposes of a new trial. Moreover, Wood never polled the jury to substantiate her claim that the jury did indeed believe that Harborside’s negligence proximately caused Frank’s death. Given that Wood could have avoided the very issues that she now complains of, I cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her motion for a new trial. {¶ 35} Finally, and most importantly, I cannot agree with the majority that Reeves v. Healey, 192 Ohio App.3d 769, 2011-Ohio-1487, 950 N.E.2d 605, supports its decision to reverse the trial court. Although Reeves involved an irregularity related to jury deliberations, there are two critical distinctions between Reeves and this case: (1) the appellate court in Reeves affirmed the trial court’s decision to grant a new trial and (2) the party who moved for a new trial had objected to further deliberations by the jury once the jury returned inconsistent answers to the jury interrogatories. Id. {¶ 36} At the heart of Reeves is the recognition that a trial judge or magistrate, who has presided over the proceedings, is in the best position to determine whether a party has been afforded a fair trial and “to assess the jury’s flaws in answering the interrogatories.” Id. at ¶ 31. Indeed, as recognized by the majority, the decision to grant a new trial “is a decision committed to the trial court’s sound discretion, and an appellate court will not reverse such a ruling absent an abuse of discretion.” Thus, to agree with the majority, I would have to find that the trial court’s decision was “so palpably and grossly violative of fact or logic that it evidences not the exercise of will but the perversity of will, not the exercise of judgment but the defiance of judgment, not the exercise of reason but instead passion or bias.” Nakoff v. Fairview Gen. Hosp. (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 254, 256, 662 N.E.2d 1. Here, where Wood failed to object to and even contributed to the alleged confusion, I cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her motion for a new trial. {¶ 37} Accordingly, I dissent and would overrule both assignments of error, affirming the trial court’s judgment in its entirety. 

package com.developers.mvpsample.ui.main import android.os.Bundle import android.view.View import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity import androidx.recyclerview.widget.LinearLayoutManager import com.developers.mvpsample.BuildConfig import com.developers.mvpsample.InitApp import com.developers.mvpsample.R import com.developers.mvpsample.data.Result import com.developers.mvpsample.di.component.DaggerActivityComponent import com.developers.mvpsample.di.module.ActivityModule import com.developers.mvpsample.ui.adapter.MovieAdapter import com.google.android.material.snackbar.Snackbar import com.google.gson.Gson import com.google.gson.reflect.TypeToken import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.activity_main.* import java.util.logging.Logger import javax.inject.Inject class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), MainView { @Inject lateinit var mainPresenter: MainMvpPresenter<MainView> private var resultJSON: String? = null private val RESULT = "resultJson" private val gson = Gson() override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) setContentView(R.layout.activity_main) val activityComponent = DaggerActivityComponent.builder() .appComponent(InitApp.get(this).component()) .activityModule(ActivityModule(this)) .build() activityComponent.inject(this) mainPresenter.attachView(this) setListeners() } override fun onSaveInstanceState(outState: Bundle?) { super.onSaveInstanceState(outState) outState?.putString(RESULT, resultJSON) } override fun onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState) val result = savedInstanceState?.getString(RESULT) val movieList = gson.fromJson<List<Result>>(result, object : TypeToken<List<Result>>() { }.type) if (movieList != null) { setupRecyclerView(movieList) resultJSON = gson.toJson(movieList) } } private fun setupRecyclerView(movieResult: List<Result>) { val linearLayoutManager = LinearLayoutManager(applicationContext) linearLayoutManager.orientation = LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL val movieAdapter = MovieAdapter(movieResult, applicationContext) with(movie_recycler_view) { layoutManager = linearLayoutManager adapter = movieAdapter } } private fun setListeners() { search_button.setOnClickListener { mainPresenter.searchMovieQuery(query_edit_text.text.toString() , BuildConfig.MOVIE_KEY) } } override fun onDestroy() { super.onDestroy() mainPresenter.detachView() } override fun showLoading() { progress_bar.visibility = View.VISIBLE } override fun showData(movieResult: List<Result>) { resultJSON = gson.toJson(movieResult) val linearLayoutManager = LinearLayoutManager(applicationContext) linearLayoutManager.orientation = LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL val movieAdapter = MovieAdapter(movieResult, applicationContext) with(movie_recycler_view) { layoutManager = linearLayoutManager adapter = movieAdapter } } override fun showError(error: String) { Snackbar.make(layout_main, error, Snackbar.LENGTH_SHORT).show() } override fun hideLoading() { progress_bar.visibility = View.GONE } }

601 S.W.2d 436 (1980) WARREN BROTHERS COMPANY, Appellant, v. A.A.A. PIPE CLEANING COMPANY, Appellee. No. 17626. Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Houston (1st Dist.). May 15, 1980. Rehearing Denied June 26, 1980. *437 Prappas, Moncure, Harris & Termini, Brantly Harris, Houston, for appellant. Bresenhan, Martin & Wingate, Albert H. Wingate, Houston, for appellee. Before PEDEN, EVANS and DOYLE, JJ. PEDEN, Justice. Warren Brothers Company, defendant below, appeals from a judgment awarding A.A.A. Pipe Cleaning Company $22,044.34 for pipe cleaning services furnished pursuant to a proposal dated March 16, 1970. A.A.A. contends that the prices charged for the labor and services were reasonable and agreed to by Warren Brothers but that $22,361.48 of such charges remain unpaid. Warren Brothers argues that the parties contracted to calculate the charges in question on a lineal foot basis rather than by the hour, as A.A.A. billed them. Warren Brothers was under contract with the State of Texas to construct the interchange at the intersection of North Belt Boulevard and U. S. Highway 59. Because North Belt was three to four feet below ground level at that intersection, a network of pipes was installed to drain water into a wellhouse where it could be removed by a pump. A second network of pipes drained the frontage roads and the main lines of Highway 59. On March 16, 1970, A.A.A. submitted a proposal to Warren Brothers which provided: "Furnishing Sewer Jets and a Sewer Vac to clean 18 through 48 sewer lines on North Belt Freeway job." The job location notation on this proposal reads "North Belt Freeway." A Warren Brothers purchase order dated March 17, 1970, describes the job as "N Belt 59," and provides for compensation on an hourly basis plus a flat fee for cleaning the wellhouse. Pursuant to this purchase order, A.A.A. cleaned the pipe draining into the wellhouse, and cleaned the wellhouse itself on April 3rd and 4th. Other pipe running from the wellhouse was cleaned for up to a week following the cleaning of the wellhouse. Warren Brothers then issued a second purchase order which referred to the job as "N Belt," and provided that A.A.A. would "Clean remainder of Storm Lines on Rt. 59N 20 cents per Lineal Foot. Minimum of Three Sewer Sets After 4-8-70 Per Day. 10 hrs. 6 days." This purchase order is undated, but apparently it was issued on April 6, 1970. William Dewey, general manager for A.A.A. in 1970, testified that between April 6th and May 9th, A.A.A. worked on the storm lines on Highway 59. Only two A.A.A. invoices, PX-7, dated April 9, and PX-8, dated April 30, refer to the April 6 purchase order. PX-7 is the only A.A.A. invoice in evidence in which charges for amounts owed by Warren Brothers are made by the lineal foot. These charges are for work performed from April 6 through April 8. All other charges on A.A.A. invoices to Warren Brothers are computed by the hour. It is the position of Warren Brothers, supported by testimony of its former project superintendent Dale Mantooth, that all work performed by A.A.A. on Highway 59 was intended by the parties to be billed under the April 6 purchase order, on a lineal *438 foot basis. The opposing contention of A.A.A., supported by the testimony of Mr. Dewey, was that only the small sewer lines that run beneath Highway 59 were intended by the parties to be cleaned pursuant to the April 6 purchase order at the rate of 20 cents per lineal foot. A.A.A. asserts that all other work, whether performed on the North Belt or on Highway 59, was intended by the parties to be billed by the hour under the first purchase order, and that A.A.A. based its petition solely upon the agreement of Warren Brothers to the terms of that March 16 proposal. The case was submitted to a jury on two special issues, the first of which asked the jury to find "the unpaid balance of the amount Warren Brothers Company agreed to pay to A.A.A. Pipe Cleaning Company for the work done by A.A.A. Pipe Cleaning Company for Warren Brothers Company pursuant to the contract of March 16, 1970 and purchase order B-04501 [PX-1] in 1970 as shown by the evidence." The jury answered "$22,044.34." In answer to the second special issue the jury found that Warren Brothers had not paid or tendered payment to A.A.A. at the agreed rate for all work done pursuant to the March 16 proposal. Judgment was entered pursuant to this verdict. Appellant's third point of error is: The trial court erred in admitting in evidence the testimony of William Dewey that the second purchase order was only intended to cover cleaning small lines that ran across Highway 59 over Defendant's objection that such testimony violated the parol evidence rule, inasmuch as the purchase order by its terms required Plaintiff to `Clean Remainder of storm lines on RT 59 N 20 cents per lineal foot' and not merely the small lines running across the highway. Dewey testified, over objection, at several points in the trial that the April 6 purchase order was intended by the parties as an agreement that A.A.A. would clean only the small sewer lines that run under Highway 59 at the rate of 20 cents per lineal foot. Volume 2 of Ray, Texas Law of Evidence (3rd ed. 1980) Sec. 1611, at 318-320, contains the following passage concerning the application of the parol evidence rule: If, under the foregoing principles, the instrument appears, as read in the light of the surrounding circumstances, to be intended, not as a complete and all-inclusive embodiment of the terms relating to the subject matter of the instrument, but as a professedly partial or incomplete memorial or memorandum, then it may be supplemented by proof of other oral or written terms outside the document. Such is the case ... where the instrument is a mere skeleton note or reminder obviously not designed to be complete. Likewise the indefiniteness of the words used in the instrument has been held to show that as to such terms the parties did not intend to supersede prior agreements as to the features covered by such vague terms. Ray points out that the Texas cases dealing with incomplete instruments "shade by imperceptible degrees into those where the use of extrinsic evidence is justified by ambiguity in some term of the instrument," Sec. 1611, n. 27, at 320, and states in Sec. 1685, at 412, that "(p)arol evidence is admissible to explain ambiguities apparent on the face of a writing. This proposition is well established, and frequently applied..." The Texas Supreme Court held in Magnolia Warehouse & Storage Co. v. Davis & Blackwell, 108 Tex. 422, 195 S.W. 184, 185 (1917): ... one of the exceptions to the general [parol evidence] rule is that if the written instrument itself shows to be either ambiguous or incomplete, parol testimony is admissible to show what the real contract was to the extent necessary to remove the ambiguity, and to make the contract complete in its terms which show to be incomplete. The exception to the general rule is as well settled as is the rule itself. Where a writing is incomplete or ambiguous, parol evidence is admissible to *439 explain the writing or to assist in the ascertainment of the true intention of the parties insofar as the parol evidence does not alter or contradict any part of the written memorandum in question.[1] In Henry v. Powers, 447 S.W.2d 738, 742 (Tex.Civ.App. 1969, no writ), we stated: Parol testimony as to the circumstances under which contracts were entered into is admissible for the purpose of ascertaining the real intention of the parties. * * * * * * The Supreme Court of Texas has held that where the language of a contract is ambiguous, the court can look to the record as a whole to determine just what the parties intended by the language employed. The court also stated: `No principle of interpretation is more firmly established than that great, if not controlling weight should be given by the courts to the interpretation placed upon a contract of uncertain meaning by the parties themselves. Courts rightfully assume that the parties to a contract are in the best position to know what was intended by the language employed.' James Stewart & Co. v. Law, 149 Tex. 392, 233 S.W.2d 558 (1950). We hold that the testimony of Mr. Dewey was properly admitted by the trial court. On its face, PX-3 appears to have been intended not as a "complete and all-inclusive embodiment of the terms" relating to the agreement between the parties, but rather as an "incomplete memorial or memorandum." Ray, supra Sec. 1611, at 318. In addition, the terms of that purchase order, particularly the specification of the storm lines to be cleaned as the "remainder... on RT 59 N," are so general as to logically encompass either of the two interpretations offered by the parties. A contract is ambiguous when the application of pertinent rules of interpretation to the face of the instrument leaves it genuinely uncertain which one of two or more meanings is the proper one. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp. v. Daniel, 150 Tex. 513, 243 S.W.2d 154 (1951); Owens v. Upper Neches River Municipal Water Authority, 514 S.W.2d 58 (Tex.Civ.App. 1974, writ ref'd n. r. e.). Appellant's third point of error is overruled. The appellant's other points of error are: 1. The judgment is erroneous because the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's answer to Special Issue No. 1 that the sum of $22,044.34 is the unpaid balance of the amount Defendant agreed to pay Plaintiff for work done pursuant to the contract of March 16, 1970 and the first purchase order. 2. The trial court erred in failing to grant Defendant's motion to disregard the jury's answer to Special Issue No. 1 because there is no evidence that the sum of $22,044.34 is the unpaid balance of the amount Defendant agreed to pay Plaintiff for work done pursuant to the contract of March 16, 1970 and the first purchase order. The A.A.A. claim was based upon nine invoices introduced into evidence as plaintiff's exhibits 4 through 13. The total amount of the invoices is $23,831.89, of which $290.80 was based upon computations by the lineal foot. Neither party complains that the jury found a different amount, $22,044.34. Appellant's argument concerning the invoices introduced by A.A.A. asserts only that they are hearsay and so cannot support the judgment of the trial court. Appellee contends that the invoices, plaintiff's exhibits 4-13, were properly admitted into evidence under the Business Records Act, Article 3737e, V.T.C.S. Sections one and two, the pertinent parts of that article provide: *440 Section 1. A memorandum or record of an act, event or condition shall, insofar as relevant, be competent evidence of the occurrence of the act or event or the existence of the condition if the judge finds that: (a) It was made in the regular course of business; (b) It was the regular course of that business for an employee or representative of such business with personal knowledge of such act, event or condition to make such memorandum or record or to transmit information thereof to be included in such memorandum or record; (c) It was made at or near the time of the act, event or condition or reasonably soon thereafter. Section 2. The identity and mode of preparation of the memorandum or record in accordance with the provisions of paragraph one (1) may be proved by the testimony of the entrant, custodian, or other qualified witness even though he may not have personal knowledge as to the various items or contents of such memorandum or record. Such lack of personal knowledge may be shown to affect the weight and credibility of the memorandum or record but shall not affect its admissibility. Dewey, then the general manager of A.A.A., testified as to how the invoices, and the work tickets upon which they were based, were prepared. He said the men came in from the job in the evening, made out work tickets, and turned them in to the office. A young lady in the office took the information off the work ticket, compiled the invoice and sent the invoice and a copy of the work ticket to whomever Warren Brothers had done the work for. The people that prepared the work tickets were under his supervision, but the girl in the office was not. These invoices were prepared within a day or so after the work tickets were filled out. He also testified that the work tickets contained in Plaintiff's Exhibit 22 were prepared on the job each day by the foreman of the crew whose work they reflect. Each of the foremen, who worked for Dewey, brought the work tickets into the office and turned them into the administrative secretary. It was in the regular course of the employee making these tickets to make them on the day the work was done. At trial, counsel for Warren Brothers stated that he had no objection to the introduction into evidence of the invoices, plaintiff's exhibits 4-13. He later stated that his objection to the admission of the work tickets they were based on (plaintiff's exhibit 22) did not "go with whether they comply with Article 3737e ..." In Mew v. J & C Galleries, Inc., 554 S.W.2d 249 (Tex.Civ.App. 1977, writ ref'd n. r. e. Tex., 564 S.W.2d 377), counsel for the appellant stated that he had no objection to the admission into evidence of certain exhibits. On appeal, however, appellant argued that the exhibits were inadmissible hearsay. The Dallas Court held: We conclude that defendants have waived any complaint based upon lack of the predicate required by article 3737e. To allow defendant's counsel to state specifically that he has no objection to the admission of these exhibits and then later complain of plaintiff's failure to lay a proper predicate would permit a party to benefit from error for which his counsel is, in part, responsible due to his affirmative acts ... Counsel's statement that he had no objection to the admission of the exhibits is, in effect, an agreement that the proper predicate can be laid and that further proof of the predicate need not be presented. See also: Loper v. Andrews, 395 S.W.2d 873 (Tex.Civ.App. 1965), aff'd on other grounds, 404 S.W.2d 300 (Tex. 1966); Missouri Pacific Railroad Company v. Watson, 346 S.W.2d 640, 641 (Tex.Civ.App. 1961, writ ref. n. r. e.). We also consider that Mr. Dewey testified to facts sufficient to lay the necessary predicate under Article 3737e. University Savings and Loan Assn. v. Security Lumber Co., 423 S.W.2d 287 (Tex. 1967) and Fuqua v. Moody & Clary Co., 462 S.W.2d 321 (Tex. Civ.App. 1970, no writ). *441 Appellant also contends that the evidence establishes no possible basis for a finding that the work on all the remaining storm lines on Highway 59 was performed by A.A.A. pursuant to the March 16 proposal upon which A.A.A. based its cause of action. However, the March 17 purchase order reflects the notation "JOB: N Belt 59". Mr. Dewey testified that the term "North Belt" alone included both the work on the North Belt under the Highway 59 interchange and on the remainder of Highway 59. He further testified that the March 17 purchase order authorized A.A.A. to clean the storm lines on Highway 59 and the North Belt interchange. The jury was entitled to conclude in answering special issue number one that modification of the terms of that first purchase order pertained solely to the small lines running underneath Highway 59. The appellant's first two points of error are also overruled. Affirmed. NOTES [1] See: Home Indemnity Company v. Draper, 504 S.W.2d 570, 578 (Tex.Civ.App. 1973, writ ref'd n. r. e.); Allstate Insurance Co. v. Furr, 449 S.W.2d 295 (Tex.Civ.App. 1969, writ ref'd n. r. e.); Olan Mills, Inc. v. Prince, 336 S.W.2d 186 (Tex.Civ.App. 1960, no writ); Geyser Ice Co. v. Sharp, 87 S.W.2d 883, 886 (Tex.Civ.App. 1935); Pyron v. Brownfield, 269 S.W. 202 (Tex. Civ.App. 1925, writ dism'd).

He said this at a function at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center on the occasion of the inauguration of the workshop on 'National Information and Communication Technology Policy-2015' on Wednesday. The minister said that these sectors were not developed two years ago. The world has progressed a lot in the past 2 years, and unbelievable progress has been made in the information technology sector. So the policies should be time-consuming for the implementation of Digital Bangladesh. He said, “The country’s technology has to be taken in such a place where if sunshine comes through the window, the curtain will be unfolded automatically. We will also bring the success of working with such technology.”

Excuse me Akira Tozawa, you are once again the 24/7 champion. How are you gonna celebrate? >> [INAUDIBLE] >> [INAUDIBLE] >> [INAUDIBLE]

Sunday, 11 November 2012 Taking orders for Christmas gingerbread cookies now! Well as mentioned in my last blog we are taking gingerbread cookie orders for Christmas this year. Orders are coming in quickly so make sure you order early to avoid missing out. Meko's Head Pastry Chef (who is coincidentally my hubby) will be a busy boy this Christmas, I can assure you! :) These gift bags of 6 gingerbread make the perfect gift for your office colleagues, clients, family and friends. Order 6 of the same design or mix them up. Choose from the Christmas tree, snow flake, star or gingerbread man, all bagged and tagged for $13 plus postage. Email us at [email protected] with your order and location and we will quote you the postage price (we only post within Australia). Or if you are in Melbourne you can pick up from Camberwell. If you're looking for a special offer however, make sure you subscribe to the Meko Monthly newsletter for a great deal on your gingerbread cookies this Christmas. Make sure you sign up here! Those in Melbourne can email us for too for any other Christmas requirements you may have.....perhaps a Christmas cake, some Chrissy cupcakes or even mince pies. Don't miss out......contact us now. Search it About Us With 15 years experience in administration and support roles, Edwina works as a senior Executive Assistant for a leading retail organisation in Australia. With a love of writing and an interest in mentoring and training EAs, she has combined her two passions with a blog designed to help and support EAs and administration professionals alike.

As far as we can tell, Al Gore has managed to amass a Romneyesque fortune without ever satisfying a customer. The closest thing to an exception may be his board membership at Apple, where Mr. Gore earned his keep by leading the board inquest that exonerated Steve Jobs of any options-backdating peccadilloes. Doing so was unquestionably a service to Apple shareholders. But, otherwise, his environmental investments have prospered thanks to government handouts and mandates. His Current TV, in the process of being sold to Al-Jazeera, attracted a minuscule audience in its seven-year existence. It averaged just 42,000 viewers per evening last year. Yet the payday coming to Mr. Gore will be somewhat greater than zero—$70 million to $100 million, depending on which estimate you prefer. We never subscribed to the theory regarding success in life that "It's not what you know but who you know." We may have to rethink. What Current had going for it was Mr. Gore, who would drop in on media moguls and explain why it was in their political interest to put Current on their networks and dun subscribers five or 10 cents a month for a channel they never watch. Saying no just wasn't worth it to companies that must run a daily gauntlet of Democratic regulators in Washington. Not to oblige Mr. Gore would be to face, at every congressional hearing, the likelihood of some legislator lambasting them for "censoring" a progressive voice. So the industry became habituated to transferring $100 million a year in what might otherwise be its own profits to owners of a cable channel nobody watched. These carriage agreements were Current TV's sole valuable assets. And the fact that nobody watched was probably not unrelated. If you're not pleasing the viewer, you're pleasing somebody else—usually in a way that makes for dreary programming. Living on the sufferance of cable moguls certainly didn't help Current put on rollicking liberal TV in the manner of MSNBC, which justifies its existence by actually attracting viewers.

#!perl use 5.008001; use strict; use warnings; use Config; use File::Temp 'tempfile'; use Net::POP3; use Test::More; my $debug = 0; # Net::POP3 Debug => .. my $parent = 0; plan skip_all => "no SSL support found in Net::POP3" if ! Net::POP3->can_ssl; plan skip_all => "fork not supported on this platform" unless $Config::Config{d_fork} || $Config::Config{d_pseudofork} || (($^O eq 'MSWin32' || $^O eq 'NetWare') and $Config::Config{useithreads} and $Config::Config{ccflags} =~ /-DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS/); my $srv = IO::Socket::INET->new( LocalAddr => '127.0.0.1', Listen => 10 ); plan skip_all => "cannot create listener on localhost: $!" if ! $srv; my $saddr = $srv->sockhost.':'.$srv->sockport; plan tests => 2; require IO::Socket::SSL::Utils; my ($ca,$key) = IO::Socket::SSL::Utils::CERT_create( CA => 1 ); my ($fh,$cafile) = tempfile(); print $fh IO::Socket::SSL::Utils::PEM_cert2string($ca); close($fh); $parent = $$; END { unlink($cafile) if $$ == $parent } my ($cert) = IO::Socket::SSL::Utils::CERT_create( subject => { CN => 'pop3.example.com' }, issuer_cert => $ca, issuer_key => $key, key => $key ); test(1); # direct ssl test(0); # starttls sub test { my $ssl = shift; defined( my $pid = fork()) or die "fork failed: $!"; exit(pop3_server($ssl)) if ! $pid; pop3_client($ssl); wait; } sub pop3_client { my $ssl = shift; my %sslopt = ( SSL_verifycn_name => 'pop3.example.com', SSL_ca_file => $cafile ); $sslopt{SSL} = 1 if $ssl; my $cl = Net::POP3->new($saddr, %sslopt, Debug => $debug); note("created Net::POP3 object"); if (!$cl) { fail( ($ssl ? "SSL ":"" )."POP3 connect failed"); } elsif ($ssl) { $cl->quit; pass("SSL POP3 connect success"); } elsif ( ! $cl->starttls ) { no warnings 'once'; fail("starttls failed: $IO::Socket::SSL::SSL_ERROR"); } else { $cl->quit; pass("starttls success"); } } sub pop3_server { my $ssl = shift; my $cl = $srv->accept or die "accept failed: $!"; my %sslargs = ( SSL_server => 1, SSL_cert => $cert, SSL_key => $key, ); if ( $ssl ) { if ( ! IO::Socket::SSL->start_SSL($cl, %sslargs)) { diag("initial ssl handshake with client failed"); return; } } print $cl "+OK localhost ready\r\n"; while (<$cl>) { my ($cmd,$arg) = m{^(\S+)(?: +(.*))?\r\n} or die $_; $cmd = uc($cmd); if ($cmd eq 'QUIT' ) { print $cl "+OK bye\r\n"; last; } elsif ( $cmd eq 'CAPA' ) { print $cl "+OK\r\n". ( $ssl ? "" : "STLS\r\n" ). ".\r\n"; } elsif ( ! $ssl and $cmd eq 'STLS' ) { print $cl "+OK starting ssl\r\n"; if ( ! IO::Socket::SSL->start_SSL($cl, %sslargs)) { diag("initial ssl handshake with client failed"); return; } $ssl = 1; } else { diag("received unknown command: $cmd"); print "-ERR unknown cmd\r\n"; } } note("POP3 dialog done"); }

Q: Disabling Windows 10 Sleep mode in Corporate Few days ago, company IT decided that users no longer deserve Sleep Mode in their laptops. I don't want to enter BitLocker pin every time whenever I need to move between meeting rooms as I close lid of my laptop. Earlier this month it went to Sleep mode. Few day ago it started Hibernating. I'm gathering material to argue with them whether it is good idea or not. Before I will look like total idiot in person, can somebody enlighten me with good reason/scenarios why this policy would be beneficial for corporate environment? I could not think of any good security or other reason why to do so. A: See the accepted answer here. Basically with BitLocker, the drive stays unlocked when in sleep mode.

Eric Owens, Daily Caller, January 21, 2015 A black Vanderbilt University professor’s op-ed critical of Islamic terrorism has touched off a wave of protest by Muslim students and other critics. The op-ed author is Carol Swain, a longtime professor of law and political science at Vanderbilt and a self-proclaimed political conservative. Her op-ed, entitled “Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam,” appeared in The Tennessean (Nashville’s main newspaper) on Jan. 15. Swain, who opposes burqas and advocates stronger efforts at assimilation for American Muslims, argued that radical Islam “poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored better than it has been under the Obama administration.” In response, Muslim students, led by Vanderbilt undergraduate Farishtay Yamin, took great offense. Yamin told The Vanderbilt Hustler, the campus newspaper, that she “could not believe her eyes” when she read Swain’s column. The student also quickly labeled Swain’s opinion as “hate speech.” She then used Facebook to set up a “Campus-Wide Protest Against Hate Speech Published in the Tennessean” on Saturday afternoon. Attendance at the fairly brief event was in the low hundreds, The College Fix reports. Students who showed up brought signs emblazoned with slogans such as “Better a brat than a bigot.” Yamin, who is the publicity chair for Vanderbilt’s Muslim Student Association, told the audience in no uncertain terms that a black female professor’s speech must be restricted if she says “these kinds of things” in the future. “What I’m really trying to show her is that she can’t continue to say these kinds of things on a campus that’s so liberal and diverse and tolerant,” Yamin declared. Swain “used a platform of murdering people to gain publicity,” Yamin charged. “There is no way the students here are going to allow further attacks on their own peers,” the Muslim undergrad also threatened, according to the Fix. “And if the university respects us as human beings, it has to come out and condemn these statements and promise us that it’s not going to happen again in the future.” {snip}

Chevrolet: Corvette 400hp A/C published 7 months ago 1967 Chevrolet Corvette , red with 9525 miles on the odometer. The interior is Black. The Vehicle Title is Clear. The VIN number is 194377S104475. Conditions: This is you once in a life time chance to own a 1967 Corvette with only 9,525 Miles Rally Red with Black Interior, L68 427/400hp, Factory A/C, Powerglide Automatic, Radio Delete, Perfect Tank Sticker, All Original Mint Interior, Headrests, Perfect Chassis, Totally Restored Suspension and Lacquer Pain.

The dad asked the kid’s permission before making the rounds on the TV the last couple of days. Seems like a pretty humble kid with a proud father who isn’t trying to hog the limelight. And that was a damn good shot. Consider the Emergency Alert System of the Twelve Monkeys, otherwise known as cable tv. Somewhere in one of America’s psych wards yesterday, someone predicted that the boy would be found in a box in the attic of the garage. The tape is probably being burned right now. How much longer will we try to track a Higgs boson, now that we know the search is being sabotaged and aborted from a future timeline?

Q: CSS calculate max-width using vw and left position Is there a way to calculate max-width in CSS using the viewport width and the left position of the element? I have a div that contains a dynamic table, which can grow depending on the columns of the uploaded spreadsheet. I want to be able to apply max-width and horizontal scroll for the container, which I can easily do with 100vw. However, I also have a sidebar that users can toggle. So I'm thinking the best way to compute for max-width is through 100vw - [left position of container div] or maybe anyone can suggest a better solution for this using purely CSS. A: After googling, it seems like this is not supported. I have fixed my problem, however, by using the class appended to the body when the sidebar is toggled. And considering that the sidebar itself has a fixed width, I did something like this: body{ div.horizontal-scroll { max-width: calc(100vw - 310px); } &.sidebar-hidden { div.horizontal-scroll { max-width: calc(100vw - 80px); } } }

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. Hi! I’m Chris King, and I recently released a game called 20XX. 20XX is a Mega Man X-inspired co-op roguelite, combining classic action platforming with random level generation and permanent death. 20XX’s final visuals. We iterated a lot. In this postmortem, I’ll go over the inflection points in our story, then talk a little more generally about what we’ve learned over the past four years. -- CONTENTS [TBLC] Jump to the part of this post you care about by CTRL-F-ing between the bracketed text. For example, if you’d like to skip right to the lessons, CTRL-F for “[LRND]”. Quick Facts [QKFC] Timeline Detail [TMLN] Lessons Learned [LRND] -- 20XX Quick Facts [QKFC] 20XX is built in a custom C++ engine. I built 20XX’s engine from scratch to build my resume, assuming I’d shoot for a job at a big developer once the game was finished. I started with one of those “here’s how you render a triangle!” tutorials, and built 20XX from there. We probably should have just used Unity. Only 2 people worked on 20XX full-time over its four years in development, but 16 individuals created game content of some kind. “How big is your team?” Production timeline summary: Day One: July 1, 2013 Steam Early Access launch on November 25, 2014 (512 days into development) 1.0 launch (left Early Access) on August 16, 2017 (1507 days into development) -- TIMELINE DETAIL [TMLN] June, 2013: Development begins on 20XX. I build a super-basic 20XX prototype, and use reddit (/r/gamedevclassifieds, /r/forhire) to find the game’s artist, Zach Urtes. We sign a contract for a “six month project,” complete with ridiculous overscoping and features we’ll never be able to implement. He creates the first Rollster model (seen below with the rest of my prototype art). The first “prototype” picture we saved. Note the “ix” health bar - Nina was actually “model 9”/”Nine” at the beginning of development, but we had to change that when Mighty No. 9 became a thing. That purple column is a ladder, which we ditched from the final product. Ladders are terrible. August 31, 2013: Keiji Inafune, the “father of Mega Man,” launches the Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter. I spend the better part of a week obsessively checking their Kickstarter and the surrounding hype wave and generally feeling beat-up. I spend a lot of time (inadvertently - I thought I was just sulking) researching MN9’s value proposition, and I realize two things. ONE: The incredible show of support for MN9’s campaign proves that there’s an unmet market need for that old-school Mega Man feel. The incredible show of support for MN9’s campaign proves that there’s an unmet market need for that old-school Mega Man feel. TWO: We’re both wearing our inspirations on our sleeve, but we’re very, very different games. I knew that trying to “make a Mega Man game” in the same vein as the classics was foolish, so I made some big design changes to stand out. Given my love of roguelikes and desire for strong replayability, we gave 20XX random level generation and permanent death. Given my love of scope creep and unreasonable features, we designed the game with local & online multiplayer in mind. These were both big selling points that MN9 didn’t have. We almost stop working on 20XX entirely. Instead, I choose to believe that the world is wide enough for both 20XX and Mighty No. 9, and carry on. January 1, 2014: Zach’s original contract goes past its “six month” expected period. (20XX releases 1,323 days later.) We decide we’re going to show at PAX, and kick off our Kickstarter and Greenlight campaign in April, all at the same time. We pitch every reputable publisher I can find on 20XX, and are universally rejected. (We think those publishers made super reasonable choices; we weren’t a very good game at the time. We basically pitched with an ugly prototype.) We start hunting for a composer. (Did we really pitch publishers with my placeholder music in game? Oops.) Our first choice is unimpressed with what we’ve done so far, and tells us so. I remember how excited I was to send him that early build, and how crushed I felt when he didn’t want to compose for 20XX -- specifically because the project itself was bad. I felt defensive, but instead asked him for specifics - what’s bad? What can we improve? - and thankfully he gave us a laundry list of what he felt wasn’t working. It gave us a lot to chew on, and the game got better for it. It also taught me how to extract information from criticism. This ended up being one of the pillars of 20XX’s development. We find our composer in Brandon Ellis (aka Cityfires), who’s responsible for all of the awesome music that made it into 20XX. Brandon nails the tone we’re going for, and the game instantly improves by leaps and bounds. A++ 10/10 would recommend. April, 2014: We show at PAX East, start our Kickstarter and Greenlight campaigns simultaneously, and generally just sort of hate ourselves. Kickstarter is a full time job, and we decided we just wouldn’t be around computers for the first days of it. If you’re going to combine KS with a big show, start the KS after your show and aggressively collect email addresses from the people who dig your game on the expo hall floor. Your sanity will thank you. We learned a lot from our first PAX -- those lessons are here from when I wrote them up a few years ago. Past-me probably said it better than present-me could, anyway. those lessons are here from when I wrote them up a few years ago. Past-me probably said it better than present-me could, anyway. Kickstarter was miserable and stressful, and we were right on the fence between making it and not the entire time. In hindsight, we ran the campaign way too early and would have done better if we’d waited for better visuals, but we didn’t know we were going to expand the scope at the time. Our messaging was also pretty flippant/unprofessional, which likely hurt us. Our Kickstarter month was the most stressful month of my life. We would not have survived this period without the incredible patience and support of some of my closest friends, most notably Bianca (early marketing/social presence/got us some attention at East/put up with all my mopey garbage during Kickstarter/agreed to marry me which is pretty great), DJ (did not agree to marry me but built our initial internet presence, which we sorely needed), and Chase (playtested the crap out of our early builds and just generally supported my game development while I was making garbage). 20XX’s visuals as of April, 2014 (first PAX showing + Kickstarter). September, 2014: We team up with Fire Hose Games. I meet Eitan at an IGDA meetup. We agree that he can help us make the game more professional so we can actually sell it. This is one of the better decisions we make. Eitan has a lot of industry experience and connections that I lack. We expand the project’s scope a good bit. Instead of releasing the final product in November, we agree that we’ll release the Early Access version, and build the rest of the game in front of a live studio audience. November, 2014: 20XX launches on Early Access. On Day One, we sell 64 copies of 20XX. I’m thrilled. We make a series of promises to the community up front, and do our best to keep them: We set a strict bi-weekly update schedule, promising that during Early Access, we’ll push a patch every other Wednesday by 6:00 PM Eastern. We add a clock in game that I update every patch that clearly says when the next update is coming. Folks love update clocks - if you’re certain you can patch your game on a schedule during EA, add one. It earned us a ton of goodwill with the community, and gave us a reliable, routine way of getting feedback on our latest work. Don’t do this if you aren’t certain you can meet the schedule - promising a schedule and not delivering is worse than not promising a schedule. IIRC, we missed two update deadlines out of over 70 - one by a day, and one by an hour. I read every single post on our Steam Community, every post on our subreddit, /r/20xxgame (/r/20xx is taken by a different, defunct 20XX), and every email. I reply to every single one, and as the community grows, a number of our veteran players rise to take on some of the more common questions for me. We owe a big chunk of our success to reasoned evaluation of feedback over a long period of time. Strip the emotional content of your user feedback before evaluating it - it’s awesome when fans love your game, but don’t greenlight a suggestion solely because a big fan made it. Don’t block out good suggestions made by assholes, either. I’m as open with the community on what we’re working on as I can possibly be, and let their general consensus impact our schedule. If lots of players have a specific pain point, I’ll usually stop what I’m doing to fix it. If the majority of the community thinks we’ve made a misstep, we sit down and seriously evaluate whether or not we’re in the right. A few weeks before our beta launch in Sept 2015, we spent a ton of time revamping both Ace and Nina’s character designs. ABOVE: 20XX's pre-redesign characters (Summer 2015). BELOW: The "failed" redesign (August 2015). The new designs got the most overwhelmingly negative community feedback we’ve ever had. We had some tough talks, dropped everything we’d planned on doing before our beta launch, built better versions of our old character designs (using the lessons learned while making the “failed” designs) and could cut entirely new trailers and media just in time for our beta launch. Redesigned characters. (We still revamp them one more time before launch.) The resulting publicity push was the biggest one we’d had to date by an order of magnitude. I’m pretty sure if we’d stuck to our guns and said “these are our characters now,” we’d’ve died in the water right there. Note: being “open with the community” does not mean overpromising. Share what you’re sure about. March, 2015: Realizing the game needs visual direction beyond what our team can provide, we hire Clemens Scott. Clemens (most recently the amazing artist of Old Man’s Journey, by Broken Rules) spends six months with us, bringing the game’s visuals up from “unattractive” to “polarizing” (a huge improvement). 20XX’s current marketable form would not have been possible without Clemens’ help. April, 2015: We show at our second PAX, this time with the lovely Indie MEGABOOTH. It goes much better than our last showing, and we even get some press! Later in the month, MANvsGAME and Zeke (Ezekiel_III) start streaming 20XX at 2 AM while I’m at Bianca’s (then-girlfriend-now-fiancee-also-ilu-Bianca) parents’ house, and none of them kill me when I watch it until they stop at 5 AM. Reception to our first batch of Clemens-improved environment art is encouraging; maybe this is the real deal. We sell another 64 units in a single day, and I’m Christmas-morning-excited about the whole thing. Mighty No. 9 announces their first delay to September 15th (4.5-5 months). This isn’t a big deal. Delays happen, and (other than the timing) they do a good job of explaining what they’re up to and why the game’s been delayed. May, 2015: Money’s super tight, and Bianca mostly supports us personally. She is a saint. I take out a loan so I can afford to continue to pay Zach. August, 2015: Mighty No. 9’s second delay happens. This one is less well handled. (Lots of good articles about it hit around the same time - here’s one that does a good job of explaining it.) The MN9 team burns a lot of goodwill, and we decide this is our shot at a pressworthy story. We announce that 20XX will finally be entering beta on the day MN9 is no longer using as a launch day, and it sticks. We get a more concentrated press hit than at any time before or after (including our final launch), and we go from selling nothing to selling a pretty reasonable amount. We’re still way in the red on the project, but from here on out, 20XX generates more money than it spends. The influx of fans, money, and feedback lets us take the game farther than we previously thought possible. Over the coming months, we maintain a stable sales rate and I eventually pay back the loan. January, 2016: 20XX has grown, and we decide we need community feedback before each patch. We start our “Superfriends” group, aimed at getting early builds of game content in front of 20XX’s biggest fans for feedback before they go live. We try our best to make sure the content Superfriends get is interesting. Seeing new items and stages before they go live is awesome; “test our engine changes!” is not. We give them super-early-access to the game’s final stages, which ends up being a godsend. Our first builds of these stages needed an embarrassing amount of refinement, and the feedback we get from our Superfriends is a critical component of that refinement. May, 2016: We decide 20XX should have a few cutscenes (“all professional games have a few cutscenes”, we said), and start hiring. Cutscenes prove to be really difficult to get right. We go way over budget, and the entire process ends up taking 14 months. None of us are experts on this sort of thing, so communicating exactly what we’re looking for proves difficult. We get the scenes before 1.0 (by two weeks), but having gone through all this, I feel more like we survived it than that we really learned a lot. June, 2016: Mighty No. 9 launches on PC. “Play this instead.” In the weeks leading up to MN9’s release, 20XX’s “most helpful” review on Steam read “Play this if you’re tired of waiting for Mighty No. 9.” Mighty No. 9 comes out, and it’s pretty okay, but doesn’t live up to the hype it built. The review changes. Fortunately for us, MN9’s release date lines up nicely with the Steam Summer Sale, and 20XX is well-positioned to benefit from the hype-vacuum MN9 leaves behind. From here, 20XX’s development follows a pretty straightforward pattern. We maintain a resting sales rate we’re happy with, and mildly discounting the game (20-25%) during big sale events treats us well. It’s mostly smooth sailing until our 1.0 release in August 2017. December, 2016: We launch 20XX’s “piecemakers” experiment, aimed at teaching the game’s fans to use my really-awful level design tools. The game’s tools suck, and we fail. Out of a hundred or so volunteers, two players submit segments, only one of which makes it into the game. This is 100% our fault - our level design tools are clunky and have a steep learning curve. Making a better editor becomes a post-1.0 concern - we’re still (as of now, Nov 2017) figuring out whether or not this is a feasible project for 20XX. (If you have experience making a good level editor, get in touch!) August, 2017: After 71 consecutive bi-weekly updates, 20XX releases on PC, leaving Early Access. We make a new trailer, but it’s still 100% action-oriented. (We’d love feedback on this - we think there’s lots of room for improvement here.) One month in advance, we reach out to pretty much every influencer who’d either covered us in EA or told us they’d cover us on release, and wrote lots of non-form-letter individual reachouts. We didn’t get much back. Three big outlets told us they’d cover our release, and of those, one came through. (Tim’s video is amazing, even if you don’t like 20XX.) The day the Kotaku video is released (day 3 of our launch week), our sales spike up ~30% compared to the previous two days. It’s hard to pinpoint how much of this is due to the video -- 20XX has always done better on Fridays and Saturdays -- but it definitely has an impact. We spent a good chunk of our launch week between #20-25 on the Top Sellers list. Steam’s organic visibility saved our butt. Despite our failure to get press/influencer attention, Steam’s algorithm deemed us worthy, and we performed pretty competitively with similarly scoped titles that released that week. Final product. -- LESSONS LEARNED [LRND] Early Access was a huge win for us. We’ve learned a lot about it. -- When considering if your game and team are a fit for Early Access, ask: ​“What’s not done?” If the thing that isn’t done is “delivering your core hook,” don’t launch in EA. If you release a pretty game on Early Access that doesn’t live up to your game’s core promise, you’re going to get bad reviews. If your game delivers on its core promise, it’s okay if the content isn’t finished/it’s a bit buggy here and there. "Does my game play better than it looks?" Your sales (in Early Access, but also in general) depend on your Storefront’s appeal. Your reviews are based on how well your game delivers on that appeal. 20XX’s review score was better when our game looked worse -- anyone able to look past the game’s art knew exactly what they were getting into, and every version of 20XX we released on Steam lived up to the tight platforming and crisp controls Mega Man fans expect. "Is my game's impact repeatable?" If your game is meant to be played again and again, you’ll have better luck getting your players to keep playing as you develop it. "Can I afford the time burden EA puts on my team?" As 20XX’s main designer and only programmer, I spent 10-15 hours a week interacting with the community and fixing bugs that I couldn’t push down the line because they actively harmed the 20XX experience. You might be able to hire someone to handle these interactions, but unless that person really feels like part of the dev team to the community, it won’t pay off. You can’t avoid having your schedule bumped by must-fix-now bugs, either. "Am I ready to establish a public update schedule?" Establishing a strict release schedule and properly supporting it (fixing gamebreaking bugs same-day, etc) earns a lot of community goodwill, but trying this and failing -- either routinely delivering late, or delivering broken stuff you can't fix -- is a great way to burn goodwill. "Do I want player feedback?" Having a community help you tune your game and identify pain points is awesome, but only if you're actually going to use that feedback in ways they can see. (If your veteran players don't think you're at least reading their feedback, they'll stop giving it.) Also, on Early Access: In general, players are wary of Early Access developers for the same reason people shy away from Kickstarter. Trust is earned. The standing Early Access advice of “you only get one launch” holds up in our case, but when that “one launch” happens depends on the influencer. 20XX has been covered by most major press outlets and by a handful of influential streamers exactly one time during its development, all at different times. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on your team. If we could have funded 20XX all the way to the finish without the extra revenue and player spikes from our Early Access press hits, being able to cash them all in at launch would have been a strong play. That assumes you can get the coverage all at once, though. You don’t usually have control over when your game gets covered. For the record, we couldn’t have funded the game fully without the publicity spikes we got in Early Access. If you’re a smaller developer, be happy to get press whenever you can, and don’t think too hard about the consequences for your “final launch.” It’s very possible to gain traction after a “failed” EA launch - if you understand why it failed. 20XX entered EA with lacking visuals and an unimpressive Store Page, and made zero noise as a result. We greatly improved 20XX’s systems/gameplay over the course of EA, but a user seeing your game on the store page for the first time doesn’t know that -- all they see is what’s in front of them on the game’s surface. Art sells games. -- READ YOUR REVIEWS. Early Access is a great barometer for what issues your game might have (as defined by the relationship between your trailer/screenshots/storefront text and the game you’ve released). Pay attention to your negative reviews! (Read the positive ones, too, but really dig into the negative ones.) 20XX has four kinds of negative reviews: technical issues, where a user has an issue with actually getting into the game and playing it, “but I didn’t want a roguelike!” reviews, where a user buys 20XX without paying attention to its roguelike elements, “useful” complaints where the user identifies what they didn’t like about the game, and “garbo” complaints where the user gives a thumbs-down with little to no information about why. “Garbo” complaints happen to everyone, but they’re still valid reviews. I’m not making an effort to discredit them. Not everyone wants to take the time to tell you what your game could do better, and that’s okay. For charting purposes, I’m counting reviews where a user cites incorrect information as their pain point as “useful”, because it at least tells me how my game was perceived. If enough users see your game world differently than you intend them to, you have a messaging issue. I set the bar for what I’m counting as “useful” pretty low. This is a “useful” review. The user plainly states he dislikes the game because of the art. Note that our in-game models aren’t “flash-tweened,” nor did we ever say anything about building hand-drawn sprites. Here’s a breakdown of 20XX’s English-only negatives. (We localized into 8 other languages in June 2017, and it’s harder for me to be confident about what those reviews are saying. More on that later.) There’s a lot for us to digest from the chart above: 31% of our negatives came from the the “roguelike?!” crowd, meaning we had a messaging failure. 20XX’s store page calls itself a roguelike multiple times on its store page. It’s the fourth word of the game’s top text, and the fourth word in the game’s description. The description called out the random levels and powerup sets, and we thought that was good enough. We were wrong. Much later in development, a user suggested we call out the specific roguelike elements 20XX brings to the table - we did that, and the frequency of those negative reviews decreased sharply. There’s a confounding factor here, too -- many of those negative reviews were part of the MN9 publicity rush, where people expressly purchased 20XX as a “MN9 alternative” without looking too much into it. Still, a good chunk of these reviews are the result of a messaging failure. 14% of our issues came from people having tech issues or controller issues. In an engine that dealt with all controller types perfectly from the get-go, about half of these reviews would never have been made. (Steam Controllers don’t support DirectInput fully -- multiple controllers are detected as one device, which isn’t great, and caused more than one negative review.) The other half are people trying to play the game on potato computers, which we can’t do too much about. No matter how low your specs are, someone will play your game on a potato and complain. Know when to say no. The above two issues represent failures on our part. Assuming perfect messaging and controller detection from day one, we can conservatively estimate getting rid of half of the 45%-slice of the negative review pie caused by technical/”a roguelike?!” issues, which would comfortably bump us back into Overwhelmingly Positive. (We don’t know conclusively that Overwhelmingly Positive boosts sales, but we believe it does.) 38% of our negative reviews involved the user actually saying what they didn’t like, which gave us a lot to chew on. More than once, a rash of negative reviews about a certain topic made us realize our EA product had a glaring deficiency we needed to fix, and we shifted gears to get it taken care of. Read and pay attention to your negative reviews! This is another instance of EA forcing you to move your schedule around. You might be fully aware certain things need a rework and have them scheduled in your backlog, but if they’re causing your EA users pain now, you have to move that task up. When a user posts a negative review, engage with them, even if they’re a garbage review. Many users that want to see the game improve will respond with additional feedback, and sometimes even change their review. “Right after the review is posted” is usually your only opportunity for this - if you wait, they’ll be gone. I’d estimate one user in four changed their review over the course of EA after I listened and responded to their concerns, which (to me) is an awesome conversion rate. On the other hand: on our out-of-EA launch day, I wrote 70+ comments to users who’d posted negative reviews, many of which “hoped the game would get better on release.” Two users responded, played the game, and changed their review. One user changed his review from positive to negative, and weirdly turned into an overnight banworthy forum troll. Users who have already moved on from your game negatively during EA are probably not coming back. Count on their feedback as final. Steam’s refund system is pretty good for (most!) developers. Players buy with confidence because of the 2-hour no-questions return guarantee. Downside: many negative reviews are instantly set in stone, since the user often refunds the game before writing the review. There’s no room for interaction unless you openly give that player a key to try it out, which feels scummy (and sends a bad message to your happy players). -- COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT: 20XX succeeded (in part) because we treated our Early Access community right. Some benefits of treating your community well in Early Access: Players are much more likely to report bugs and go to great lengths to document them (videos, etc) when they trust that you’ll act on their info. However you track bugs, make sure you respond to user posts in a timely fashion. For example: netcode testing is a nightmare for a developer working alone. In the weeks leading up to release, we had multiple users submit long, annotated videos full of bug descriptions, including one that was edited down from 4-5 hours of footage! When you build a community that loves your work and respects your time, members of your community will come to your defense when they come across someone shit-talking you or your game, which is usually great. Building a community means not having to answer the same questions over and over yourself, since your fans will handle the softballs for you. This has an extreme case you need to be careful of, too. Zealous fans will sometimes block out legitimate dissent. It’s one thing when your fans shout down an obvious troll - it’s another when someone explains an issue they have with an aspect of the game, and your fans attack them for it. It’s important to set the tone where you can - 20XX’s forums are for all discussion about the game, not just praise. This one’s obvious, but the fans you please the most will tell everyone they know about your game. Maximizing your k-factor is a real thing, and fans that love you tell more people about your work. Community Management Best Practices: Don’t make promises you can’t keep. If you have an update schedule, stick to it. Make cuts to updates that might miss their target to get them out on time. Don’t promise a feature in patch X unless you’re 100% sure it’ll be in there. Use uncertain language if you’re not sure you can get a feature in on time -- “we’re shooting for this feature on day X, but we’re not sure we’ll get it in shipping shape in time yet.” Don’t set your release date until you’re 100% sure you’ll meet it. (We might be oversensitive about this last one because of our competitor’s failings, but it’s a good practice.) Manage expectations. When you know you’re going to fall short, tell your community as soon as you can. If an Early Access feature is pretty rough, state it upfront: “This is an early draft of Feature X, so please give us feedback!” If you have to delay a patch or other scheduled deliverable, tell your community as soon as possible. No one likes delays, but players respect a developer that does everything they can to keep the player in the loop about when a deliverable is coming, and infrequent delays are usually tolerated with no loss of goodwill if they’re well-communicated. No lying. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. Having to remember what you said that may or may not be true a few years down the line is a lot of emotional effort to get right, and you’re usually better off long term just coming clean with an issue. Make sure all constructively-expressed opinions are welcome. Set this precedent yourself. This dovetails a bit from the zealous-fan thing above, but it’s important that your users respect people with different opinions, or you’ll block out both potentially useful feedback and new community members. This applies to both forum posts and review comments. Listen to your players. They’re giving you feedback about your game because they’re passionate about it. Strip their comments of emotional content, and evaluate their suggestions neutrally (this takes a lot of practice, so work on it). You’ll get lots of suggestions exactly one time that end up making your game better because you hadn’t thought of them/experienced a specific pain point, and you’ll get lots of suggestions that are more “hivemind”-based, where a good chunk of your community feels a certain way. They’re both important, and figuring out which feedback to act on and which to say “sorry, this isn’t the direction we’re taking!” is good both for the game and for the community. Be ready to accept that you might be wrong. This is your game, but if you make a change that’s universally disliked by the community, you might want to rethink your position, and at the very least, you need to clearly explain your stance on the issue. (This is part of “listening to your players.”) Stay professional. When a player with 0.2 hours played leaves a negative review that says “not enough content”, resist the urge to call that player a laundry list of (apt) foul names. They’re wrong, but saying so yourself in public doesn’t get you anything, and just makes you look bad. (I’m of the opinion that it’s okay to let your players dump on these reviewers, but YMMV.) Help everyone (efficiently). The goal: for every avenue of communication with you, the developer, make sure everyone gets answered. Doing this efficiently means directing players to make contact via methods your fanbase can intercept for general questions. (Bug submissions should go to a bugtracker - that’s different.) Make an FAQ of common problems if you don’t already have one, and link people to it. With 20XX, we left a support email accessible in several places where we should have put a Steam Community/subreddit link - it’s important that your users can get in touch, but I too-often had to write email responses to players with issues covered in the FAQ. Be aware that when you localize your game, you’re going to lose connective power with part of your community. Google Translate only goes so far, and you’re (probably) not hiring CMs for each language you’ve localized to. This hasn’t been awful for us, but there are definitely users I can’t adequately respond to and reviews I can’t properly interact with because they’re in languages I don’t speak, and my Google Translate responses don’t quite get the job done. If your game is currently in a technically-unstable state, consider holding your localization patch until it’s stable. On working out of your home and directing a remote team: Having creative and business control of a project is awesome. It’s also hard. Your motivation is 100% internally-generated. Going from having a boss helping you figure out your tasklist to having to chart the entire course yourself is a rough transition, as is being responsible for setting your own deadlines. Be prepared to invest time figuring out how you work best. For example, I’ve learned that I do my best technical work in the morning, which means I try to do business stuff later in the day. No matter what time I get up, if I start my day with video games (say, I get up an hour before my normal wake-up time), my day’s down the tubes. It’s really hard for me to shift from game-mode to work-mode. Identify your team’s best work modes, too. Don’t interrupt your team when you know they’re doing their best work - if your artist is best in the afternoon, don’t schedule meetings with him/her in the afternoon. If your artist has “feast/famine” cycles where they sometimes just get in the zone, tell them it’s okay to ask to postpone meetings with you if they’re in that good good place. Strict scheduling helps. A nice bonus of Early Access for us was setting goals for each patch, so I had a very real measure of how productive the team was from patch to patch. Be prepared to develop a strong sense of guilt. Unless I can justify taking a day off in advance, nothing makes me feel worse than ditching my workload early to go play games. This might be controversial, but guilt was a key player in my self-motivation strategy while making 20XX. When struggling with motivation on a specific task, switch gears. You’ll get a feel for when this works and when it doesn’t, but if you find yourself constantly tabbing to Twitter on your current task, see if there’s something you’re a little more excited to work on to tackle. This obviously has limits - you still have to tackle that task eventually! When you’re really not making any progress, though, it’s often better to do something else for awhile than slog through your boring task. DON’T PLAY MMOs. Seriously. Just don’t. The social features of these games are deadly for self-motivation, and it’s really easy to justify spending big parts of your days accommodating your habit. You may have analogous weaknesses - games that, when you’re invested in them, become really tempting to play during the day and are hard to put down/not easy to play for 15-20 minutes in a sitting. Don’t play them. They’re traps. If there’s no one on the team making the go/no go call for each type of game element, you’ll release garbage. You’ve hired your team because you trust their judgment and skill in their area of expertise. When they do awesome work, this is awesome. When they do sub-awesome work, someone on the team has to be able to tell what’s wrong with it, and how best to move forward (scrap and redo/improve a few things/use as-is because of time constraints/etc). Learning to do this professionally is hard - nobody likes to hear that a piece of work of theirs isn’t usable as is. On the other side of this, “takes criticism well” is an awesome trait in a team member. If you’re the head of a small team, you’re the last line of defense in every category. If an in-game model or audio track doesn’t fit what you’re looking for and you don’t evaluate the cost of fixing it, it’s your fault -- not the asset producer’s -- when your players don’t like it. Similarly, if the asset produced *does* fit your vision and the players don’t like it, that’s your fault, too. Small team projects live and die based on the collective vision of the team and their ability to realize it. Project Management is super important. Don’t work on tasks arbitrarily until they’re done - keep a backlog of the things you need to do, and periodically meet to decide which ones will get done by the next meeting. Take care of yourself. Make healthy choices. Doing this job from home full time is emotionally taxing. You don’t see other people during your workday, so if you don’t have a routine hobby that involves seeing other people in person, you might want to find one. Not seeing other people on a routine basis does weird, bad things to your mind. When you spend so much of your week at home alone, it’s very easy to fall into unhealthy eating habits. Do whatever you have to in order establish a healthy routine. Spend some time outside! If you can, spend some time working in coffee shops. (I have trouble doing this. It’s too distracting for me.) Sometimes, this tip and the “keep your promises” tip conflict, resulting in crunch. Crunch is acceptable in small amounts, but it’s definitely an admission of failure (Hi, Tanya!). Avoid crunch by picking reasonable workloads and deadlines, and if you have to ask your team to work overtime, do it sparingly. Self-selected crunch (when a team member is super passionate about what they’re doing at the time, and chooses to work overtime on it) is fine, but be careful that your culture doesn’t shift towards crunch as a result. If half your team is voluntarily putting in 60 hour weeks, your other team members might feel like they have to do the same to be “team players.” This is bad. If you live with a spouse/partner/SO, be aware that your work arrangement might cause friction. YMMV, but my fiancee and I had to put in significant work with making the “CK is always at home” arrangement work. The fact that your office is your partner’s home is not easy. -- MISC. ADVICE: Don’t launch a Kickstarter campaign if you aren’t ready to devote 100% of your time to it. You’ll need to, and if you’re not able, you’ll go through more stress than is necessary. If you want to sell your game, do some market research upfront. Make sure there’s room for you in the market - if there are other games like yours, does yours really stand out? -- SUMMARY I spent four years building my first game team, making the game I’d dreamed of since childhood, and getting super lucky because someone else built a hype wave my game could ride. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and hope what I’ve shared will help someone. If you’re reading this and have other questions, feel free to reach out on twitter or via email (chris AT batterystaplegames DOT com). Thanks for reading!

K+ channels are structurally and functionally diverse families of K+-selective channel proteins which are ubiquitous in cells, indicating their central importance in regulating a number of key cell functions. K+ channels are important regulators of numerous biological processes, including secretory processes, muscle contraction, and post-ischemia cardioprotection. Electrophysiological studies have disclosed the existence of K+ channels in nearly all cell types. Spreading depression is an abrupt rise in extracellular potassium ([K+]o) and depression of electrical activity in nervous tissue; it shares many characteristics of cortical spreading depression (CSD) (Leão, A. A. P., J. Neurophysiol. 7:359-390, 1944). In mammalian tissue, CSD has been associated with several important pathologies including stroke, seizures and migraine (Smith et al., Biol. Rev. Camb. Philos. Soc. 81:457-481, 2006; Somjen, G. G., Neuroscientist 8:254-267, 2002; Somjen, G. G., Physiol. Rev. 81:1065-1096, 2001). CSD is increasingly accepted as a primary causative agent for migraine, particularly migraine with aura.

"My four years in Finnair´s service has included both periods of success as well as the increasingly adverse development of the entire sector, and now a clear change of course is required," Hienonen said. "I am not satisfied with the results achieved; the rate of change has been insufficient." Hienonen took a parting shot at "some personnel organizations that have shown no willingness to adapt" to the financial crisis the airline industry faces. "Many structures as well as the company´s culture have been formed in totally different conditions," he said. "With these we cannot do well in the present competitive environment, but changing them has proved to be extremely difficult." The airline’s board said it "regretted" Hienonen’s decision to resign. He will stay on as CEO for up to six months while the board finds a replacement.

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Scientists have different theories on how our noses interpret smells. by Mary Tucker Smell is the most mysterious of the five senses - scientists are still not exactly sure how the nose decodes odors. The sense of smell often seems like the forgotten sense, perhaps because scent cannot be transmitted as obviously as images or sound. But watch a dog - with a sense of smell about a million times more sensitive than ours - identify a person by their smell or sniff out traces of drugs and it is obvious what a powerful means of communication it can be. For humans, scent plays a big role in attraction and is strongly tied to memory. But how is smell written into molecules? And how do our noses interact with scent molecules? Since classical times, scientists have been trying to pin down solid olfactory rules but they still don't know exactly how the nose works. Decoding the shape of smell What we do know is the world is made of atoms and those atoms connect to make molecules. Molecules are what we smell, from wherever they are evaporating, and they reach our nose through the air. Though we know almost everything possible about molecules, we don't know how our nose reads them. Chemists make hundreds of new molecules every week but what each molecule is going to smell like is always a mystery. The prevailing theory, first refined in 1952 by John Amoore at Oxford University, is the shape or steric theory of odor. The theory, simply stated, proposes that the shape of a molecule determines its smell. In other words, a rose molecule smells like a rose molecule because its shape is coded precisely for the nose to interpret this way. It does this by a lock and key method within the olfactory nervous system: the shape of an airborne molecule (the key) fits into complementary odorant receptor proteins on the outside of the nasal cell (the lock). Amoore also proposed that there are seven primary odours (ethereal, camphoraceous, musky, floral, minty, pungent and putrid). But the shape theory is not without its pitfalls. "Shapists" are plagued by the indisputable evidence that not all similarly shaped molecules smell alike, while sometimes differently shaped molecules do. Also unexplained is the fact that humans can detect many more smells than there are odorant receptors in the nose. Aware the shape theory doesn't hold up to watertight scientific scrutiny, scientists have long been pursuing other explanations, with limited success. Scent vibrations In 1996, Luca Turin, a biophysicist at University College London, thought he may have come up with the answer to how we smell. In his new book The Secret of Scent (Faber and Faber 2006), he outlines his hotly contested vibrational theory of smell, and explains how "…like the origin of life, the mechanism of general anaesthesia, the extinction of dinosaurs, the kinship of the Basque language, [smell] is a scientific Sword in the Stone." Photo credit: Gray's Anatomy This diagram shows the receptor neurons in the nose that convert odors to electrical signals that the brain can interpret. Turin first came across the vibrational theory in the mid-1980s, noticing that it had first been conceived of in the 1930s, later revived in the 1960s, but both times discarded. With the advent of modern technology, he was able to revisit the theory and apply new testing methods. Vibrational theory states that molecules in every substance generate a specific vibration frequency that the nose interprets as a distinct smell. More specifically, it speculates that the vibration frequency of odor molecules is converted to smell recognition via a form of electron tunnelling with the help of receptors in the lining of the nose. In many ways, according to vibrational theory, the way we smell is similar to the way we hear. A molecule's vibrations play out like a chord of music - but instead of music, we get the chemical melody of scent. In his investigations, Turin noticed that a vibration producing a wave number of 2500 always produced a smell of sulphur. He then found a different molecule - with the same vibration frequency - that also possessed the same smell: the molecule borane. After looking for molecules that were identical in shape but with different vibrations, he theorised that because they had their own unique "chord patterns", they should have different smells. Despite achieving an apparent scientific breakthrough, Turin was immediately confronted with criticism from members of the scientific community, who doggedly refused to support the publication of his research. The backstabbing world of scientific peer review is the central preoccupation of Chandler Burr's new acclaimed biography of Turin, The Emperor of Scent (Random House, 2003). (Interestingly, Burr, an ardent supporter of Turin's work, has recently been named by The New York Times as their first ever perfume critic). Despite much vindication from Burr and other members of the press, Turin's vibrational theory - like the shape theory -- has not been immune to inconsistencies. Experiments done in 2004 by Vosshall and Keller at Rockefeller University found three of Turin's proposed predictions on the vibrational nature of smell to be false. Whether the shape or vibrational theory, a combination of the two - or something completely different - gains further and credible scientific ground remains to be seen. For the foreseeable future, the debate rages on… For more information: The Guardian - An Explorer Following his Nose http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/scienceandnature/0,,1773782,00.html The New York Times - Odorama http://www.chandlerburr.com/newsite/content/emperorofscent/emperorreview.htm

Molecular mechanics methods for predicting protein-ligand binding. Ligand binding affinity prediction is one of the most important applications of computational chemistry. However, accurately ranking compounds with respect to their estimated binding affinities to a biomolecular target remains highly challenging. We provide an overview of recent work using molecular mechanics energy functions to address this challenge. We briefly review methods that use molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations to predict absolute and relative ligand binding free energies, as well as our own work in which we have developed a physics-based scoring method that can be applied to hundreds of thousands of compounds by invoking a number of simplifying approximations. In our previous studies, we have demonstrated that our scoring method is a promising approach for improving the discrimination between ligands that are known to bind and those that are presumed not to, in virtual screening of large compound databases. In new results presented here, we explore several improvements to our computational method including modifying the dielectric constant used for the protein and ligand interiors, and empirically scaling energy terms to compensate for deficiencies in the energy model. Future directions for further improving our physics-based scoring method are also discussed.