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Spider-Man's latest film netted a massive number at the box office this weekend -- but in the end, the superhero couldn't stick it to Captain America. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which hit theaters Thursday evening, debuted with $92 million, per an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures. Heading into the weekend, pre-release audience surveys indicated the 3-D sequel starring Andrew Garfield would launch with around $95 million -- putting it in a tight race for the top opening of 2014. By weekend's end, however, that title still went to "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," a sequel featuring another Marvel Comics favorite that launched with $95...
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Spider-Man's latest film netted a massive number at the box office this weekend -- but in the end, the superhero couldn't stick it to Captain America.
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A raccoon in space and a talking tree may not seem the stuff of box-office magic, but “Guardians of the Galaxy” exceeded expectations with an estimated $94 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend at the box office.
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Like the '70s cassette mix tape so dear to its hero, "Guardians of the Galaxy" scavenges all sorts of "greatest hits" precedents, from "Iron Man" on down, to come up with its own summertime fling. It's looser, scruffier and...
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In Episode Three of "Knockout Love", Marisa and Alpha cover their disagreements on the topic of social media. This episode dives into the sports realm, news and politics, and friendships and relationships and the effects social media has in these areas. | ISCLMD |
Commentary on Religion, Secular Humanism, Opera and Whatever Else Happens to Be in My Mind
How Not to Communicate With the Public
Way back in 2009, there was an Intelligence Squared debate in Britain that considered the statement, “The Catholic church is a force for good in the world.” Arguing in favor of the motion was Archbishop Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria and Ann Widdecombe, a novelist and former politician with the Conservative Party. Arguing against was the late Christopher Hitchens and comedian Stephen Fry (this debate is avalible online in case you want to see/hear it in its entirety). For those of you who are unfamiliar with how Intelligence Squared works, a vote is taken before the debate begins to see where the audience stands on the issue. The two sides then lay out their positions in a series of opening speeches, followed by a question and answer portion and further debate between the individual speakers. Another vote is taken at the end of the program and the side that has swayed the greatest number of audience members to their side is declared the winner. At the beginning of the debate in question, the vote was For the motion: 678. Against: 1102. Don’t know: 346. After the debate, the vote was For: 268. Against: 1876. Don’t know: 34, meaning that 774 people changed their minds by the end. According to this Telegraph report, it was, “the most decisive swing against a motion that he could remember” (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100014133/intelligence-squared-debate-catholics-humiliated-by-christopher-hitchens-and-stephen-fry/)
While atheists would probably say that their side won because of Christopher Hitchens’ mad oratory skills, I think a better explanation is that the people arguing for the motion did a terrible job defending their position. The archbishop in particular acted like his position was self-explanatory and didn’t bother trying to respond to the criticisms that Hitchens and Fry were lobbying against the church. You can see the same dynamic at work when you see Catholic advocates of “traditional marriage” like Maggie Gallagher attempt to explain their position; they’re so irritated that the topic of same-sex marriage is even a topic of conversation, that they act like their position is obviously right and their opponents are too stupid to live. But this kind of presuppositionalism isn’t winning them any converts in the public.
The Catholic church obviously has difficulty with communicating to the public, at least in the West. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising, given that the church is an absolutely monarchy and is used to announcing decrees from on high and having the lowly peons-laity following them without thought. The problem is that the days when the laity could be counted on to just follow orders are over, not just in the United States, but in many traditionally Catholic countries as well. Even Latin America, the so-called “heartland of Catholicism,” is becoming more pluralistic, as Protestant sects flourish and even atheism is finding eager adherents:
As I have mentioned before, the Catholic church is having difficulty functioning as one religious group among many and not the “One True Church.” While it is true that Catholicism is growing rapidly in Africa, so are many other Christian churches. This, combined with the incredible diversity in many African nations, where there are often hundreds of ethnic groups speaking as many languages within a single country, means that the kind of Catholic supra-majority states that are the Vatican’s preference will be impossible to establish. For example, Uganda’s population is 84 percent Christian, and the group with the largest number of adherents is the Catholic church (41.9 percent of Ugandan Christians are Catholic). Yet, Ugandan Catholics would be fools to think that they could just throw their weight around and create some sort of neo-Francoist regime or something like that. As is the case in the US, the Ugandan Catholic church is one religious group out of many, and it has to learn to “play nice” if it expects to get anything done. Besides, I think we can all agree that the last thing Africa needs is a a series of intra-Christian wars between Protestants and Catholics.
But the real problem for the Vatican is how to bring disaffected Western Catholics (and their money) back into the fold. The Pew Research Center estimates that ten percent of all Americans are ex-Catholics:
A couple of years ago, there was a “Catholics Come Home” campaign to get ex-Catholics back into the loving embrace of “Holy Mother Church” that even involved some slick television commercials, but I haven’t heard anything about that in some time. Like Archbishop Onaiyekan, the commercials emphasized the church’s social service work, but failed to address the concerns that many ex-Catholics have about ingrained corruption, institutionalized pederasty, and misogyny. That the church even needs a “Catholics Come Home” campaign must be galling to many members of the hierarchy, since it indicates that the institution is operating from a place of weakness and practically has to beg its former members to come back.
As I have mentioned before, most of the Catholic church’s PR problems are of its own making, and much of that stems from a greater devotion to the institution of the church than members of the laity who may have been hurt by said institution. This is why you see conservotrads like George Weigel and Bill Donahue blaming victims of abuse for their own predicament and attempting to silence critics with charges of anti-Catholicism. Ever since the Reformation and especially the Enlightenment, the Catholic church has encouraged members to keep themselves in an informational bubble, lest they be exposed to ideas that may cause them to question their faith and the authority of the hierarchy. Not being exposed to outside ideas and learning how to effectively counter them is probably why Archbishop Onaiyekan and Ms. Widdecombe lost so badly in the Intelligence Squared debate. If you want to communicate effectively to the outside world, you have to speak in a language people understand, and not assume from the outset that you, as a possessor of “the Truth,” are doing the masses a favor by condescending to them. | TRCODO |
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Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33AndalucíaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33AndalusiaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33B&BsStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Coast to CoastStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Coast to Coast WalkStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Coastal Walks in AndaluciaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33GrazalemaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Grazalema ParkStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Guy Hunter-WattsStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33RondaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Walking booksStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Walking in AndaluciaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33Walking in AndalucíaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33bed and breakfastStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33boutique hotelsStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33guided walksStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33hikingStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33rentalsStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33self-cateringStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33southern SpainStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33villaStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33walkingStrict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in /home/guyhunte/public_html/modules/mod_easytagcloud/tmpl/default.php on line 33walking guide | TSCTAN |
#10
Mirrors is kind of narcissistic if you analyze it literally, now that I think about it, but still... Anyway, I'm going to go with the belief that this is a song about Justin & Jessica and the idea of two halves of the same whole, yada yada.
Bonus: This is a rare song which is better with the video--and not just because of the crazy dancing at the end.
I'm conflicted. What do you do when Justin Timberlake encourages you to dance, dance? I mean, you'll never be able to match JT's moves, so that's a lot of pressure. However, I suspect that Justin also doesn't judge bad dancing, as long as you're feelingthe music or what have you.
#8
Cause I'm in love with that girlSo don't be mad at meCause I'm in love with that girlSo don't be mad at meSo what if you're from the other side of the tracks, so what if the world don't think we matchI'll put it down like my love's on wax, guess whatI'm in love with that girlAnd she told me, she's in love with me
I'm usually pretty good with deciphering metaphors, but I had to take to the Google to figure out what love on wax is--which kind of made me feel like a bonehead. Love on wax: like a candle, with a burning flame. (I love the old schoolness of this song, incidentally.)
Bonus: Wrong side of the tracks romance. *sa-woon*
#7
20,000 leagues away, catch up to you on the same dayTravel at the speed of light, thinking the same thoughts at the same timeHeartbeat set at steady pace, I’ll let the rhythm show me the wayNo one can find us here, fade out and disappear
There's some funny math happening here. I'm pretty sure that you can travel more than 20,000 leagues in a single day if you're traveling at the speed of light.
Bonus: Jules Verne reference!
#6
Now that I know the truth, what am I suppose to do?Changing up and breaking all my rules ever since we metI'm so gone, I'm so gone, I'm so goneJust like the movie shoot, I'm zooming in on youEverything extra in the background, just fades into the setAs we ride off in the sun
At least one good thing came out of Justin's foray into movies--a movie camera simile. Oh, who I am kidding? I will admit to having watched and enjoyed the following Justin Timberlake movies: The Social Network, In Time and the one about baseball.)
#5
Are you comfortable?Are you comfortable?Are you comfortable?There, there right thereThere, there right thereThere, there right thereLet the groove get in youLet the groove get in youLet the groove get in you
This hook looks so strong when it's written out, but if you listen to the song, it's ridiculously catchy.
#4
We can't take an airplaneWhere we're going is way too highGoing where the day sky turns into nightI got the windows special tinted for the stars that get too brightAnd I saved you a seat, so let's ride
I love every single word in this song. Remember all the oldies that involved taking one's best gal on a rocketship into outerspace? I love those songs and JT's interpretation is such an awesome blend of old school and new pop. As a result, this is the lone song with two--yes, two!--entries in this extremely official top ten list.
Bonus: "Space lover cocoon." (!!!)
#2
If you’d be strawberry bubblegumThen I’d be your blueberry lollipopLittle girl won’t you be my strawberry bubblegumThen I’d be your blueberry lollipopAnd then I’d love you ‘til I’ll make you pop
Love is a drug; an old metaphor, but it's a reliable one. This song is my new jam: Swoon CIty, USA.
Bonus: Jelly bean used in a rhyme.
How do you feel about my rankings? In a controversial move, I completely omitted any lines from Suit & Tie (which is actually my second least favorite song on the album, which is strange, since I also love Jay-Z)--no lyrics stand out to me as particularly memorable, amusing and/or swoonworthy.
Sarah is a digital geek, tater tot enthusiast, sports fan, book dork, and advocate for drinking sparkling wine while taking a bubble bath. By day, she runs a boutique digital communications company in Portland, Oregon, by night she's a certified Netflix Enthusiast and wrangler of a crazy Australian Shepherd. She also happens to be the proprietress of Clear Eyes, Full Shelves.
Support Clear Eyes, Full Shelves
Sarah is a digital geek, tater tot enthusiast, sports fan, book dork, and advocate for drinking sparkling wine while taking a bubble bath. By day, she runs a boutique digital communications company in Portland, Oregon, by night she's a certified Netflix Enthusiast and wrangler of a crazy Australian Shepherd. She also happens to be the proprietress of Clear Eyes, Full Shelves. | TNCODS |
Like this:
Nothing in the future is written in stone; on the other hand some things don’t take lots of foresight, just common sense will show you what is coming. Our recent presidents, whether Republican or Democrat, have worked hand in hand with the Red Chinese, selling important military hardware and secrets to them. China is into expansionism and wants a “greater China”. It reminds me of Hitler, remember how Western banks and leaders helped him expand?
You may remember that last November, Red China began issuing millions of passports with a map showing disputed territories with their neighbors as already belonging to China. Most of China’s neighbors are being bullied with new land claims by China: Japan over Senkaku Is., Philippines over Scarborough Shoals, Taiwan over a number of things incl. some small islands, Vietnam over the Paracel and Spratley Islands, India over parts of Jammu and Kashmir provinces, and with the Tibetans over their brutal occupation of their country.
Remember, all Hitler wanted in the beginning was to unify German territories, the Rheinland, Sudetenland, Austria, Memel, Danzig…you know the rest of the story. My bank close to my place is basically for Chinese clients, half the bank employees are fluent in Chinese, and it is obvious from all the Chinese who bank there that they don’t think of English as something to learn, as many of them lack English skills. These are adults, elderly and families, not students. Portland has had Chinese immigrants since 1850, but these are new arrivals. Portland, my home city, is a sister city with Suzhou, China and we sport an authentic Chinese gardens and dragon boat races.
Watch the Red China conflict with Taiwan. Even though Taiwan has a pro-Red Chinese president (Ma), most of the Taiwanese do not want to be part of Red China. Red China keeps pressing to get Taiwan. China has entered into trade agreements with its neighbors, and except for Japan, they can bully their way with these smaller nations. King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand has provided Thailand with stable leadership since 1946. I anticipate he will die this year, and that will destabilize Thailand. (It boggles my mind to try to comprehend that Thailand has 700,000 prostitutes and is a sex-change capital.) North Korea continues to provide a conflict waiting to happen as they openly threaten others.
Another similarity, the German people before WW2 felt they had been repressed and held down, therefore their expansionism was justified. The Chinese have the same attitude! Are you catching my drift?
Like this:
Former Obama Press Secretary Was Ordered To Act As If Drone Program Did Not Exist
The first rule of the drone program is that you do not talk about the drone program
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Feb 25, 2013
In a rare admission, Robert Gibbs, the former White House Press Secretary under Obama, told reporters Sunday that he was ordered to act as if there was no such thing as an active US drone program.
“When I went through the process of becoming press secretary, one of the first things they told me was, you’re not even to acknowledge the drone program,” Gibbs said on MSNBC’s “Up With Chris Hayes” this past weekend.
Gibbs said that he was told “You’re not even to discuss that it exists.”
Noting that the notion was “inherently crazy”, Gibbs said “You’re being asked a question based on reporting of a program that exists.”
“So you’re the official government spokesperson acting as if the entire program—pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” Gibbs, who was Press Secretary between 2009 and 2011, said.
Alex is distracted by a breaking news clip, but this is excellent, and has deeply concerned me.
I transcribed these quotes.
jeff
– –
“It’s one of the pillars of the New World Order psy op. … We do it to ourselves. You have parents doing it to their own children. It’s probably the first lie they ever tell their children. Older kids, when they figure out the lie the parents bring them into the fold to then perpetuate the lie on the younger kids.”
“Parents out there, you gotta stop lying to your kids. You gotta look them in the eyes, beg forgiveness, because you’ve really been lying to them and setting them up….” | TSCEND |
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Mom's Swedish Style Meatballs
Total Time
1hr45mins
Prep
45 mins
Cook
1 hr
This is a recipe I remember my mother making for dinner parties when I was very young. I loved to sneak in and sample a few when she wasn't looking. Mom served this with rice as a main dish. This has a very different sauce from other Swedish meatball recipes I have since tasted -so I am not sure if these are authentically Swedish or not. I just know that they are rich and tasty and there were never any leftovers. I snagged this from Mom's recipe collection. This makes about 30 medium sized meatballs.
Brown meatballs in 1-2 Tbsp butter in a very large deep sided skillet until browned on all sides, but not cooked all the way through yet; then remove from skillet using a slotted spoon and set aside in a covered dish to keep warm. | FMRTOS |
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Quality Uptime Services is one of the nation’s leading independent UPS maintenance and UPS battery maintenance organization. We provide customized preventive UPS maintenance and emergency service programs for mission critical facilities nationwide. With over 8.2 million sq. ft. of raised floor under contract and a 97% customer retention rate, clients confidently engage QUS to maintain 100% uptime.
Quality Uptime’s former parent company was established in the early 1980s. Quality Uptime Services, then operating as DSA Mission Critical Services, was launched in 1998 as a division of its former parent, focusing primarily on UPS maintenance and UPS battery maintenance. Over the years, Quality Uptime built a nationwide direct-service force by following its clients from the Northeast to the West Coast.
Recognizing the opportunity for further growth and expansion, the Quality Uptime management team, together with a group of investors led by Seaport Capital, secured the capital required to build an unparalleled service organization by purchasing all of Quality Uptime’s assets in August 2013 from the former parent company. In April 2014, the official name was changed from DSA Mission Critical Services to Quality Uptime Services.
Quality Uptime Services made the decision to be laser-focused only on mission critical facilities. Our management team has built a business that intersects a carefully selected mix of services with the country’s best technician talent, allowing our clients to be totally confident that their expectations will be met or exceeded. Quality Uptime Services’ commitment to exceptional service and doing the right thing – always – and having the most talented people on project teams has led to a record of over 97% repeat business from hundreds of satisfied clients.
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
JOHN RAIO, PRESIDENT
Now in his second decade ensuring data center reliability, John Raio is a founding member of the Quality Uptime Services management team and its former parent organization. Having previously served as the company’s Vice President of Service and Operations, John’s indelible imprint on Quality Uptime Services marks the firm’s successful transformation into a nationwide network of field service engineers. In addition, John has been the driving force in growing Quality Uptime’s loyal client base and nationwide reputation for its all-vendor UPS maintenance expertise, in-house factory training program and relentless pursuit of data center uptime. John holds a BBA in Accounting from Hofstra University.
BENEDICT CAIOLAVICE PRESIDENT, CFO
As Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Ben is responsible for the Company’s financial, treasury, accounting, tax reporting, budgeting and human resource functions. Ben brings over 20 years of experience as a financial professional in the cable television, media/entertainment and most recently, data center sectors. He has worked in both Fortune 50 and start-up environments to build accounting and finance operations that are tailored to specific enterprise requirements. Ben has broad experience in the area of mergers and acquisitions, from both a financial-reporting and operational finance perspective. Ben is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of New York University, where he received a BS in Accounting and Economics.
FRANK MONTICELLI
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES
Frank Monticelli brings 16 years of outside sales success in the financial, government and commercial sectors to Quality Uptime Services. This background coupled with unparalleled experience at top-tier mission critical companies such as CyrusOne, Liebert, Eaton, and HP (EYP) allows Frank to truly understand Quality Uptime’s customer needs. Along with a proven track record of exceeding quotas, penetrating new markets and developing robust MRC sales pipelines, Frank also advises customers in energy-efficient designs and right sizing maintenance requirements to reduce millions in OPEX. Frank is a member of the United States Air Force (retired) and was awarded two Accommodation Medals for actions across multiple wartime conflicts. In addition, he was awarded both the Maryland and Mississippi State Governor’s Medal for actions during Hurricane Katrina. Frank holds a BS in Industrial Technology from Southern Illinois University.
BILL HOYER
VICE PRESIDENT, FIELD OPERATIONS
As one of the country’s most experienced and respected UPS service professionals, Bill has wide-ranging field service experience encompassing UPS systems built by all of the industry’s leading OEMs, including: MGE, Powerware, Liebert, Toshiba, GE, Mitsubishi and others. Prior to joining Quality Uptime Services, Bill served for 20 years as an avionics technician in the U.S. Marine Corps. Upon retirement from the Marine Corps, Bill joined MGE UPS Systems as a Field Engineer, followed by a Regional Manager position with a third-party service organization, where he increased the depth of training and hands on experience of the field service technicians.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DAVID FERDMAN is an entrepreneur, investor and advisor. As a Managing Partner of Acalre Holdings, LP, a Texas-based private investment entity, David specializes in managing private investments that include technology infrastructure platforms, sports and entertainment venues, and commercial real estate. Prior to joining the Board of Quality Uptime Services, David founded CyrusOne (Nasdaq: CONE) in 2000 and served as that company’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 2000 to 2011. David currently serves on the Board of Directors of several companies, including CyrusOne. He has been recognized as an industry leader in the outsourced data center services marketplace. David earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Kansas.
WILLIAM LUBY is a managing partner of Seaport Capital, a private equity firm. Prior to joining Seaport in 1997, William served as a Managing Director at Chase Capital, the private equity affiliate of The Chase Manhattan Bank. Having previously served as Chairman of the Board for Switch & Data Facilities Company, Inc., prior to its acquisition by Equinix in 2010, William currently serves on the board for several companies, including Equinix. William earned a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College, and holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
TOM BEHRINGER joined Seaport Capital in July of 2015. Prior to joining Seaport, Mr. Behringer spent two years as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Wells Fargo Securities, where he focused on a broad range of advisory assignments across various industries. Mr. Behringer graduated from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where he earned a BBA in Finance.
COVERAGE AREA
SKILLED TECHNICIANS, WHERE YOU NEED THEM.
Whether you have a single mission-critical facility in California or multiple sites, Quality Uptime Services’ highly trained technicians are local to you. This reduces travel time, response time and resolution time for you.
Each technician is a skilled diagnostician and carries all the tools required to identify critical system issues. Plus, thanks to our fully stocked warehouse, Quality Uptime Services can provide the part you need and expertise in its use – when you need it – resulting in less downtime for your business.
TESTIMONIALS
Casandra, I just wanted to take a moment to express how impressed we have been your battery install team. If it weren’t for their high level of efficiency and team work, we would not be able to complete a full 480 battery change out in one week’s time. They completed this week’s change outs a full day ahead of schedule, and we are thoroughly impressed and happy. We are also very happy with the ease of scheduling all these site visits and work, so thank you very much Casandra.
Digital Realty,
I wanted to take a minute to share with you my experience with the PM work you performed in late April. It was a very pleasant experience. Your professionalism, thoroughness and attention to detail was impressive. I am also pleased to note that you made numerous observations about current conditions and made recommendations for prompt attention. I have a strong comfort with you as our assigned technician going forward. I made the decision to move to Quality Uptime and after our first PM, I am hopeful it was the right decision.
CBRE,
This was our first experience with Quality Uptime. The FSE was knowledgeable, and we were impressed with the level of attention and service we received.
PROVISION DATA,
Please pass along my praise in regards to Ken for his dedication to the task at hand. Along with his easygoing and friendly demeanor, Ken is and always has been a valuable asset to our preventative-maintenance process. Thank you and thank Ken for the job well done.
Digital Realty,
Dan is one of the reasons I continue to have Quality Uptime to do my maintenance. I can trust Dan to take care of my equipment and let me know when something needs to be addressed. Quality Uptime should be proud of Dan for his commitment to service.
CITIGROUP,
Both FSEs performed their work beyond expectation. Their professionalism was such that with everything else we had going on at our facility, I was able to ‘turn them loose’ so they could do their work with little to no supervision. | TMCPQN |
The Samsung BD-ES6000 is the Smallest Blu-ray player on the market today boasting a size slightly larger than a compact disc. This compact Blu-ray player supports 3D and full 1080p playback with upscale capability, Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD audio built in.
Samsung also included Wi-Fi and DLNA support into this unit for wireless streaming and not to be out done by it’s larger
cousins the BD-ES6000 also is equipped with Samsung’s gorgeous Smart Hub GUI for apps and internet offerings.
Controls are kept to s minimum on the front panel and include power, play/pause, stop and eject soft touch illuminated capacitive touch keys along with a slot loading DVD drive.
If all this beauty in a compact size wasn’t enough to make your head turn, Samsung also included the ability to control this little puppy with your iPhone, iPad or Android phone or tablet via the Samsung App.
The Samsung BD-ES6000 was shown at this year’s 2012 Consumer Electronics Show and is available in the USA at various retailers and online merchants. The BD-ES6000 is not available in Canada and I’m told won’t be so if you want one you’re gonna have to do a little cross border shopping but keep in mind Samsung Canada won’t warranty products purchased in the USA … bummer😦 | TBDCOP |
6 things you didn’t know about using apertures, but probably should
One of the first things that we learn when we start taking photographs seriously is that ‘aperture’, the size of the hole in the lens through which light passes, controls depth of field.
A large aperture creates shallow depth of field while a narrow one creates wide depth of field. But there’s a little more to aperture than that. In their latest guest blog post our friends at Photoventure take a closer look at this most fundamental photographic control.
1. Doubling and halving
Apertures are often referred to as stops. Opening up the aperture by one whole stop or 1EV (exposure value) doubles the amount of light passing through the diaphragm, while closing down by one stop halves it.
However, modern cameras are usually set to adjust aperture in one third stops, something that can confuse novice photographers.
If you wish, it’s usually possible to set a camera to adjust in half or full stops via the custom menu.
The full stop aperture settings that you are most like to encounter are: f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 and f/32.
Other settings such as f/3.5 and f/6.3 are fractions between these whole stops. F/3.5 could be thought of as f/2.8 and 2/3, for example, and f/6.3 as f/5.6 and 1/3.
Understanding the doubling and halving effect of aperture is helpful when setting exposure and deciding which shutter speed and/or sensitivity setting to use.
If shutter speed is kept the same, the difference in exposure between opening up the aperture from f/8 to f/5.6 is the same as pushing sensitivity up from ISO 100 to 200; the image will be one stop brighter in both cases.
Similarly, if sensitivity is kept the same, the difference in exposure between a shutter speed of 1/125 sec and 1/60 is the same as adjusting from f/8 to f/5.6; again it’s one stop brighter. | TPSARZ |
The new Sir Cumference playground had a soft opening today at the Park.
Like a fresh pizza coming out of the oven, it didn’t take long for kids to find it.
You can’t see it in the picture above, but the playground also sports some
really fun musical instruments (think chimes and marimbas).
The playground is geared to children ages 5-12. It is located at the Festival Grounds. | TPMCOS |
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Shuler Passes on North Carolina Gubernatorial Bid
By Sean Sullivan
The list of Democratic options to replace Gov. Bev Perdue in North Carolina is being pared down in a hurry.
And that may not be a bad thing for Democrats.
Rep. Heath Shuler announced on Tuesday that he will not be running. His announcement came just hours after Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx said that he won't run, joining high profile Attorney General Roy Cooper, who said last week that he is not making a bid.
"I will not be running for governor of North Carolina in 2012. It is an honor to even be discussed as a potential candidate for such an esteemed office, but now is not my time," was all Shuler said in a statement.
The buzziest remaining possibility is Erskine Bowles. Bowles, the former University of North Carolina president who chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, stacked up better than other Democrats against presumptive Republican nominee Pat McCrory in an automated poll conducted by Democratic pollster PPP that was released on Monday. Bowles has run statewide twice before -- for the Senate in 2002 and 2004 -- but came up short on both occasions as his party's nominee.
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The last thing Democrats want to see is a contentious, crowded, chaotic primary without clear frontrunners.
But even if more names take themselves out of the running, there is already an active primary in the works: both Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton and State Rep. Bill Faison are running. So it doesn't look like Democrats will be able to avoid competition altogether, even if Bowles or another high-profile name jumps in.
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Our professionals are always on time so you don't have to wait forever for your finished home. We will update you on our progress and let you know of any delays or issues we encounter, no matter how small. | TOCPNS |
No signal for Timex Atomic Wall Clock
I put batteries in a brand new 75322T clock and then let it sit for a couple days to pick up the signal. It never did. So I took the batteries out and tried again, same thing. I manually set the time, etc and set it aside to see if it would ever pick up a signal. It has not. I have tried several locations, no signal. I have two other clocks of the same model that show they are picking up a signal. What should I try next to get a signal?
You want to make sure you have the time zone set and the DST preference set to on if you observe daylight savings time. In the settings menu is where you will find these settings. There is also a setting to turn on the atomic signal. You want to make sure it is on. I have attached the instructions below. You want to have the back of the clock facing Colorado. It will help to put it by a window. The signal usually picks up better at night. I would recommend leaving it for 48 hours to see if it is able to obtain the signal.
Thank you for your reply. I had done everything you described above before contacting you. The funny thing is, right after I sent my question, it started receiving a signal. I put it back in the window again in hopes of it responding and it did. I had tried that several times and in different windows before that. I guess it just needed a longer time than normal to get online. Thanks for your help. | TSBGME |
FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2019, file photo, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., speaks during the New Hampshire state Democratic Party convention in Manchester, N.H. Shaheen is sponsoring a bill to ban visas and freeze assets of Lebanese officials involved in the detention of an American citizen since September. Shaheen, a Democrat, is expected to introduce the bill Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, along with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2019, file photo, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., speaks during the New Hampshire state Democratic Party convention in Manchester, N.H. Shaheen is sponsoring a bill to ban visas and freeze assets of Lebanese officials involved in the detention of an American citizen since September. Shaheen, a Democrat, is expected to introduce the bill Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, along with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire senator is sponsoring a bill to ban visas and freeze assets of Lebanese officials involved in the detention of an American citizen since September.
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, is expected to introduce the bill Monday, along with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. It would sanction current or former Lebanese government officials, including members of the judiciary system, involved in the “unlawful detainment, arrest or abuse of any United States citizen in Lebanon.” Sanctions also could apply to family members and associates of the officials.
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Amer Fakhoury, 57, a restaurant owner in Dover, New Hampshire, who became a U.S. citizen last year, has been jailed since Sept. 12 in his native country. He went on vacation to visit family he hadn’t seen in nearly two decades.
Fakhoury was once a member of the former Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army and worked at a former prison described by human rights groups as a center for torture. His lawyer and family say he fled Lebanon in 2001 through Israel and eventually to the United States, because of death threats he and many other South Lebanon Army members received after Israel ended its occupation of Lebanon in 2000.
Earlier this month, Fakhoury, who has been hospitalized with stage 4 lymphoma, was charged by a military investigative judge with the murder and torture of inmates at the former Khiam Prison. Lebanon’s intelligence service said he confessed during questioning to being a warden there. But Fakhoury’s family and lawyer say that he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in any interrogation or torture.
A news release from Shaheen’s office said Fakhoury’s cancer symptoms are “exacerbated by the beating he received at the hands of Lebanese security officials looking to extract a false confession” from him.
“The U.S. government has provided ample opportunity for Lebanese officials to free Amer Fakhoury,” Shaheen said. “However, Amer is fighting for his life and time is running out. ... There must be consequences for this flagrant disregard of international norms and human rights.”
The bill does not specifically name Fakhoury, although Shaheen’s staff said they are not aware of any other U.S. citizens being held in Lebanon.
“What’s happening right now with Amer Fakhoury is truly a criminal act,” said Naz Durakoglu, Shaheen’s senior foreign policy adviser. “To just take someone, and then to make up allegations and then just hold them while they’re gravely ill is not something that we want to encourage around the world, especially with U.S. citizens.”
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Durakoglu said it is their understanding that Fakhoury’s detention has been led by the militant Hezbollah organization, which the South Lebanon Army opposed.
The news release said Fakhoury’s case has been exploited by Hezbollah “in order to exacerbate ethnic and political tensions in Lebanon during this critical time in the country’s history.”
Lebanon has been in the middle of an unprecedented economic and political crisis amid nationwide protests since October, leading to the prime minister’s resignation. A new government has been formed. It was unclear who could address Fakhoury’s case.
“Understanding the urgency of the situation, we hope this bill moves quickly through Congress before it’s too late,” Fakhoury’s family said in a statement. | SWCLON |
I started drinking coffee a year ago so I could wean myself off of Coke Zero, and the main thing I've learned in that time is that coffee makes you a complete asshole. I get all pissy now when I haven't had coffee. I get all pissy when I've had too much coffee. I get pissy if I'm having coffee, and the wife is like, "Hey, put down that coffee. The baby's on fire." There are people out there who get pissy if they get coffee and the coffee doesn't taste the way they want their coffee to taste. It's just one giant cup of asshole fuel. I was happier before coffee, man. I didn't act like the world's lamest cocaine addict. I regret becoming a coffee person. This is how Peter King became Peter King. From now, every morning, it's warm gin and a quick snort of gunpowder for me.
Your letters:
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Chris:
My sister lives in Miami, God bless her, and is adamant that LeBron would have gone to Cleveland whether they won a championship this past year or not. I don't believe there is a chance in hell he would have left Miami this year if there was an opportunity to win four championships in a row.
I agree. I think it would be really hard to ditch Miami if it weren't already painfully evident that the rest of the team was right on the brink of falling down a well. If you can leave a fading Miami team for your old franchise—now on the upswing—and have the added bonus of a PR goldmine, then it makes sense. But if that Heat team had won it all, and they also had a bunch of young studs ready to assume major roles and shit? No way. No fucking way he goes back. I TOTALLY KNOW WHAT'S IN LEBRON'S MIND.
By the way, that doesn't mean LeBron is disloyal or a shameless opportunist, it just means he's not a fucking idiot. He saw what everyone else saw in the Finals and adjusted his plans accordingly. Shrewd fellow.
Dave:
So the World Cup has been going on since 1930. 84 years, not too shabby. One billion people watched this year's final from literally all over the world. So how long will World Cups be played? It's hard to imagine that interest would ever wane just to changing tastes in sports. Only the total collapse of world civilization can stop it, right? The ancient Olympics were played from 776 BC to 394 AD, so that's 1,170 years. They only stopped because a Roman emperor banned them. That is what I would set the over/under at for the World Cup: 1,170 years.
I think the only non-apocalyptic scenario where the World Cup would cease to exist would be some kind of scandal/lawsuit that obliterates FIFA as we know it. This is completely within the realm of possibility, given that FIFA is a horrifically corrupt organization that uses this tournament to exploit every last possible weakness in worldwide government bureaucracy. They're so good at building useless stadiums and exploiting workers and brazenly bribing government officials that I doubt anything will ever bring them down (again, short of nuclear war), but you never know if some player will file a CTE lawsuit and produce documentation saying FIFA sold uranium to 50 different terror states, and maybe there's a chance that soccer dies. Or if pro Ultimate Frisbee finally fulfills its destiny. IT COULD HAPPEN!
The popularity of certain sports used to be cyclical: boxing and horse racing, etc. But the biggest pro-sports entities are now so firmly entrenched in the culture—and so symbiotic with corporate and political interests—that they are much harder to bring down. Too many people have too much invested in these sports for them to get wiped out. Even if they invented some kind of jetpack technology that led to the advent of Jetpack Quidditch (I would watch this), the NFL would simply adjust their rules and adopt the technology to keep the sport profitable and relevant. Football makes massive rule changes almost every year, just to optimize its entertainment value. If flying cars happen, they'll figure out a way to make all the players use flying cars. These are now soulless bloodsucking organizations that can never be killed, which is good, because I would miss losing at fantasy football if they ever went away. Remember when people foretold the death of the NFL because of class-action lawsuits? LOL WE'LL JUST PLAY HEADS UP FOOTBAW GANG.
Aaron:
This is probably a really stupid thought, but is there any (however minute) possibility that LeBron is going back to CLE to ensure Johnny Futbol doesn't usurp his star status there?
That is a stupid thought, but it's a FUN stupid thought. I doubt LeBron guards his King of Northeast Ohio crown all that jealously. He is King anywhere he goes. It's not like he's significantly bigger in Cleveland than he is in L.A. or New York or any other major town where people shit themselves if he walks into the room. He's big
everywhere now. He transcends local car dealership ad popularity, even if I will hope and pray that LeBron does thousands of local ads for Bobby Donahue's Buick/Isuzu and Bitty's Fried Shitchili Diner.
Ajay:
Which fans of a major sport have the most unrealistic expectations of players and teams?
College football. It's not even close, really. There are Georgia fans out there who expect a national title win every season. GEORGIA. Georgia couldn't win a fucking ring toss. No sport is more dependent upon self-delusion than college football, mostly because the national title is usually won by one of roughly 10 schools. The other programs in Division I are helpless. I don't even know what Maryland is doing trying to play big-boy football.
And hundreds of thousands of people still go to Tennessee games. Why? Didn't anyone tell them Tennessee BLOWS at football now? You practically have to be insane to be a college football fan. Anyone who takes reality at face value would never bother with it.
The younger a sport's participants, the more insane the expectations are. Since young athletes have little in the way of a track record, you can project all kinds of unreasonable future accomplishments for them. Every year, every coach on every team thinks to himself, "By golly, this team has a chance to be special." And they NEVER are.
Evan:
What if LeBron spends the rest of his career in Cleveland, except it's just like the first time he was there: stellar play, but they can't win a title? Then he retires with two rings won in Miami, even though he spent most of his time in Cleveland. Does Cleveland still love him?
Oh yeah, I think so. If he never wins a title in Cleveland now, fans will just blame CLEVELAND. They'll apologize to LeBron for getting Cleveland all over him and ruining him. And then a 40-year-old LeBron will hook up with some 60-win team and Cleveland people will give him their blessing and be like, "Good luck, LeBron! Sorry we jizzed bad juju all over your back."
Even if he never wins a title, at least he was nice enough to come back and make Cleveland feel pretty again. The only thing Cleveland has over Miami is the moral superiority of voluntarily living in a hellhole like Cleveland. You don't have sandy beaches or fabulous stone crab, but you KEEP IT REAL, by God. And so LeBron coming back is just another way Cleveland people get to delude themselves into thinking they're realer than Miami folk.
By the way, this can all still go to shit. What if the team is fucking awful? What if Kyrie Irving bangs LeBron's mom? What if Dan Gilbert walks into the Cavs locker room and points at LeBron in the shower and tell his friends LOOK AT THAT BEAUTIFUL THOROUGHBRED BODY I OWN? Never underestimate Cleveland's ability to Cleveland this. I know how easily a star-crossed team can take something nice and paint it with diarrhea.
Marcus:
Today in my office of 13 people, one woman brought in what she said was a "small tray" of baklava, that turned out to be a store-bought container with four small pieces. Of course, I want some fucking baklava.
The first time I go downstairs, the container is unopened, and as a lowly intern I'm of course not going to open the fucking container. The next time, however, there's only one piece left. I took a plastic knife and got my grubby fingers all over that baklava and cut off a third of the piece for myself, but what should I have done?
Were you alone? If you're alone with food in a conference room, all bets are off. It's yours to do with as you please, so long as it's not some catering tray with cling wrap that has yet to be breached. If you tear off the sandwich-tray cling wrap prior to the big meeting, there will be hell to pay.
Otherwise, indulge as you see fit. When someone announces there's food in the office, I like to stay in my seat for just an extra beat, to play it cool, like the news hasn't affected me, when in fact my whole world has been rocked. Then I get all casual-like, maybe checking the printer, and then I'm all over that shit. This is particularly urgent if we're talking about baklava, which is a rare "free work food" event and is essentially a human honey trap. Oh, did you just think you'd lift a piece out of the container? LOL NOPE HONEY EVERYWHERE. The top of the pastry lifts off and suddenly there is nut paste flying all over the joint. Baklava is some sinister shit. Tastes great, though.
Eric:
Has there been a professional athlete in the last 15 years that has not donated a single minute or cent to charity work?
Apart from JR Smith? It's unlikely, because I think most sports teams mandate that& players do community work so that they can say they did shit for the KIDS in return for stealing all the county's money. Sure, we appropriated $600 million in junk bonds to build a Bud Light TentPlex next to the stadium, but look at this photo of our backup QB with a cancer kid! LET'S SEE YOU TRY TO GET CYNICAL ABOUT THAT! This is why every NFL team's endzone is festooned with the name of every player's fully tax-deductible charity: Chuck's Champions, Will's Winners, Taylor's Twatpunchers, etc. That probably wasn't Taylor's idea to start Taylor's Twatpunchers. He probably just wanted to go clubbing.
Brian:
How have we not developed a more efficient way to serve three pancakes so that when you pour syrup on them, you get it on more than just the top one?
I usually pour syrup on the stack of pancakes and then make a river around the stack so that there is full groundwater penetration on all sides. This still isn't all that efficient, since the middle pancake gets neglected. The obvious solution is to serve the three pancakes one at a time, or to give the customer a plate large enough for all the pancakes to have their own spot. The latter option is impossible because breakfast-table real estate is always lacking. I need space for the pancakes, the eggs, the hash browns, the side of bacon I ordered, the side of sausage I ordered, the coffee, the orange juice, the water, the cream, and the OTHER side of bacon I ordered. One person's breakfast needs on a Sunday can cover a full acre. This is the only reason people order silver-dollar pancakes, because you can toss those fuckers around like salad and get an even coating.
After a heavy night of binge drinking, I'm usually so starved the next morning that I order everything at the same time. Can I have pancakes AND a burger? Now? Perhaps mashed together? The only solution is to just take your time. Order just the pancakes first, take a side plate, move a couple pancakes over to the side plate, coat the first pancake in a gallon of syrup, eat, and repeat as needed. No one has the patience for this, and frankly, neither do I. I just douse the stack in tree sugar and start cramming it in my mouth like I'm insulating my throat for the winter. I don't even know what I'm eating. Maybe some kind of edible syrup bubble that can be wedged between each flapjack.
HALFTIME!
Ryan:
If Obama said "sure" to the bong hit and taken a quick hit, wouldn't that end the legalization argument overnight?
No, I think the exact opposite would happen. I think people who hated the idea of legalization in the first place would point and scream BAH GAWD EVEN THE PRESIDENT IS ON DEMON WEED NOW, and everyone would freak out. It would be the single biggest bone the culture war has ever gotten to chew on. I mean, we could create and sustain an entire news network on cable devoting solely to arguing 24 hours a day about Obama toking up in public this one time. Congress would push for impeachment. Roger Goodell would attempt to suspend the President for two months. Analysts would go on the air and ask when else Obama has been stoned.
Does he have a problem? Has he already moved onto the smack? It would be fucking horrible.
Also, people would complain about a stoned Obama lowering our defenses abroad. Putin would see Obama take the hit and be like IS TIME TRADE HIM DORITOS FOR OIL PIPELINE. ISIS would make a deeper push into Iraq. The North Korea guy would claim to have won the World Cup personally. You don't want any of this to happen. It's best if Obama is a bit of a tight-ass and politely declines the hit, as he did. Somebody's gotta be the grownup here.
Jerry:
Let's say all cell phones crash. Nothing works on them: internet, text messaging, all apps, calling, etc. You actually have to talk and communicate with people. How many people kill themselves in the first week because they can't function without their phone?
Zero. I don't wanna die without having checked my email one last time. I could even leave a cryptic tweet that people would spend whole minutes trying to decipher. "Why did he quote that Supertramp song before he jumped off that bridge? What does it mean?" Even if you told me, "Dude, the internet's never coming back," and you had a government official lay out precisely why, I would STILL hold out hope that it would return. I would build it myself if I had to. Anything to keep from looking out my window at the wonders of natural existence.
By the way, apropos of nothing, I'm shocked the world hasn't had its first troll suicide yet. Where someone online is like, "God, this Robin Thicke album makes me want to kill myself," and then they DO. And then every gets mad at Robin Thicke for making music shitty enough for a guy to go kill himself. And then the ghost of the guy who died could haunt Thicke's house and moan U MAD BRO all night long. I really thought this would have happened by now.
Matt:
If LeBron had said where he is signing during a World Cup game, does ESPN interrupt the World Cup broadcast, or just flash the news on the bottom?
They would have done a quick cutaway to SportsCenter, then told you to go over to ESPN2 for further analysis. They have a contract to fulfill with FIFA. There's no LeBron clause in that shit.
Ethan:
What is a worse feeling: having to shit really badly or having to piss really badly? I would think most people would automatically think having to shit really badly, but today, after having to piss really badly, I am not so sure.
As someone who once pissed in the
Lincoln Tunnel, I can attest to the fact that having to piss urgently and not being able to is a really awful feeling. When you have to take a shit really badly, people usually understand. They sympathize. They know you've got hazardous material to unload. They will join you in finding salvation. But there are varying degrees of needing to piss that aren't as clear to your fellow minivan passengers. Whenever I gotta piss real bad on the road, my wife is always like, "Hey, you drank too much coffee." AND THAT IS SO NOT THE POINT AT THIS MOMENT. Save the life lessons for AFTER I find a tree to fertilize.
I took a road trip with the kids a couple weeks ago, and sure as shit, I had to piss real bad before we made it to the hotel. So I got off at our exit and assumed there would be civilization on the side road, which you should never assume. Sure as shit, we were in the middle of what may as well have been the Gobi desert. It took five agonizing miles before we found a gas station, and it was so some podunk local station with two out-of-order shitters. I ran behind the station and pissed on the wall. I would have pissed on the whole town if I could have. Get your shit together, gas stations of America.
Let's go back-to-back with poop questions.
Adam:
Some friends and I need a longstanding debate settled. Would you prefer shitting in the greatest bathroom in the world with the worst one-ply in existence, or a horrible gas station bathroom with Quilted Northern 17-ply? I think we were all surprised how polarizing this debate became.
I would take the fancy bathroom, because if I'm in a calm and serene bathroom environment, I will produce a better quality bowel movement. If you're in some awful bathroom, you're not gonna have a great shit, regardless of the quality of tissue. Your sphincter will freak out and half-tighten, and then it fun-factory time. Whereas you walk into the baller bathroom, and everything is made of gold and marble, and Enya plays in the background, and the designer Japanese toilet washes your balls for you… that stool will just DROP out of you. You probably won't even need to wipe. Shit, I'll wipe my ass with the jade monkey statue in the corner. It's not like they'll invite me to shit there again anyway.
Josh:
As an announcer, what is the most difficult sport to call?
Oh, hockey. You got the puck traveling around at light speed and foreign names to pronounce. Shit, football barely NEEDS announcers, while Doc Emrick is over here busting his ass. He could probably suck the skin off a peach at this point.
Email of the week!
Brian:
We were out doing some day drinking back in our early twenties. It must have been St Patty's Day or something. We ended up at a bar in a local urban ho- spot district. One of the fellas at the bar starts telling us about this secret rub-n-tug joint across the street where you can get whatever you want. So two of the members of our party that were single and hard up for some loving decide to head over. About a half hour later, one of them makes it back fully fulfilled. Another hour passes and the other guy still hasn't come back yet. Finally he shows up, his hair soaking wet and very disheveled. He proceeds to tell us what happened.
He enters the joint and is led to a "massage room". He strips down to his boxers and sits there on the massage table waiting for the girl to enter. A girl comes in, but she then takes his hand and leads him out of the room (still only in his boxers). She takes him down the stairs and into a basement room with only an old stained mattress in the corner. She then leaves the room. He is starting to wonder what the hell is going on, and decides he is going to bail out. But the door is locked and he can't get out. All of his stuff is still upstairs in the massage room.
He waits in the room for a while, and finally the door opens up. Some Chinese guy comes storming in with a hose and sprays him down with a very strong stream of freezing cold water. Finally the guy leaves and he is left again in this basement room, now soaking wet and cold. Then the girls comes back, throws his clothes at him and leads him out a basement door into an alley way and slams the door shut. He then gets dressed and realizes they stole his wallet and phone. He then ends up back at the bar. We tried to go back over and get his stuff back, but no one would answer the door, and he was too embarrassed to call the cops. Was this some kind of rub-n-tug-joint scam? How many people have they done this too? | ICSPMG |
The Big, Bold, Beautiful Blog
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Celebrity Fitness Trainer, Jai Davis
Fight like a Girl!
By Contributing Editor, Shelby Johnson
There’s something to be said about
a woman who is powerful, and owns it. This “man’s world” fears an empowered
woman, a woman with a sense of identity. At some point in our lives, we’ve all
heard the phrase, “You fight like a girl!” used as an insult. Finally, it’s our
chance to take it back. We WILL fight like girls, and kick ass in the process. Women
everywhere are proving that they’re truly irrepressible, commanding the respect
we deserve.
World renowned champion boxer
turned firefighter, and now celebrity trainer, Jai Davis, is a more than
perfect example of a woman who’s not afraid to prove the resilience of women to
the world. As a natural athlete, Jai found her place in boxing by the time she
got to college, easily demonstrating her inherent ability as a competitor, and
one to be taken seriously. As a predominately “male” sport, there was little
support for women in her career. Even though being constantly told she
couldn’t, Jai fights to carve out her own place in history. With the help of a
dedicated and tight-knit network of supporters, she quickly becomes one of the
biggest names in women’s professional boxing.
Her natural talent shines through, allowing her to earn respect and
accolades at even the highest international level, an undeniable accomplishment
for anyone, especially a woman trailblazing a name in a “man’s” sport. As demand
for the sport grew, she becomes accustomed to what it means to be a top
competitor, keeping her dedication to succeed first in all things, gaining
celebrity status. Learning to deal with the obstacles placed before her as a
woman and refusing to compromise, Jai leaves behind an impressive legacy for
many to come after her.
After her retirement, Jai naturally
goes on to become a sought after personal trainer, with just
as much
recognition of her natural ability to lead and help others work toward their
fitness goals in a supportive and positive manner. However, she accounts more
of her experience as a professional female athlete to be the period that
prepared her most for her next major step: becoming a firefighter. Although she
had experienced many different challenges as a female athlete, never had she
ever faced the outright gender and sexual discrimination she would face as an
openly gay woman in this field. As a competitor, it’s impossible to deny the
titles one’s earned, yet in the workplace, it’s easy for a male superior to
overlook or outright deny the qualifications or abilities of a woman. She had
retired from boxing, but was still feeling the punches on a daily basis.
Rather than be praised, rewarded, and
respected for her merits as men do, Jai found herself being faced with
unbelievable resistance, from having to ask for “special permission” not
required of her male counterparts, to even face to face confrontations with
superiors. As she learned throughout her boxing career, learning to rely on her
own intuition, she would oftentimes have to act against her superior’s demands;
whereas a man in her situation would be considered to have great integrity,
just like many other women in the workplace, she was considered
“insubordinate,” or even worse, the “angry black woman.” She believes it boils
down to the fact that “men simply don’t want to take orders from women,”
regardless of their abilities.
Fighting on a daily basis to be
viewed as simply an equal to her male co-workers, Jai has gone to great lengths
to ensure the continued right of all women to be respected in the workplace. As
far as the recent legalization of gay marriage, she relates that this may allow
more social mobility, rather than within the workplace. She goes on to say that
“no one should have the right to determine who should be allowed to receive
their partners benefits,” especially when lifelong, committed relationships are
questioned or regarded as less legitimate. Preferring to recognize others based
on their accomplishments and values rather than sexual preferences, Jai is
careful to express that everyone should be allowed equality. Although it may
take small steps, marginalized women and especially those in the LGBT community
will finally be able to be granted their long overdue equality and respect.
This inspiring woman continues to
pour back into her family, friends, and community daily. In honor of her
sister, who is battling the final stages of Lupus herself, Jai will be working
diligently with the Lupus Foundation as a national spokesperson to help
increase awareness and support for the disorder, such as aiding to increasing
bone marrow donations, and further research. As an issue that’s near to her
heart, she was fiery in describing her devotion to helping those that she can.
She’ll also be taking on projects and initiatives with Kid’s Choice, speaking
to young ones about cherishing their bodies and minds and self-acceptance. She
understands the need to speak to the youth early, helping to develop a healthy
mindset for the future. As a prominent member of her community, Jai looks forward
to helping serve others; rather than feeling as if she’s “punching a clock or
counting the hours,” Jai has been blessed to be given the opportunity to work
in fields that she feels intimately connected to.
As phenomenal proof of the strength
of all women, Jai Davis continues to “fight like a girl,” making lasting change
in the lives of all she encounters. With a story as remarkable as hers, it’s
surprising to hear her humble voice speak of her accomplishments; in all, she
stands out as a fighter for us all. As an excellent role model, she continues
to do the important work of helping younger generations of girls learn how to
demand respect they each deserve, both in their relationships and the workplace.
As a powerful example of what potential and dedication can accomplish, Jai will
continue to be a source of inspiration for many generations to come. BBB~For more information on Jai Davis, Celebrity Fitness Trainer click here to visit Body By Jai!
A Note From the Editor Xina Sy
"Beauty truly is in the eye of the Beholder..." & that means YOU! How we see ourselves sets the standards on how others view us. When we feel good about us, then we convey & project that energy to the world! We decide our own value & worth & we establish our own place in the world by making our mark through the power of positive body image. No one else can define beauty for us. Beauty comes in all shapes & sizes; colors & styles. Beauty is tall & short & thin & thick... it comes attached to all kinds of amazing personalities; gentle & aggressive, but always solidly-sexy. Beauty is whatever WE determine it to be! Over the next few months, we will be featuring amazing women that define beauty through powerfully unique & undeniable ways...JOIN US!
Interview on Tonya & Friends with Xina Sy/ HerStory: Click & Listen:
EMBRACE YOUR OWN BEAUTY!!!!
CLICK PIC 2 LISTEN
Interview w/ Inga Ambrosia & Xina Sy
Embracing our own inner beauty is sometimes challenging! With all of the external distractions around us, pulling our attention towards the physical, we often forget about what truly matters: OUR OWN BEAUTY! Tune in & listen to this candid discussion on REAL beauty with Inga Ambrosia from Ambrosia Coaching & Body-Positive Activist, Xina Sy. Listen as the share tips & personal anecdotes on becoming & being body confident! | TFSWGN |
(ns clograms.models
(:require [clograms.db :as db]
[datascript.core :as d]))
(defmulti build-node (fn [entity-type id] entity-type))
(defmethod build-node :project
[_ proj-id]
{:entity {:entity/type :project
:project/id proj-id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/project-node})
(defmethod build-node :namespace
[_ ns-id]
{:entity {:entity/type :namespace
:namespace/id ns-id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/namespace-node})
(defmethod build-node :function
[_ var-id]
{:entity {:entity/type :function
:var/id var-id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/function-node})
(defmethod build-node :multimethod
[_ var-id]
{:entity {:entity/type :multimethod
:var/id var-id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/multimethod-node})
(defmethod build-node :var
[_ var-id]
{:entity {:entity/type :var
:var/id var-id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/var-node})
(defmethod build-node :re-frame-subs
[_ id]
{:entity {:entity/type :re-frame-subs
:id id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/re-frame-subs-node})
(defmethod build-node :re-frame-event
[_ id]
{:entity {:entity/type :re-frame-event
:id id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/re-frame-event-node})
(defmethod build-node :re-frame-fx
[_ id]
{:entity {:entity/type :re-frame-fx
:id id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/re-frame-fx-node})
(defmethod build-node :re-frame-cofx
[_ id]
{:entity {:entity/type :re-frame-cofx
:id id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/re-frame-cofx-node})
(defmethod build-node :spec
[_ spec-id]
{:entity {:entity/type :spec
:spec/id spec-id}
:diagram.node/type :clograms/spec-node})
| SMCNOD |
A war-hardened Crusader and a Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure. Packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance, ROBIN HOOD is a never before seen story of how Robin Hood because the icon and legend as we know him today. | TRCWON |
Žyma: easy paper craft
DIY Paper Origami Flowers. Easy Making Craft Tutorial DIY really easy Origami Paper Flowers. Paper flowers were born from the desire to keep natures beauty for a much longer time. Flowers that you can keep forever. Paper, a material that is normally meant for temporary […]
How to make origami pencils holder: easy paper craft Origami Pencils Holder is the most attractive paper craft to all. Everybody likes pencil holder to hold their pen, pencil, scale etc. Today I would like to teach you how to make pen or pencil holder/container […] | TFSORE |
Definitive Deals
Washington D.C. Sports History Sites
Tag Archive: William Howard Taft
April 14 1910 President William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States starts an American tradition by throwing out the ceremonial “first pitch”. Catching the ball is Senators pitcher Walter Johnson who throws a one-hitter, winning 3-0 over the Philadelphia Athletics. The only hit for the A’s is a Frank Baker double. 1961 Washington’s … | DWSTNY |
process.env.NODE_ENV = 'test';
var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
root = __dirname + '/../../../',
utils = require(root + 'lib/utils'),
should = require('should'),
moment = require('moment'),
_ = require('underscore'),
cleanDb = utils.cleanDb,
ENV, clientsBulk;
ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV;
describe('Models::Client', function() {
var config, Client;
before(function(done) {
utils.loadConfig(root + 'config', function(conf) {
config = conf;
mongoose = utils.connectToDatabase(mongoose, config.db[ENV].main, function (err) {
if (err) { throw err; }
Client = require(root + 'app/models/client')(mongoose);
done();
});
});
});
after(function(done) {
cleanDb(Client, function() {
mongoose.disconnect();
setTimeout(done, 1000);
});
});
describe('#New client', function() {
beforeEach(function(done) {
cleanDb(Client, function() {
setTimeout(done, 200);
});
});
it('should not have a photo by default', function() {
var newClient = new Client();
newClient.photo.should.be.false;
});
it('should have the fields name, email, company, born required', function() {
var newClient = new Client();
newClient.save(function(err) {
err.errors.should.have.property('name');
err.errors.should.have.property('email');
err.errors.should.have.property('company');
err.errors.should.have.property('born');
});
});
// 2 <= name.length <= 100
it('should have a valid name', function(done) {
var newClient = new Client(),
anotherClient = new Client(),
lastClient = new Client(),
left = 3,
temp = '',
i;
newClient.name = "A";
newClient.email = "[email protected]";
newClient.company = "Peach Corp";
newClient.born = moment().year(1987).toDate();
newClient.save(function(err) {
err.errors.should.have.property('name');
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
for (i = 1; i <= 101; i++) {
temp += 'a';
}
anotherClient.name = temp;
anotherClient.email = "[email protected]";
anotherClient.company = "Peach Corp2";
anotherClient.born = moment().year(1980).toDate();
anotherClient.save(function(err) {
err.errors.should.have.property('name');
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
lastClient.name = "Andrew";
lastClient.email = "[email protected]";
lastClient.company = "IT Corp";
lastClient.born = moment().year(1987).toDate();
lastClient.save(function(err) {
should.not.exist(err);
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
});
it('should have a valid email', function(done) {
var newClient = new Client(),
anotherClient = new Client(),
lastClient = new Client(),
left = 3;
newClient.name = "Andrew";
newClient.email = "[email protected]";
newClient.company = "Peach Corp";
newClient.born = moment().year(1987).toDate();
newClient.save(function(err) {
err.errors.should.have.property('email');
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
anotherClient.name = "John";
anotherClient.email = "example2@example";
anotherClient.company = "Peach Corp2";
anotherClient.born = moment().year(1980).toDate();
anotherClient.save(function(err) {
err.errors.should.have.property('email');
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
lastClient.name = "Andrew";
lastClient.email = "[email protected]";
lastClient.company = "IT Corp";
lastClient.born = moment().year(1987).toDate();
lastClient.save(function(err) {
should.not.exist(err);
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
});
it('should have a valid birth date', function(done) {
var newClient = new Client(),
anotherClient = new Client(),
lastClient = new Client(),
left = 3;
newClient.name = "Andrew";
newClient.email = "[email protected]";
newClient.company = "Peach Corp";
newClient.born = "abc";
newClient.save(function(err) {
err.name.should.equal('CastError');
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
anotherClient.name = "John";
anotherClient.email = "[email protected]";
anotherClient.company = "Peach Corp2";
anotherClient.born = moment().subtract('years', 17).toDate();
anotherClient.save(function(err) {
err.errors.should.have.property('born');
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
lastClient.name = "Andrew";
lastClient.email = "[email protected]";
lastClient.company = "IT Corp";
lastClient.born = moment().year(1987).toDate();
lastClient.save(function(err) {
should.not.exist(err);
if (!--left) { done(); }
});
});
});
describe('#Static methods', function() {
before(function(done) {
cleanDb(Client, function() {
utils.loadFixtures(function(err, clients) {
if (err) { throw err; }
clientsBulk = clients;
utils.bulkInsert(Client, clients, done);
});
});
});
it('should search client by name', function(done) {
var searchTerm = 'Fiona';
Client.search({ name: searchTerm }, function(err, docs) {
var bulkLen = clientsBulk.length, expectedClients;
expectedClients = _.filter(clientsBulk, function(doc) {
return doc.name.indexOf(searchTerm) !== -1;
});
// "sanitize" docs just in case, since Mongoose has strange getters and setters
docs = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(docs));
docs.length.should.equal(2);
_.isEqual(docs, expectedClients).should.be.true;
done();
});
});
it('should search client by email', function(done) {
var searchTerm = '[email protected]';
Client.search({ email: searchTerm }, function(err, docs) {
var bulkLen = clientsBulk.length, expectedClient;
expectedClient = _.find(clientsBulk, function(doc) {
return doc.email.indexOf(searchTerm) !== -1;
});
docs = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(docs));
docs.length.should.equal(1);
_.isEqual(docs[0], expectedClient).should.be.true;
done();
});
});
it('should search client by company', function(done) {
var searchTerm = 'Emmerich, Schuppe';
Client.search({ company: searchTerm }, function(err, docs) {
var bulkLen = clientsBulk.length, expectedClients;
expectedClients = _.filter(clientsBulk, function(doc) {
return doc.company.indexOf(searchTerm) !== -1;
});
docs = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(docs));
docs.length.should.equal(2);
_.isEqual(docs, expectedClients).should.be.true;
done();
});
});
});
});
| TSCMNE |
BLOG
Thanks so much for taking the time to come and support A IS FOR ANIMALS. The next few weeks are a culmination of months of hard work between a brother and sister team, driven by the desire to support both domestic and wild animals in need. To read more about how we started, check out the ABOUT section.
For the launch, we have decided to release two of the six animal designs we have on deck: "A IS FOR ANIMALS" and "C IS FOR CATS". We'll be running these first two designs for a few weeks before releasing the rest of the A-E collection.
We're incredibly proud to support organizations that do amazing things for the animals we love. After careful consideration, we have chosen to donate proceeds from the A IS FOR ANIMALS shirt to the Wildlife Conservation Society. We believe their efforts have the greatest impact on the largest number of animals in need. We will allocate our donations to specifically support magnificent wild animals such as elephants, lions, tigers, bears, and whales.
The C IS FOR CATS shirt proceeds will be donated to Tabby's Place in Ringoes, NJ. I've personally gone and photographed the cats there, and fell in love with the project. Tabby's Place houses 100+ adoptable cats in a wonderful atmosphere. They are dedicated to providing all the cats, even those that are not adoptable due to health concerns, with love and a very high level of care. I'm so happy that we can help assist their continued efforts together!
Stick around, as we have some awesome things planned in the future. Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions of animals you'd like to see featured on our shirts.
Thanks so much for making this a reality and giving many animals a second chance at life! | TBLEDN |
Jaguar I-Pace bags 2019 World Car of the Year Award
The all-electric Jaguar I-Pace SUV has just made history by becoming the first model ever to win three World Car titles in the 15-year history of the awards. This latest win for the I-Pace comes just weeks after it claimed the European Car of Year title, and affirms its status as the most desirable premium electric vehicle (EV) in the world.
The 2019 World Car Awards were held at the New York International Auto Show and was judged by a panel of 86 motoring journalists from 24 countries. The Jaguar I-Pace was presented with the 2019 World Car of the Year, the World Car Design of the Year and the World Green Car awards by the panel.
Commenting on the latest award for the eco-friendly SUV, Dr Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “It is an honour that the Jaguar I-Pace has received these three accolades from the prestigious World Car jurors. We started with an ideal, to move towards our Destination Zero vision – zero emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion. The I-Pace is our first step to achieving this, and it was conceived when EVs were little more than a niche choice. We started from a clean sheet of paper to create a new benchmark – the world's best premium electric vehicle, and a true Jaguar driver's car. For I-Pace to be awarded 2019 World Car of the Year, World Car Design of the Year and World Green Car gives our first all-electric vehicle the ultimate recognition it deserves. I would like to thank the team who have created I-Pace for their passion in making it so outstanding.”
Designed and developed in the UK, the I-Pace is attracting new customers to the Jaguar brand, for many of whom it will also be their first EV. To date, over 11,000 customers in more than 60 countries worldwide have taken delivery. Its combination of sports car performance, zero emissions, exceptional refinement and true SUV practicality make I-PACE the stand-out choice in its segment.
“Designing Jaguar cars is probably the best job in the world, and I can honestly say that no other project I’ve worked on has been as rewarding as I-Pace. Electric vehicles offer designers unprecedented freedom to rethink the proportions, the profile and the packaging, and it’s an opportunity that my team has exploited in full,” said Ian Callum, Jaguar director of design.
The I-Pace’s dramatic, cab-forward profile, short overhangs and taut, muscular haunches give it a sense of drama which set it apart from other SUVs. The spacious interior – enabled by the bespoke electric vehicle architecture – is finished with beautiful premium details and exacting Jaguar craftsmanship.
The I-Pace has a 90kWh lithium-ion battery which delivers a range of up to 470km (WLTP cycle). It’s capable of charging from 0-80 percent in just 40 minutes (100kW DC), or takes just over ten hours to achieve the same state of charge when using a domestic wallbox (7kW AC) - ideal for overnight home-charging.
A suite of smart, range-optimising technologies also include a battery pre-conditioning system: when plugged in the I-PACE will automatically raise (or lower) the temperature of its battery to maximise range ahead of driving away.
The I-Pace has also earned a 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating. The body structure provides high levels of occupant protection, and is complemented by technologies designed to protect other road users and pedestrians, including a deployable bonnet and autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection. The I-Pace has received 62 awards since it was revealed little more than a year ago.
Some of the other winners at the 2019 World Car Awards include the Suzuki Jimny, which beat the Hyundai Santro in World Urban Car category; the Audi A7 took the 2019 World Luxury Car title; and the World Performance Car category was won by the McLaren 720S. Also among this year’s extensive jury panel were Autocar India’s Hormazd Sorabjee and Renuka Kirpalani. | JISANY |
“We hold hope for a significantly stronger commitment as this moves toward becoming law, but in its current state this plan signals apathy towards urban infrastructure to the point of negligence,” wrote Deputy Managing Director Mike Carroll in an email.
Trump says the plan will leverage an additional $1.3 trillion in state, local, and private investment, but experts say is little more than a legislative Big Dig — a loud, confusing mess. “It's just bizarre. It's a complete alternative reality,” says Gilles Duranton, chair of the real estate department at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “These are just numbers that are being pulled out of thin air.”
Besides naming post offices, infrastructure spending has been the only issue of apparent agreement between America’s two political parties over the last few years. Everyone seems to agree that the country needs to spend more on highways, train tracks, and sewer pipes. And yet, actually doing anything about it remains a bridge too far.
Trump’s proposal calls for a $100 billion “Incentives Program” — new federal grants to states and localities requiring an 80 percent match, meaning a project with a $10 million price tag would be eligible for a max of $2 million in federal funds and the rest would have to come from elsewhere. That would invert the current funding formula for most highway projects, where the federal government provides 80 percent of the money and requires 20 percent in matching funds. Officials in the region have expressed concerns that any reductions in federal support could delay or otherwise imperil planned repairs to I-95 and other highways in the Philly area. The proposal also calls for increased fees and privatization — the specter of which has raised concerns locally about new tolls on I-95.That too comes with political costs for local elected officials.
“No governor is going to be reelected ever by suddenly imposing $500 worth of tolls to all households for every year,” said Duranton.
The proposal also would provide $50 billion in block grants for rural infrastructure projects, $20 billion for “transformative” projects advancing new technologies, $20 billion to expand low-cost federal loans like private activity bonds, and $10 billion to fix up federally-owned infrastructure. To reign in costs, Trump proposes speeding up the lengthy environmental review process required for federally-funded construction projects, calling for reviews to be led by just one federal agency (instead of every agency with jurisdiction having a say) and requiring them to finish within 21 months.
Last year, Philadelphia experienced the kind of logjam that Trump wants to prevent when plans to replace a long-abandoned, rusted swing bridge and further extend the popular Schuylkill River Trail became mired in lengthy environmental and historic reviews. The two processes slowed progress down enough to raise a risk of losing federal grant dollars that had to be spent within two years of their award.
But the devil is in the details. Before environmental impact reviews, states and localities had few tools to challenge federal projects, and citizens were virtually shut out of the decision-making process, leading to projects that rammed highways through neighborhoods and imposed all kinds of other undesirable impacts on communities.“We need to remember that those regulations are here for a reason, i.e., trying to avoid really stupid things,” said Duranton.
On Monday, the White House released its federal budget proposal for the 2019 fiscal year, which included $3.7 billion cut to the Department of Transportation’s annual budget. Some of those cuts would ostensibly go to cover the proposed $20-billion-year-over-10-years in new spending.
Like Trump’s previous budget proposals, the 2019 wish list calls for the elimination of the TIGER grant program and the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program (aka “New Starts”). Those cuts would derail the region’s forward momentum on modernizing its aging transit systems. Over the past few year, Philadelphia has won sizable chunks of the $500 million-a-year TIGER program, and SEPTA is relying heavily on New Starts funds to cover half of the construction costs for expanding the Norristown High Speed Line to King of Prussia. The budget also calls for states to cover a larger share of the government operating subsidies that go to Amtrak’s longer lines, like the Northeast Corridor, which runs between DC and Boston through Philadelphia.
Those cuts to the DOT budget would grow over time, per Trump’s proposal, to total $178 billion over ten years. Combined with the infrastructure bill, Trump proposes a gross infrastructure funding increase of $22 billion over ten years. But that hike in spending seems like a cash injection on paper only to many experts, including Duranton.
“If you're a state and so far you've been paying 20 percent and the federal government has been paying 80 percent [and] now it will be the opposite… what do you think those guys are going to do?” Duranton said. “They are going to sit on their hands and say, 'well, at some point, things will change again...Lots of states are already balking at doing stuff, even with an 80 percent subsidy.”
Nor does Duranton expect states and localities, which, unlike the federal government, cannot engage in deficit spending and must pass balanced budgets, to suddenly increase taxes to raise the funds needed for the relatively paltry federal match.
“On top of that, 1.5 trillion, if you try to annualize that at 5 percent a year, that's about $500 per U.S. household,” he said. “That could come as extra state tax, but I don't think states are willing to do that.”
About the author
Jim Saksa, Reporter
Jim Saksa is PlanPhilly's transportation reporter, which means he focuses on how Philly bikes, walks, drives, rolls, and rides around the region.
Jim lives in Point Breeze and has also written for Slate, Philadelphia City Paper, and Technical.ly Philly. He tweets @Saksappeal and you can reach him at [email protected]. | TICENL |
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using UnityEngine.Profiling;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
public class GameStatistics
{
public int rtt;
private readonly int _no_frames = 128;
public GameStatistics()
{
m_FrequencyMS = System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch.Frequency / 1000;
m_StopWatch = new System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch();
m_StopWatch.Start();
m_LastFrameTicks = m_StopWatch.ElapsedTicks;
m_FrameTimes = new float[_no_frames];
m_TicksPerFrame = new float[2][] { new float[_no_frames], new float[_no_frames] };
m_GraphicsDeviceName = SystemInfo.graphicsDeviceName;
for (int i = 0; i < recordersList.Length; i++)
{
var sampler = Sampler.Get(recordersList[i].name);
if (sampler != null)
{
recordersList[i].recorder = sampler.GetRecorder();
}
}
Console.AddCommand("show.profilers", CmdShowProfilers, "Show available profilers.");
}
void CmdShowProfilers(string[] args)
{
var names = new List<string>();
Sampler.GetNames(names);
string search = args.Length > 0 ? args[0].ToLower() : null;
for(var i = 0; i < names.Count; i++)
{
if(search == null || names[i].ToLower().Contains(search))
Console.Write(names[i]);
}
}
int m_LastWorldTick;
void SnapTime()
{
long now = m_StopWatch.ElapsedTicks;
long duration = now - m_LastFrameTicks;
m_LastFrameTicks = now;
float d = (float)duration / m_FrequencyMS;
m_FrameDurationMS = m_FrameDurationMS * 0.9f + 0.1f * d;
m_FrameTimes[Time.frameCount % m_FrameTimes.Length] = d;
}
void RecordTimers()
{
int ticks = 0;
if (GameWorld.s_Worlds.Count > 0)
{
var world = GameWorld.s_Worlds[0];
// Number of ticks in world since last frame.
ticks = world.worldTime.tick - m_LastWorldTick;
int l = Time.frameCount % m_TicksPerFrame[0].Length;
m_TicksPerFrame[0][l] = 1000.0f * world.worldTime.tickInterval * ticks;
m_LastWorldTick = world.worldTime.tick;
double lastTickTime = world.nextTickTime - world.worldTime.tickInterval;
m_TicksPerFrame[1][l] = (float)(1000.0 * (Game.frameTime - lastTickTime));
}
// get timing & update average accumulators
for (int i = 0; i < recordersList.Length; i++)
{
recordersList[i].time = recordersList[i].recorder.elapsedNanoseconds / 1000000.0f;
recordersList[i].count = recordersList[i].recorder.sampleBlockCount;
recordersList[i].accTime += recordersList[i].time;
recordersList[i].accCount += recordersList[i].count;
}
frameCount++;
// time to time, update average values & reset accumulators
if (frameCount >= kAverageFrameCount)
{
for (int i = 0; i < recordersList.Length; i++)
{
recordersList[i].avgTime = recordersList[i].accTime * (1.0f / kAverageFrameCount);
recordersList[i].avgCount = recordersList[i].accCount * (1.0f / kAverageFrameCount);
recordersList[i].accTime = 0.0f;
recordersList[i].accCount = 0;
}
frameCount = 0;
}
}
public void TickLateUpdate()
{
SnapTime();
if(showCompactStats.IntValue > 0)
{
DrawCompactStats();
}
if (showFPS.IntValue > 0)
{
RecordTimers();
DrawFPS();
}
}
private int frameCount = 0;
private const int kAverageFrameCount = 64;
internal class RecorderEntry
{
public string name;
public float time;
public int count;
public float avgTime;
public float avgCount;
public float accTime;
public int accCount;
public Recorder recorder;
};
RecorderEntry[] recordersList =
{
new RecorderEntry() { name="RenderLoop.Draw" },
new RecorderEntry() { name="Shadows.Draw" },
new RecorderEntry() { name="RenderLoopNewBatcher.Draw" },
new RecorderEntry() { name="ShadowLoopNewBatcher.Draw" },
new RecorderEntry() { name="RenderLoopDevice.Idle" },
new RecorderEntry() { name="StaticBatchDraw.Count" },
};
char[] buf = new char[256];
void DrawCompactStats()
{
DebugOverlay.AddQuadAbsolute(0, 0, 60, 14, '\0', new Vector4(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.2f));
var c = StringFormatter.Write(ref buf, 0, "FPS:{0}", Mathf.RoundToInt(1000.0f / m_FrameDurationMS));
DebugOverlay.WriteAbsolute(2, 2, 8.0f, buf, c);
DebugOverlay.AddQuadAbsolute(62, 0, 60, 14, '\0', new Vector4(1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.2f));
if (rtt > 0)
c = StringFormatter.Write(ref buf, 0, "RTT:{0}", rtt);
else
c = StringFormatter.Write(ref buf, 0, "RTT:---");
DebugOverlay.WriteAbsolute(64, 2, 8.0f, buf, c);
}
void DrawFPS()
{
DebugOverlay.Write(0, 1, "{0} FPS ({1:##.##} ms)", Mathf.RoundToInt(1000.0f / m_FrameDurationMS), m_FrameDurationMS);
float minDuration = float.MaxValue;
float maxDuration = float.MinValue;
float sum = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < _no_frames; i++)
{
var frametime = m_FrameTimes[i];
sum += frametime;
if (frametime < minDuration) minDuration = frametime;
if (frametime > maxDuration) maxDuration = frametime;
}
DebugOverlay.Write(Color.green, 0, 2, "{0:##.##}", minDuration);
DebugOverlay.Write(Color.grey, 6, 2, "{0:##.##}", sum / _no_frames);
DebugOverlay.Write(Color.red, 12, 2, "{0:##.##}", maxDuration);
DebugOverlay.Write(0, 3, "Frame #: {0}", Time.frameCount);
DebugOverlay.Write(0, 4, m_GraphicsDeviceName);
int y = 6;
for (int i = 0; i < recordersList.Length; i++)
DebugOverlay.Write(0, y++, "{0:##.##}ms (*{1:##}) ({2:##.##}ms *{3:##}) {4}", recordersList[i].avgTime, recordersList[i].avgCount, recordersList[i].time, recordersList[i].count, recordersList[i].name);
if (showFPS.IntValue < 3)
return;
y++;
// Start at framecount+1 so the one we have just recorded will be the last
DebugOverlay.DrawHist(0, y, 20, 2, m_FrameTimes, Time.frameCount + 1, fpsColor, 20.0f);
DebugOverlay.DrawHist(0, y + 2, 20, 2, m_TicksPerFrame, Time.frameCount + 1, histColor, 3.0f * 16.0f);
DebugOverlay.DrawGraph(0, y + 6, 40, 2, m_FrameTimes, Time.frameCount + 1, fpsColor, 20.0f);
if (GameWorld.s_Worlds.Count > 0)
{
var world = GameWorld.s_Worlds[0];
DebugOverlay.Write(0, y + 8, "Tick: {0:##.#}", 1000.0f * world.worldTime.tickInterval);
}
}
Color fpsColor = new Color(0.5f, 0.0f, 0.2f);
Color[] histColor = new Color[] { Color.green, Color.grey };
System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch m_StopWatch;
long m_LastFrameTicks; // Ticks at start of last frame
float m_FrameDurationMS;
float[] m_FrameTimes;
float[][] m_TicksPerFrame;
long m_FrequencyMS;
string m_GraphicsDeviceName;
[ConfigVar(Name = "show.fps", DefaultValue = "0", Description = "Set to value > 0 to see fps stats.")]
public static ConfigVar showFPS;
[ConfigVar(Name = "show.compactstats", DefaultValue = "1", Description = "Set to value > 0 to see compact stats.")]
public static ConfigVar showCompactStats;
}
| TGCFOC |
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Fitbit: It's Motivating!
Recently I bought myself a Fitbit Charge. I was looking into different step tracking devices. I do not like the cheap pedometers that hook onto your waist band. It is too easy for me to cheat with those. Here are the 3 I looked into and what I thought were the pros and cons and why it would/would not work for me.
Jawbone Up
I was first thinking of getting one of these when they came out. Super thin and kinda fashionable. I really didn't like the way it twisted around your arm. I was afraid to would hook on something. Also I didn't like it did not have a display, but to stay sleek and slim I understand why it is not there. They do have great choice of colors and it is seems easy to charge.
The Fitbit Flex
It has a thinner band and has multiple choices of band colors which is great to coordinate with outfits. I like the thinner band, but you can not see any read out on the front panel. You would have to log in to see how many steps you have taken. Also to charge it, you have to remove the tracker from the band. This didn't sound user friendly and something I would probably lose. I felt the thinner band did not outweigh the functionality of the device, so I chose not to buy it.
The Fitbit Charge
This was the one I purchased. I struggled because it is a wider band and I had to get a large! Your options are large or small. I felt the small size might be too snug on my wrist. I love the display which I can see day and time, steps taken, floors climbed, miles walked, and calories burned. I can log into the app or website and enter the water I have consumed, the meals I have eaten and the current weight I hate am at that moment. Love Love Love the easiest way to charge it. You hook the cord to the back of the Fitbit and charge it to laptop, iPad or even cell phone (as long as it is compatible and my Galaxy 4 is!) It can also record your sleep habits (which I think the others do too) and tell me how many times I was restless and awake!
I can have an alarm attached to my Fitbit that will vibrate when the alarm goes off. No one hears it, but it does wake me up in the morning (I still snooze until my regular alarm goes off). Since it is hooked up to my phone through Bluetooth, it will vibrate when I have an incoming call and display who it is from by reading my address book!
For my money, the convince, and how user friendly it is, I went with the Fitbit Charge. All the stores and online were selling them at the same price so I just picked one up at my neighborhood Target.
I have found when I wear this I am more conscience of my exercise. I started out with 5000 steps a day because I didn't know what I do in the classroom. I have since upped it to 7000 steps a day. I do pretty good most days. Sometimes I have to take Gavin out for a walk around the block (my puppy's arthritis won't let him go far anymore). Sometimes I have to walk or dance around until I hit my magic number. I also have a colleague who has a Fitbit Charge and we encourage each other.
I recommend getting something to help motivate you get up and move. This is the number one reason I bought it. I needed that motivation. I love to accomplish my daily goal!
Do you have a Fitbit or other step/activity tracker? What is working for you?
Hey Y’all! I’m a momma to a 14-year-old spoiled Westie named Gavin. I am in love with my fiance, LT. I believe family, God, and laughter as my absolutes in life. I have come to the realization that life is not only to be lived, but also to be savored and enjoyed. It is scary trying to figure this out but through challenges, rewards, and tons of laughter I am going to give it my best shot! Join me in my discoveries and how it all works out, because “we really got this”! | TCSFNK |
Joe Starita holds an endowed chair at the University of Nebraska College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Previously, he spent 14 years at The Miami Herald – four years as the newspaper’s New York Bureau Chief and four years on its Investigations Team, where he specialized in investigating the questionable practices of doctors, lawyers and judges. One of his stories was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting.
Interested since his youth in Native American history and culture, he returned to his native Nebraska in 1992 and began work on a three-year writing project examining five generations of a Lakota-Northern Cheyenne family. The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge – A Lakota Odyssey, published in 1995 by G.P. Putnam Sons (New York), won the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Award, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in history, has been translated into six languages and is the subject of an upcoming BBC documentary.
Starita’s most recent book – “I Am A Man” – Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice – was published in January 2009 by St. Martin’s Press (New York) and has recently gone into a third printing. The book tells the story of a middle-aged chief who attempted to keep a death-bed promise to his only son by walking more than 500 miles in the dead of winter from Oklahoma to Nebraska to return the boy’s remains to the soil of their native homeland. En route, the father unwittingly ended up in the crosshairs of a groundbreaking legal decision in which a federal judge in Omaha declared – for the first time in the nation’s 103-year history – that an Indian “is a person” within the meaning of the law and entitled to the same Constitutional protections as white citizens.
In the last 3 ½ years, Starita has given more than 150 talks on Chief Standing Bear, the legal significance of the landmark legal ruling for Native people and why this powerful story still resonates in the 21 at the Miami International Book Fair, the Chicago Tribune Literary Festival, C-Span’s Book Talk, a joint appearance with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at the Smithsonian Institution, a presentation to 5,000 National Education Assn. members and a speech to more than 500 minority lawyers and judges at their annual conference. Last July, the NEA presented Starita with the Leo Reano Award – a national civil rights award for his long-standing work on behalf of Native people.
More recently, Starita supervised a 3-semester college depth reporting class that produced a 142-page full-color magazine celebrating the vital role that Native women have played in sustaining and enriching Native culture. With no advertising or PR budget, the magazine has sold more than 5,000 copies, has been integrated into Minneapolis, Denver and Portland schools, the Seattle Urban Indian Health Center, an anthropology class in California, used as an inspirational tool at a North Michigan prison and at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Oklahoma and garnered the attention of two PBS producers. This summer, 20 copies of the magazine will be used to anchor a Beijing University class studying Native Americans. Last spring, a Creek/Muscogee businesswoman from Tulsa called Nebraska’s Journalism College out of the blue. She said she got half way through the magazine and burst into tears. “It’s the first time I had ever looked at something about Indians and could actually see myself in it,” said Ginette Overall. “Usually, it’s always about the men.” She then offered to write out a generous personal check if the college would agree to do a second magazine focusing on the Native women of Oklahoma. The college agreed and so this fall a second class will begin work on Native Daughters II – which also will pay tribute to the ancient Northern Cheyenne proverb: A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women lay on the ground. | JNLDRS |
Almost-Sure Model-Checking of Reactive Timed Automata.
Submitted by efiliot on Thu, 01/03/2012 - 17:22
Thomas Brihaye
UMons
Friday, 27 April, 2012 - 16:00
Room: Solvay (NO5)
This is a joint work with Patricia Bouyer, Marcin Jurdzinski and Quentin Menet.
We consider the model of stochastic timed automata, a model in which both delays and discrete choices are made probabilistically. We are interested in the almost-sure model-checking problem, which asks whether the automaton satisfies a given property with probability 1. While this problem was shown decidable for single-clock automata few years ago, it was also proven that the algorithm for this decidability result could not be used for general timed automata. In this paper we describe the subclass of reactive timed automata, and we prove decidability of the almost-sure model-checking problem under that restriction. Decidability relies on the fact that this model is almost-surely fair. As a desirable property of real systems, we show that reactive automata are almost-surely non-Zeno. Finally we show that the almost-sure model-checking problem can be decided for specifications given as deterministic timed automata. | TSCPOK |
17 Ill.2d 595 (1959)
162 N.E.2d 422
CHARLES CALLAGHAN et al., Appellees,
v.
WILMA MARTIN MILLER, Exrx., Appellant.
No. 35363.
Supreme Court of Illinois.
Opinion filed November 18, 1959.
*596 HEMPSTEAD, REDMAN & SHEARER, of St. Charles, (RICHARD D. SHEARER, of counsel,) for appellant.
CARBARY & CARBARY, of Elgin, (GEORGE D. CARBARY, and RICHARD W. HUSTED, both of Elgin, and EUGENE T. DEVITT, of Chicago, of counsel,) for appellees.
Decree affirmed.
Mr. JUSTICE HERSHEY delivered the opinion of the court:
Defendant Wilma Martin Miller, executrix of the estate of Altha G. Martin, deceased, appeals from a decree of the circuit court of Kane County, compelling specific performance of an alleged real-estate contract and ordering the defendant to execute a real-estate deed for same to the plaintiffs, Charles Callaghan and Sylvia Callaghan. From this decree, defendant appeals directly to this court, a freehold necessarily being involved.
On July 17, 1957, Mrs. Altha G. Martin engaged Mrs. Ida Tank, a realtor, to sell a certain five-acre tract of land north of Batavia, Illinois, and owned by her. The property was improved by a residence and used as a trailer court. Mrs. Tank obtained a 60-day exclusive contract to *597 sell the realty for $52,000 at 5 per cent commission. The plaintiffs contacted Mrs. Tank in regard to a possible purchase of the same, and later inspected the property in company with Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Tank and Ralph Johnson. On September 9 the plaintiffs offered to purchase the property for $47,500, and tendered and deposited the sum of $1,000. Mrs. Tank communicated the offer to Mrs. Martin and drew up a receipt for plaintiffs which Mrs. Martin signed as approved. The receipt or memorandum was as follows:
"IDA M. TANK, Real Estate
123 W. Front Street, Wheaton, Illinois Room 26
Sept. 9, 1957
Received of Charles Callaghan and Sylvia Callaghan his wife, One Thousand Dollars ($1,000), being deposited as earnest money for purchase of the Altha Martin property located on Route 25, north of the city of Batavia, Illinois (not in corporation). This area comprises five acres more or less. The space now occupied by 20 trailers is properly licensed and zoned by the State of Illinois and Kane County Zoning Dept. (non-conforming use).
Above deposit is made on offer to purchase of the Altha Martin property for $47,500 with 1/3 cash at time of transfer of title to buyer, balance evidenced by amortizing mortgage with $200 or more to be paid each month thereafter, plus interest at 5 per cent per annum paid monthly on the unpaid balance.
Subject to approval by owner.
Possession to be given 30 days after closing of above deal.
/Sgnd/ Ida M. Tank,
Realtor
Approved
Altha G. Martin /Sgnd/."
In the presence of Mrs. Tank and Ralph Johnson, Mrs. Altha G. Martin signed the receipt or memorandum "approved" and signed her name. Mrs. Tank placed the $1,000 in her special account in the Gary-Wheaton Bank, and delivered a copy of this receipt to the plaintiffs.
Thereafter, Mrs. Tank called Richard D. Shearer, the attorney for Mrs. Martin, and requested that he draft a *598 contract setting forth the detailed terms of the purchase and sale. On September 17, 1957, Shearer prepared a contract, and the plaintiffs appeared in his office and signed it. They were then informed that Mrs. Martin was ill in the hospital.
Shearer asserted that he told the plaintiffs that if Mrs. Martin did not recover to sign the contract they would have no deal. The plaintiffs deny such a conversation was had. About four days later Mrs. Martin died without having signed the contract. Mrs. Wilma Miller, a daughter of Mrs. Martin and the executrix of her estate refused to convey the property to the plaintiffs, and they brought this proceeding for specific performance to require the executrix to convey the realty to them. The cause was tried before the court without a jury, and the court found that the memorandum met the requirements of the Statute of Frauds, and decreed specific performance. A freehold being involved the defendant executrix appeals directly to this court, contending that the receipt or memorandum on its face does not spell out the terms with sufficient certainty and clarity for the court to enforce the same without additional evidence, and the testimony herein was provided by interested parties, contrary to section 2 of the Evidence Act. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1957, chap. 51, par. 2.
Section 2 of the act relating to contracts under seal provides that when one party to a contract, bond, or memorandum in writing, to make a deed to land in this State for valuable consideration, shall have died, without having executed or delivered the deed, any chancery court in a county where the land is situated may compel the executor or administrator of such deceased person to execute and deliver such deed. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1957, chap. 29, par. 2.) Section 3 of the same act provides that a court may make such order only upon a petition in writing of the person entitled to the benefit of the same, or his heirs, setting forth the contract or memorandum in writing, and fully *599 describing the lands to be conveyed, reasonable notice of time and place shall have been given to the executor or administrator, and the petitioner shall have fully paid, discharged and fulfilled the consideration of such contract or memorandum.
The memorandum is sufficient to satisfy the Statute of Frauds if it contains upon its face the names of the vendor and the vendee, a description of the property sufficiently definite to identify the same as the subject matter of the contract, the price, terms and conditions of the sale, and the signature of the party to be charged. (Thompson v. Wiegand, 9 Ill.2d 63; Ullsperger v. Meyer, 217 Ill. 262.) The names of both vendees, Charles Callaghan and Sylvia Callaghan, and the name of the vendor, Altha Martin, appear upon the face of this memorandum.
The subject matter of the contract is "the Altha Martin property located on Route 25, north of the city of Batavia, Illinois (not in corporation). This area comprises five acres more or less. The space now occupied by 20 trailers is properly licensed and zoned by the State of Illinois and Kane County Zoning Dept. (non-conforming use)." The plaintiffs, Ralph Johnson, Mrs. Tank, and even the defendant have all identified the property. There is nothing in the record to indicate that some other tract was the subject matter of this memorandum. Moreover, parol evidence is admissible to identify the subject matter of the contract or memorandum. It is not necessary in contracts for the sale of real estate that it should be so described as to admit of no doubt as to what it is. (Hedrick v. Donovan, 248 Ill. 479. The executrix identifies the trailer park where she lives as the one visited by Johnson and Mrs. Tank on September 9, 1957, when they called on Mrs. Martin. Johnson identified its location with relation to Route 25 on the east, the railroad on the north and the river on the west. The property is thus sufficiently and clearly identified.
The price, terms and conditions are definite and certain. *600 They are stated as "$47,500 with 1/3 cash at time of transfer of title to buyer, balance evidenced by amortizing mortgage with $200 or more to be paid each month thereafter, plus interest at 5% per annum paid monthly on the unpaid balance."
The memorandum bears the signature of Altha G. Martin as approving the memorandum and offer of purchase. The Statute of Frauds is thus clearly satisfied.
Defendant executrix contends that the plaintiffs have failed to fully pay, discharge and fulfill the consideration of the memorandum. The memorandum requires the payment of 1/3 of the purchase price upon transfer of title and the execution of a mortgage by the buyers. Plaintiffs plead their willingness to pay, and Mr. Callaghan testified to the assets which he held on September 17, 1957, adequate to make the payment of 1/3 of the purchase price. The court directed the plaintiffs to tender to the defendant 1/3 of the purchase price, together with the required mortgage and note, upon delivery of the deed by the defendant. Such tender and proof fully fulfill the consideration required by the memorandum.
Defendant executrix urges, in addition, that the memorandum of September 9, 1957, is merely a contract to make a contract, and is thus too indefinite to be specifically enforced. Defendant bases her assertion upon the fact that decedent's attorney prepared a contract embodying all of the details of the memorandum, spelled out in more specific terms. However, in this case, even though decedent's attorney did prepare a detailed contract which Mrs. Martin was never able to execute, the terms are sufficiently definite and certain in the memorandum to be specifically enforced. As in the case of Welsh v. Jakstas, 401 Ill. 288, cited to us by defendant, this memorandum did not constitute a contract under which the parties were to negotiate and agree upon the terms of another contract, to be entered *601 into when the terms had been ascertained and determined. The memorandum, containing the proposal of purchase, itself constituted an adequate memorandum of the agreement of the parties when approved by the decedent. The memorandum itself then constituted a contract of sale in sufficiently clear and unambiguous language to be specifically enforced. It is not rendered indefinite or void because an additional contract was thereafter prepared.
Defendant states that in order to establish the fact that the decedent signed this memorandum in acceptance and approval of the offer of the plaintiffs, they presented the evidence of Ida Tank, Ralph Johnson and themselves. She contends that the evidence of all of these persons was totally inadmissible under the provisions of section 2 of the Evidence Act. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1957, chap. 51, par. 2.) During the course of the direct examination of Ida Tank, Ralph Johnson and Charles Callaghan the defendant objected to testimony in regard to certain conversations with Altha Martin, to leading questions and to certain conclusions. Only after Ida Tank had testified on direct examination and again after plaintiffs had rested did the defendant object to the appearance of Ida Tank as an interested party. There is no such objection as to any other witness, and any objection to their competency is waived. (Bonczkowski v. Kucharski, 13 Ill.2d 443; Chicago Title and Trust Co. v. Sagola Lumber Co. 242 Ill. 468.) It well may be that Ida Tank was a person having such a direct interest in this action, wherein defendant defends as an executrix of a deceased person, that she was incompetent as a witness. The interest which will disqualify a witness must be direct and immediate, and result in a gain or loss from the judgment or decree. (Williams v. Garvin, 389 Ill. 169.) It is apparent that if this conveyance is specifically performed, Ida Tank will receive her fee as a real-estate agent. She was, therefore, probably incompetent to testify. Nevertheless, *602 the documents in evidence, and the testimony of the other witnesses, not objected to by defendant, are adequate to affirm this decree. Any error in permitting Ida Tank to testify is thus not reversible.
The decree of the circuit court of Kane County is affirmed.
Decree affirmed.
| LRSDFN |
1.. Introduction {#s1}
================
Bacteriophages (phages), the obligate viral parasites of bacteria, pose a constant threat of infection on their hosts. By consequence, a wide range of prokaryotic defence mechanisms have evolved. Phage infection and replication can be blocked in various ways, including preventing phage entry by modifying relevant surface receptors (surface modification, SM) or by degrading an intracellular phage genome using restriction modification (see review \[[@RSTB20180100C1]\]). These well-known examples of innate defences, while central to prokaryotic immunity, lack the ability to store and update immunological memories of genetic invaders. Adaptive immunity in prokaryotes is represented by loci known as *c*lustered *r*egularly *i*nter*s*paced *p*alindromic *r*epeats and associated *cas* genes (CRISPR-Cas). CRISPR-Cas loci can be reprogrammed by the acquisition of distinct genetic sequences from invading nucleic acids, thereby preparing them for recognition and termination of upcoming infections with similar sequences \[[@RSTB20180100C2]--[@RSTB20180100C5]\]. CRISPR-Cas research is central to microbiology and biotechnology, but its ecological and evolutionary consequences are still surprisingly poorly understood. While several studies have addressed CRISPR-Cas and phage genomics in natural populations (see below), studies linking genetic and phenotypic data from repeatedly sampled isolates are largely missing \[[@RSTB20180100C6]\]. We believe this is partly owing to the generally low number of relatively stable phage--bacterium systems in the environment, which could be repeatedly monitored over longer timescales.
Intensive farming systems are considered as hotspots for the evolution of pathogens, as high densities of susceptible hosts promote pathogen transmission and virulence \[[@RSTB20180100C7]--[@RSTB20180100C9]\]. This feature of the farming environment is also likely to extend to biological interactions between pathogenic bacteria and their phages, owing to increased (pathogenic) bacterial population sizes and phage--bacterium interactions. Aquaculture, the farming of fishes and other aquatic species is one of the fastest growing sectors in food production, providing high-quality protein for human consumption \[[@RSTB20180100C10]\]. The enrichment of naturally occurring pathogens in aquaculture environments opens an attractive opportunity to study phage--bacterium coevolution and to observe the functioning of CRISPR-Cas in semi-natural conditions.
Existing national disease surveillance projects for aquaculture-related bacteria and increasing efforts to isolate phages against these pathogens can provide essential empirical information for understanding phage--bacterium coevolution. To estimate whether generalizations derived from simplified laboratory coevolution studies reflect interaction dynamics in natural, semi-natural and clinical settings, more empirical evidence on (i) phage--bacterium interactions at wider taxonomic scale and (ii) different CRISPR-Cas systems are needed. In this review, we discuss the general properties of aquaculture as a domain for phage--bacterium coevolution and examine the position of CRISPR-Cas in these settings. From a practical point of view, it is important to understand the effects of adaptive bacterial immunity for applications such as phage therapy in aquaculture.
2.. CRISPR-Cas, the adaptive immune system of prokaryotes {#s2}
=========================================================
CRISPR-Cas operation is divided into two main stages. During the adaptation stage, a protein-complex (comprising of at least Cas1 and Cas2) excises a short sequence from an invasive phage genome. This sequence, known as a spacer, is integrated into the CRISPR array of the host\'s CRISPR-Cas locus \[[@RSTB20180100C11]\]. In the interference phase of CRISPR-Cas, an infection leads to transcription of the CRISPR array. The transcript, called pre-crRNA (CRISPR-RNA), is processed to smaller fragments and used to guide endonucleases, such as Cas9, to corresponding positions in the phage genomes (protospacers). This results in cleavage of invading genetic material and termination of the infection. In addition to phage genomes, CRISPR-Cas systems can target plasmids and other mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and, as such, act as a barrier for horizontal gene transfer \[[@RSTB20180100C12]\]. Other roles for CRISPR-Cas have also been reported, including biofilm formation, sporulation, DNA repair and regulation of virulence (see review \[[@RSTB20180100C13]\]). Phages may evade CRISPR-Cas by modifying their protospacers \[[@RSTB20180100C14]\] or by producing anti-CRISPR proteins \[[@RSTB20180100C15]\].
The unique ability of CRISPR-Cas to store genetic information from infections, often in chronological order, opens exciting opportunities for microbial evolution research. Past infections are revealed by the CRISPR arrays, in which the oldest spacers may date back hundreds of thousands of years \[[@RSTB20180100C16]\], while the acquisition of novel spacers may be monitored in almost real-time (e.g. \[[@RSTB20180100C17]\]). Multiple studies have addressed spacer dynamics in natural populations \[[@RSTB20180100C18]--[@RSTB20180100C20]\] and corresponding changes in phage genomes \[[@RSTB20180100C6],[@RSTB20180100C21],[@RSTB20180100C22]\]. While showing that CRISPR-Cas is active and adaptive in nature, these studies also demonstrate that the diversity of spacer content varies drastically between species, reflecting both the extent of interactions with phages and the relative importance of CRISPR-Cas amidst other defence mechanisms (see review \[[@RSTB20180100C23]\]). In addition to acquiring and losing individual spacers, reassortment of CRISPR-Cas loci may be important in shaping spacer profiles in nature \[[@RSTB20180100C20]\]. Spacer diversity and corresponding changes in phage protospacers may also be used as a metric for the level of asymmetry in evolutionary potential between bacteria and phages \[[@RSTB20180100C24]\]. These dynamics have direct ecological and evolutionary effects in hotspots of pathogen emergence, such as aquaculture settings, but have not been thoroughly investigated with long-term sampling.
3.. Aquatic and aquaculture environments as domains for phage--bacterium interaction {#s3}
====================================================================================
The complexities of natural habitats contrast the simplified settings of laboratory experiments. Dynamics of bacterial immunity observed *in vitro*, shielded from diverse biotic and abiotic factors, may therefore not be directly translatable to natural environments \[[@RSTB20180100C24]\]. To clarify this separation, we review the distinct features of aquatic environments that may contribute to different ecological and evolutionary outcomes in natural settings.
(a). The ecology of aquatic environments {#s3a}
----------------------------------------
The probability of phage--bacterium interactions is dictated not only by the abundance, but also by the distribution of bacterial cells and phage particles. Although the numbers of bacteria and their phages in aquatic environments are enormous (e.g. \[[@RSTB20180100C25]\]), their distribution is asymmetric. Bacteria congregate largely in biofilms \[[@RSTB20180100C26],[@RSTB20180100C27]\], but the physical characteristics of water allow transmission of microbes even for long distances. Free-floating (planktonic) cells may drift in currents or actively move towards attractants or from repellents \[[@RSTB20180100C28]\]. Furthermore, aquatic microbial communities are composed of several species and the abundance of each varies between microhabitats, also depending on biotic and abiotic factors \[[@RSTB20180100C29],[@RSTB20180100C30]\].
Phages, on the other hand, have no capacity for active movement, and thus are either drifting randomly by Brownian movement in the water column or associated with organic matter or sediments \[[@RSTB20180100C29]\]. A chance encounter between a phage and a bacterium may appear to be a rare event when considering their small sizes and asymmetric distribution, the large volumes of water and the near atomic distances needed for interaction. However, as phage--host interaction is a strong evolutionary driver, it is likely that mechanisms to increase encounter rates have been favoured by evolution. Firstly, and evidently, the high number of phage particles in the environment increase likelihood of encounters with the hosts. Second, a broader host range for the phage (polyvalency) may increase the chance of successful infections. While most phage isolates investigated in laboratory conditions are host-specific, polyvalency has been suggested to be prevalent in natural communities \[[@RSTB20180100C31]\]. Third, although phage infections are often considered harmful for bacteria, they may also benefit bacterial populations and promote selection for mechanisms that favour encounters resulting in relationships with mutualistic phages. Phages may contribute to bacterial pathogenicity by providing virulence factors \[[@RSTB20180100C32]\], by protecting the bacterium against other phages via superinfection exclusion mechanisms (e.g. \[[@RSTB20180100C33]\]), or by restructuring communities through 'killing the winner' dynamics \[[@RSTB20180100C29]\].
(b). Aquatic metazoans provide territory for phage--bacterium coevolution {#s3b}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In aquaculture, aquatic animals (metazoans) exist in confined, high-density populations. Metazoans are covered in mucus, which provides a physical and an immunological barrier for the animal. Skin mucosal surfaces are also one of the most nutrient-rich surfaces available for aquatic microbes. By eliciting positive chemotaxis stimuli, they attract both beneficial microbes as well as pathogens, as exemplified by molecular data from European eels \[[@RSTB20180100C34]\]. In this species, bacteria selected by mucus were shown to have heightened resistance against host immunity, metals, antibiotics and amoebas. Additionally, these species were abundant in genes related to biofilm formation, bacterial communication and displayed evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Mucosal surfaces may provide a natural habitat for pathogen evolution and emergence, acting as an intermediate niche between water and host that selects microbes best adapted to survive and colonize mucus.
Metazoan mucus layers have also been found to be enriched with phages \[[@RSTB20180100C35]\]. This finding has led to the proposal of the bacteriophage adherence to mucus (BAM) model, which predicts an important yet so far overlooked symbiosis between metazoans and phages. Phages are concentrated by weak interactions with mucus components, creating a ubiquitous non-host derived immunity against bacterial invaders during the mucus colonization process \[[@RSTB20180100C35]\]. In addition, interaction with mucins leads to subdiffusive motion patterns (in contrast to expected Brownian movement) and promotes phage persistence inside the mucosal layer despite continuous mucus shedding \[[@RSTB20180100C36]\]. This would favour phage--bacteria interactions since any bacterial invader, be it pathogenic or not, would end up finding its phage when colonizing the animal. On the other hand, by interacting with mucus components, phages may solve the problem of finding hosts in an open water system by concentrating themselves on the substrate favoured by bacteria.
The enrichment of phages in mucus, coupled with the constant influx of bacteria trying to colonize this environment, makes metazoan mucosal surfaces a hotspot for phage--bacterium interactions. While these interactions can take place in the free water column or in the sediments, it has been suggested that mucus-based encounters are favoured by evolution \[[@RSTB20180100C36]\]. The implications of phage--bacterium interaction on metazoan mucosal surfaces may therefore be of great importance to coevolution and to phage therapy, and has been so far overlooked. This is especially important for aquaculture systems, as fish skin and gills are covered with a mucus layer and often targeted by bacterial pathogens. The dynamics of phages and bacteria in the mucus can even be more complex since spatial structuring of mucus has been speculated to have a role in phage replication strategies \[[@RSTB20180100C37]\].
(c). Effects of aquatic niches on bacterial immunity {#s3c}
----------------------------------------------------
The environmental heterogeneity of aquatic settings is likely to have consequences for bacterial immunity, as changes in phage and nutrient abundance may select for specific defence strategies. The efficiency of CRISPR-Cas has been predicted to decrease under increasing viral diversity using both theoretical models \[[@RSTB20180100C38],[@RSTB20180100C39]\] and practical experiments \[[@RSTB20180100C40]\]. As diversity correlates with mutation rates and population sizes, higher abundances of phages are predicted to result in immunity mediated by mechanisms other than CRISPR-Cas, such as SM \[[@RSTB20180100C39]\]. Simply translating to aquatic settings, water columns with low phage concentration can therefore be predicted to favour CRISPR-Cas, whereas SM would be promoted by phage-rich mucosal surfaces \[[@RSTB20180100C35]\]. However, opposing selective forces arise from the fact that SM often compromises the pathogens\' ability to colonize their host (see review \[[@RSTB20180100C41]\]). Trade-offs associated with SM can therefore also be expected to promote alternative, less costly defences in niches where colonization is prioritized. The resulting defence strategies are further complicated by other abiotic and biotic factors such as migration from the environment and the use of antibiotics (see below). Empirical evidence of alternating defence strategies in aquaculture have been found in the fish pathogen *Flavobacterium columnare*. Its CRISPR-Cas loci are active in these settings \[[@RSTB20180100C6]\], but upon exposure to a high titre of phage in laboratory settings the colony morphotype changes to a phage-resistant and non-virulent one \[[@RSTB20180100C42]\].
4.. CRISPR-Cas and phage life cycles {#s4}
====================================
Maybe surprisingly, the majority of lysogens (bacteria carrying temperate phages) also carry CRISPR-Cas systems \[[@RSTB20180100C43]\]. Among aquaculture-related bacterial species, at least *Flavobacterium psychrophilum* \[[@RSTB20180100C44]\] and *Vibrio anguillarum* \[[@RSTB20180100C45]\] carry temperate phages that can be induced into the lytic cycle. However, the interaction between CRISPR-Cas and phage life cycles has remained poorly understood. A central dilemma arises when spacers target an integrated phage genome, as self-targeting is generally lethal. Some prophages overcome this problem by coding for anti-CRISPR proteins that suppress the immune system \[[@RSTB20180100C15]\].
The phage--bacteria--metazoan mucus interactions also play a role in lysis--lysogeny switches \[[@RSTB20180100C37]\], which may have significant implications for phage--CRISPR-Cas coevolution in aquaculture settings. Lysogeny may be favoured in lower mucus concentrations (outer layer) and lysis in higher concentrations (inner layers). This piggyback the winner (PtW) model would allow bacteria containing the phages to enter the mucosal layer and, when deep enough, undergo a lytic infection and release more phages \[[@RSTB20180100C37]\]. Whereas the BAM model \[[@RSTB20180100C35]\] can benefit phages by favouring encounters with the hosts, the PtW model \[[@RSTB20180100C37]\] may benefit the bacterial hosts by favouring lysogeny. The metazoan that provides the mucosal environment benefits from both by becoming protected from invaders.
During unfavourable conditions for the host, phages can also establish alternative lifestyles such as pseudolysogeny \[[@RSTB20180100C46]\]. Here, the phage chromosome is not integrated nor replicated, but inherited by one of the two daughter cells. Pseudolysogeny has been suggested to increase the effective lifespan of phage genomes by keeping it safe from outside host conditions \[[@RSTB20180100C46]\]. The role of CRISPR-Cas in initiation and maintenance of this life cycle is unknown. Pseudolysogeny might also be a prevalent life cycle in aquaculture-related phage--bacterium systems, as farming settings are often subjected to seasonal changes that cause variability in phage life cycles and phage--host interactions.
5.. CRISPR-Cas in relevant aquaculture pathogens {#s5}
================================================
Although there are many potential aquaculture-associated phage--bacterium systems that could elaborate how CRISPR-Cas functions in these environments, such studies are few in numbers. To inspire further research, we compiled the most important sequenced aquaculture pathogens and examined their CRISPR content using publicly available complete genome assemblies and existing publications. We determined CRISPR-Cas types of 24 aquaculture-relevant species. Eleven (approx. 46%) were found to carry a CRISPR-Cas locus in at least one strain ([table 1](#RSTB20180100TB1){ref-type="table"}). This analysis reveals that datasets for further CRISPR-phage coevolutionary studies already exist, as phages have been isolated against many of these bacterial species (electronic supplementary material, table S1). Since our analysis was limited to complete genomes, additional CRISPR-Cas systems are likely to arise in species that have not yet been thoroughly sequenced. Below, we highlight two groups of important aquatic pathogens derived from our analysis. Table 1.CRISPR-Cas systems in aquaculture pathogens. (Dark grey cells indicate that a feature (either no CRISPR-Cas or a CRISPR-Cas subtype) is present in all analysed strains of the given species. Light grey cells indicate presence of a feature in some of the strains. The number of strains with the specified feature is displayed in each individual cell and the total number of analysed strains is displayed in parentheses after the species. The table was compiled using CRISPRdisco \[[@RSTB20180100C47]\]. Only complete genomes in NCBI\'s database with CRISPR-Cas loci containing both *cas* genes and CRISPR arrays were considered. Non-pathogenic subspecies were excluded from analysis. Putative CRISPR-Cas systems (type IV and V-U) were excluded from analysis similar to Crawley *et al*. \[[@RSTB20180100C47]\]. For details and complete list of genomes see the electronic supplementary material, table S1.)[^3]
(a). *Vibrio* species {#s5a}
---------------------
*Vibrio* species are abundant in aquatic environments \[[@RSTB20180100C49],[@RSTB20180100C50]\] and many of these species are associated with diseases of farmed fishes and shrimp, known as vibriosis \[[@RSTB20180100C51],[@RSTB20180100C52]\]. While most *Vibrio* strains are devoid of CRISPR-Cas, individual strains carrying CRISPR-Cas were found in four out of five *Vibrio* species ([table 1](#RSTB20180100TB1){ref-type="table"}). In addition, a recent study on *V. anguillarum* showed that the bacterium shares evolutionary history with a H20-like prophage, and that CRISPR spacers targeting this prophage are widespread across many *Vibrio* species \[[@RSTB20180100C45]\]. Another study, using multiple strains of *Vibrio parahaemolyticus*, found positive correlation between the occurrence of virulence factors and CRISPR-Cas elements \[[@RSTB20180100C53]\]. *Vibrio parahaemolyticus* and its phages are also the source of the recently discovered anti-CRISPR protein acrF9 \[[@RSTB20180100C54]\].
(b). *Flavobacterium* species {#s5b}
-----------------------------
The genus *Flavobacterium* is comprised of 130 species, some of which infect freshwater fishes and cause major economic losses in fish farming across the globe \[[@RSTB20180100C48]\]. The most important aquaculture pathogens are *F. psychrophilum, F. columnare* and *Flavobacterium branchiophilum*, which all carry class 2 CRISPR-Cas loci ([table 1](#RSTB20180100TB1){ref-type="table"}).
The *F. branchiophilum* genome contains three CRISPR-Cas loci: a type V-A locus associated with the Cas12 (Cpf1) nuclease, a type VI-B locus with the RNA-targeting ribonuclease Cas13b and a type II-C locus with Cas9. Interestingly, *F. columnare* also carries the II-C and VI-B systems and *F. psychrophilum* the II-C system. Recurrence of these class 2 systems in these species may be owing to shared evolutionary history or recent horizontal gene transfer, which is known to promote transmission of CRISPR loci across species \[[@RSTB20180100C55],[@RSTB20180100C56]\].
Flavobacteria and their phages isolated from fish farms have already contributed to our understanding of phage--bacterium coevolution in semi-natural settings. Repeated long-term (2007--2014) sampling of *F. columnare* and its phages from an aquaculture site revealed temporal dynamics of the CRISPR-phage coevolutionary arms race \[[@RSTB20180100C6]\]. Over time, the bacterial host incorporated novel, phage-matching spacers in both type II-C and type VI-B CRISPR-Cas loci. Genome sequencing of the phages revealed cases where the presence of CRISPR spacers in the host population was followed by changes in the corresponding phage protospacer regions, and even subsequent loss of spacers in the host population. However, this study also demonstrated that in addition to CRISPR-Cas, innate resistance mechanisms are also important drivers of genomic and phenotypic evolution in the phage population, which may eventually lead to a broader host range and higher infectivity of the phage.
Studies on the fish pathogen *F. psychrophilum* have demonstrated variance in the number of CRISPR-Cas loci in different strains \[[@RSTB20180100C57]\]. Whereas a previous laboratory experiment suggested that CRISPR-Cas may not be active in this species \[[@RSTB20180100C58]\], metagenomic samples showing high spacer diversity \[[@RSTB20180100C59]\] suggest that CRISPR-Cas defence may be effective under natural conditions. Furthermore, comparison of CRISPR spacers with phage genomes has revealed that especially prophage 6H and its close relatives are ubiquitous companions of *F. psychrophilum,* with a worldwide distribution \[[@RSTB20180100C57]\].
6.. Practical aspects {#s6}
=====================
(a). CRISPR-Cas in strain typing {#s6a}
--------------------------------
CRISPR arrays may reflect previous phage infections, the rejection of plasmids or genetic matter of unknown origin \[[@RSTB20180100C60]\]. In some species, spacer content is highly conserved (suggesting a lesser role for CRISPR-Cas in coevolutionary interactions), while in others the spacer profile constitutes a fingerprint that is often unique enough to distinguish otherwise nearly clonal strains of the same species (see review \[[@RSTB20180100C23]\]). In fact, spacer-based typing (spoligotyping) was developed long before CRISPR\'s role as an immune system was uncovered \[[@RSTB20180100C61]\] and has played an important role in typing strains of *Mycobacterium tuberculosis* \[[@RSTB20180100C62]\]. CRISPR-typing has since been applied to many clinically relevant species, often in combination with other typing-methods \[[@RSTB20180100C63]\].
If phage and MGE populations in different aquaculture facilities imprint unique spacer profiles on CRISPR-Cas positive species, the resulting diversity could be used for epidemiological and surveillance purposes. This would require establishing databases of bacterial strains, their respective spacer profiles and isolation sources, and could prove useful in tracking the spread of epidemics and characterizing bacterial diversity during outbreaks. While relevant aquaculture pathogens have not been studied from this point of view, correlations between geographical location and CRISPR arrays have been shown in other bacterial species \[[@RSTB20180100C64]--[@RSTB20180100C66]\].
(b). CRISPR-Cas and phage therapy {#s6b}
---------------------------------
Phage therapy is considered to be an alternative or complement to antibiotic use, and has been used successfully in aquaculture-relevant settings related to mollusc, fish and crustacean diseases \[[@RSTB20180100C67]--[@RSTB20180100C69]\]. Understanding the role of CRISPR-Cas in phage--bacterium interactions may be central to the success of phage therapy aimed towards CRISPR-Cas positive species in aquaculture ([table 1](#RSTB20180100TB1){ref-type="table"}). By principle, phage therapy will significantly increase phage--bacterium interaction rates, which will promote evolution of bacterial resistance, both via innate mechanisms and CRISPR-Cas. This will have consequences for the success of phage therapy, but also for leakage of both the phage and the resistant bacterial strains into the environment. Circulation of phage-targeting CRISPR spacers in the environment has been suggested to cause corresponding evolutionary change in the phage population \[[@RSTB20180100C6]\].
Maintaining up-to-date CRISPR spacer profiles of bacterial pathogens at fish farms may support phage therapy interventions. As phages are often strain-specific \[[@RSTB20180100C70],[@RSTB20180100C71]\], they must be chosen carefully to target the prevalent bacterial community. Monitoring spacers and protospacers could also aid in experimental selection or genetic engineering of infective phages. While bacterial resistance is less likely to arise in cases where phage cocktails are used \[[@RSTB20180100C72]\], monitoring the emergence of novel spacers may be used in designing new cocktail combinations.
(c). Use of antibiotics in aquaculture {#s6c}
--------------------------------------
Fish bacterial diseases are treated with antibiotics, which are usually given in feed. It has been estimated that 30--80% of antibiotics leak into the water owing to excretion and uneaten pellets \[[@RSTB20180100C73]\]. While the antibiotic load in fishes is likely to stay at a clinical dose (thus preventing bacterial infections), minor levels of unabsorbed antibiotics are likely to affect phage--bacterium coevolution outside the host. The presence of antibiotics may increase antimicrobial resistance genes carried in the phage genomes \[[@RSTB20180100C74],[@RSTB20180100C75]\] and contribute to prophage induction \[[@RSTB20180100C76],[@RSTB20180100C77]\]. Both antibiotics \[[@RSTB20180100C78],[@RSTB20180100C79]\] and phage infections \[[@RSTB20180100C71],[@RSTB20180100C80]\] individually increase bacterial mutation rate and fitness. Interestingly, simultaneous exposure of bacteria to antibiotics and phages have been shown to increase resistance to both \[[@RSTB20180100C81]\]. However, how exposure to antibiotics influence phage--bacterium coevolution and CRISPR-Cas based resistance outside laboratory conditions has remained less understood. The use of antibiotics in aquaculture and the tendency of CRISPR-Cas to target any incoming MGEs \[[@RSTB20180100C12]\] may have important consequences for the spread of antibiotic resistance. Mutants with deprecated CRISPR-Cas systems (or species with no CRISPR-Cas to begin with) may undergo positive selection during antibiotic exposure, thereby increasing the proportion of antibiotic resistant strains with increased phage sensitivity \[[@RSTB20180100C82]--[@RSTB20180100C85]\].
7.. Conclusion {#s7}
==============
Aquaculture provides semi-natural and relatively stable habitats for microbial communities, enabling repeated sampling over long time periods. While most aquaculture-related pathogens, as bacteria in general, lack CRISPR-Cas, there are still many tractable species that harbour this immune system ([table 1](#RSTB20180100TB1){ref-type="table"}). Individual research groups and national disease surveillance laboratories have undoubtedly already collected numerous pathogenic bacteria and phage isolates from these settings over decades. While only a fraction of the collected phage and bacterial isolates have been sequenced and submitted to databases, it is evident that isolates already exist to conduct studies that can reveal details of phage-CRISPR-Cas dynamics in nature. Coupling isolate-based approaches with metagenomics may be the most effective method for scoping natural bacterial and phage communities, as this would strengthen the (often weak or missing) link between genotype and phenotype. The preferred bacterial resistance mechanisms are likely to vary across planktonic and mucosal environments in accordance with nutrient availability and phage pressure \[[@RSTB20180100C38]--[@RSTB20180100C40]\]. Therefore, models such as BAM \[[@RSTB20180100C35]\] and PtW \[[@RSTB20180100C37]\] need to be integrated into phage--bacterium interaction studies with fishes, other eukaryotes and mucosal surfaces. Datasets collected from aquaculture environments may also be useful in studying other cellular functions of CRISPR-Cas, such as virulence or biofilm forming capacity.
Supplementary Material
======================
###### CRISPR-Cas in aquaculture pathogens
Data accessibility {#s8}
==================
This article has no additional data.
Authors\' contributions {#s9}
=======================
All authors participated in planning and writing the manuscript. V.H. compiled CRISPR-Cas data for aquaculture pathogens. All authors gave final approval for publication.
Competing interests {#s10}
===================
We have no competing interests
Funding {#s11}
=======
This work was supported by the Finnish Centre of Excellence Program of the Academy of Finland; the CoE in Biological Interactions 2012--2017 (no. 252411), by the Academy of Finland grant nos 266879, 304615 and 314939, by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, and by the Kone Foundation.
[^1]: One contribution of 17 to a discussion meeting issue '[The ecology and evolution of prokaryotic CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune systems](http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb/374/1772)'.
[^2]: Electronic supplementary material is available online at <https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4395956>.
[^3]: ^a^Species for which phages have been isolated.
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using System.Collections.Generic;
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using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace UWPClient.Oidc
{
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/// <see cref="http://oidc-server.test/.well-known/openid-configuration"/>
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{
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public static readonly OidcOptions Options = new OidcOptions();
public string BuildAuthorizeUrl(string idp = null)
{
var authorizeUrl = Options.AuthorizeEndpoint
+ $"?client_id={Options.ClientId}"
+ "&scope=openid"
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+ "&response_mode=query"
+ $"&redirect_uri={Options.RedirectUri}"
+ $"&state={Guid.NewGuid()}"
+ $"&nonce={Guid.NewGuid()}";
if (idp != null)
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}
public async Task<string> GetTokenAsync(string code)
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var tokenParams = new FormUrlEncodedContent(new Dictionary<string, string>
{
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public static string GetCode(string querySring)
{
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var namevalues = querySring.Split('&');
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{
if (nameValue.StartsWith("code="))
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}
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}
}
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For people who are Buddhist or adhere to Buddhist philosophy, and consider themselves atheistic or non-theistic. A place for discussion about philosophy and history, an examination of the misunderstood concept of Buddhism.
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591 S.W.2d 800 (1979)
The STATE of Texas
v.
TEXAS PET FOODS, INC.
No. B-8449.
Supreme Court of Texas.
November 14, 1979.
Rehearing Denied January 30, 1980.
*802 Mark White, Atty. Gen., David J. Preister, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, for petitioner.
Dunnam, Dunnam & Dunnam, Vance Dunnam, Waco, for respondent.
SPEARS, Justice.
The primary question presented is the determination of the existence of a present or threatened violation of the Texas Clean Air Act, Texas Water Quality Act, or Texas Renderers' Licensing Act, that will support the issuance of a permanent injunction.[1] A second question is whether there is any evidence to support one of the violations of the Clean Air Act found by the juryoperating a cooker without a permit.
The State of Texas filed suit for civil penalties and injunctive relief against Texas Pet Foods, Inc. for violations of the above statutes. After trial to a jury, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the State, assessing civil penalties for past violations and granting injunctive relief to prevent future violations. The court of civil appeals modified the judgment, vacating the injunction and reducing the civil penalties, and affirmed. 578 S.W.2d 814. We reverse that part of the judgment of the court of civil appeals that set aside the injunction and affirm the trial court's permanent injunction. We affirm the judgment of the court of civil appeals modifying the civil penalties assessed.
Texas Pet Foods, Inc. operates a poultry rendering plant in McLennan County near the City of Waco on a site adjacent to the Brazos River. The plant converts chicken and poultry offal into a protein supplement for animal feeds by a cooking process that is fully and ably described in the opinion of the court of civil appeals. The jury found, in thirty-eight special issues, a total of 581 violations of eight different kinds between April 11, 1975 and the date trial began, August 2, 1976. In special issue No. 33, the jury found that 478 of the 581 violations consisted of operating the sixth cooker without the required air pollution control operating permit during this time period. The jury findings are summarized in the court of civil appeals opinion.
Both parties filed applications for writ of error. In its application, the State asserts in a single point of error that the court of civil appeals erred in setting aside the injunction. Texas Pet Foods in its application asserts that there is no evidence to support the jury finding that the sixth cooker operated every day for the entire period of 478 days. In the trial court Texas Pet Foods had urged in a motion to disregard the jury's answer to special issue No. 33 that the only testimony adduced was of violations on three specific days during the period and that therefore, the finding in excess of three days was without evidence to support it. The motion also urged that the figure of 478 days was excessive by 138 days since the plant did not operate on Saturdays and Sundays. The court of civil appeals agreed with Texas Pet Foods' contention that the trial court's assessment of penalties for the operation of the cooker on Sundays was without probative evidence and accordingly, modified the penalties by reducing them for the 69 Sundays during the period.
We first address the propriety of the injunction. All three of the applicable statutes *803 require a finding of a present or threatened violation of the act. The pertinent sections are:
Upon application for injunctive relief and a finding that a person is violating or threatening to violate any provision of this Act or of any rule, regulation, variance or other order of the board, the district court shall grant the injunctive relief the facts may warrant.
Texas Clean Air Act, § 4.02(a).
Upon application for injunctive relief and a finding that a person is violating or threatening to violate any provision of this chapter or any rule, permit, or other order of the board, the district court shall grant the injunctive relief the facts may warrant.
Texas Water Quality Act, § 21.253(b) (now § 26.123).
[T]he Health Authority may bring an injunction suit in any district court of this state having jurisdiction and venue to compel compliance with any provision of this Act or restrain any actual or threatened violation thereof.
Texas Renderers' Licensing Act, § 19(b).
The time frame during which the violations in question occurred began on August 11, 1975 and ended on the day the trial began, August 2, 1976. The court of civil appeals viewed the findings as those of past violations and held that there were no findings of present or threatened violations. The court reasoned that because the State failed to request that issues be submitted to the jury inquiring about present or threatened violations, the State waived its right to an injunction since there was no legal basis for the injunction without such a finding by the jury. The court further concluded that the evidence did not conclusively establish present or threatened violations and that the finding could not be deemed as found by the court in support of the judgment as provided in Tex.R.Civ.P. 279. We believe that the court of civil appeals was in error.
Rule 693 provides: "The principles, practice and procedure governing courts of equity shall govern proceedings in injunctions when the same are not in conflict with these rules or the provisions of the statutes." Although a litigant has the right to a trial by jury in an equitable action, only ultimate issues of fact are submitted for jury determination. The jury does not determine the expediency, necessity, or propriety of equitable relief. Alamo Title Co. v. San Antonio Bar Assn., 360 S.W.2d 814, 816 (Tex.Civ.App.Waco 1962, writ ref'd n. r. e.). The determination of whether to grant an injunction based upon the ultimate issues of fact found by the jury is for the trial court, exercising chancery powers, and not the jury. Jones v. English, 268 S.W.2d 686, 690 (Tex.Civ.App. San Antonio 1954), aff'd 154 Tex. 132, 274 S.W.2d 666 (1955). As the court in Alamo Title correctly observed:
We do not consider the question of likelihood of [defendant's] resumption or continuation of the acts enjoined as being an ultimate issue of fact for the jury.... Although in Texas the findings on issues of fact are binding, equitable principles and the relief afforded by equity continue to be applied by the court itself, ... Rule 693, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure .... A jury in equity, even under a blended system, does not decide the issue of expediency, necessity or propriety of equitable relief. If submitted, the issue would evoke only a conjectural and speculative surmise which, in our opinion, would not control the processes of equity. It was an element deducible from the circumstances for the court to consider in determining whether wrong or injury might be anticipated and whether chancery powers should be exercised. It constituted here, in effect, a mixed question of law and fact at most. Such questions are not for the jury in injunction cases.
360 S.W.2d at 816.
Texas Pet Foods and the court of civil appeals reason that the violations found were past violations extending over a period of some fourteen months and ending the day trial began. They reason that those findings will not support a trial court *804 determination that Texas Pet Foods is violating or is threatening to violate the acts involved. We disagree. If we accept their definition of a "present" violation, it would be necessary to find violations occurring after the trial had commenced, or even while the jury was returning its verdict. When the jury finds violations occurring and continuing up to or near the date of the trial, the trial court may, in equity, determine that the defendant has engaged in a settled course of conduct and may assume that it will continue, absent clear proof to the contrary. Texas Pet Foods, Inc. v. State of Texas, 529 S.W.2d 820, 827 (Tex. Civ.App.Waco 1975, writ ref'd n. r. e.). The probability of the continuation of the prohibited practices is not a matter which is susceptible of direct proof, and injunctive relief is proper when the trial court finds it justified under the rules of equity, notwithstanding a defendant's cessation of the activity or solemn promises to cease the activity. Alamo Title Co. v. San Antonio Bar Assn., supra, at 817; Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. State, 218 S.W.2d 855, 861 (Tex.Civ. App.Austin 1949, writ ref'd n. r. e.); see Newsom, State Court Injunctions and Their Enforcement in Environmental Litigation, 9 St. Mary's L.J. 821, 825 (1978).
Here, the jury found numerous violations over the period of fourteen months preceding the trial, and in granting injunctive relief, the trial court enjoined the very violations that the jury had found were occurring. The trial court necessarily determined that future violations of the statutes were likely to occur when it rendered its judgment granting the injunction.
In addition to enjoining the specific violations found by the jury, the trial court further enjoined Texas Pet Foods from an activity which the jury failed to find was occurring. Predicated on the past violations found by the jury, the trial court enjoined Texas Pet Foods from "causing or contributing or threatening to cause or contribute to the emission of odors or other air contaminants into the atmosphere in and around the Texas Pet Foods rendering facility in such concentration and of such duration as are or may tend to be injurious to or adversely affect human health or welfare, or as to interfere with the normal use and enjoyment of animal life, vegetation or property," an activity proscribed by the Clean Air Act §§ 4.01 and 1.03(3). The jury failed to find in their answer to special issue No. 1 that this violation had been established by a preponderance of the evidence. The trial court, however, obviously concluded, from the many other specific violations found by the jury, that this general prohibition in the injunction was necessary and justified under the evidence.[2] The trial court was not precluded by the jury's failure to answer special issue No. 1 affirmatively from exercising its equity jurisdiction and finding that injunctive relief from future violations under these circumstances was warranted. The likelihood that violations would occur in the future would not have been a proper issue to submit to the jury; the question is for the trial court to decide as a court of equity. See Alamo Title Co. v. San Antonio Bar Assn., supra. The trial court's judgment recites that, in addition to considering the State's motion for judgment, "such additional considerations and findings as were authorized by law" were made. This recitation constituted a recognition by the trial *805 court that it was exercising its proper function in determining the scope of the injunction it found to be supported by the jury findings. When it is determined that the statute is being violated, it is within the province of the district court to restrain it. The doctrine of balancing the equities has no application to this statutorily authorized injunctive relief. See Gulf Holding Corp. v. Brazoria County, 497 S.W.2d 614, 619 (Tex. Civ.App.Houston [14th Dist.] 1973, writ ref'd n. r. e.); Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. State, supra, at 860. The general injunctive relief granted by the trial court is supported by the evidence and the findings of specific violations by the jury. See Reynolds-Penland Co. v. Hexter B. Lobello, 567 S.W.2d 237, 246 (Tex.Civ.App.Dallas 1978, writ dism'd by agr.); Cogdell v. Ft. Worth Nat'l Bank, 544 S.W.2d 825, 829-30 (Tex.Civ.App.Eastland 1976, writ ref'd n. r. e.); Alamo Title Co. v. San Antonio Bar Assn., supra.
We next consider the contention in Texas Pet Foods' application that there is no evidence to support the jury's finding that the sixth cooker, for which no operating permit had been obtained as required by § 3.28(a) of the Texas Clean Air Act, had been operated for more than three days during the entire period of 478 days from April 11, 1975 to August 2, 1976. The court of civil appeals reduced the number of days by 69 to 409, holding that there is no evidence to support the finding that the sixth cooker operated on Sundays. Texas Pet Foods now argues that even as modified, the penalties assessed for this violation were excessive in that there is no evidence that the sixth cooker operated more than three separate days during that period.
The State asserts that under the holding in State v. Harrington, 407 S.W.2d 467 (Tex.1966), the State is not required to show that the sixth cooker actually produced materials on each and every day during the 478 days, but only that the cooker remained part of the Texas Pet Foods operation, that it was capable of producing, and that it was being operated and maintained in order to attain an end result appropriate to the rendering enterprise. In Harrington, it was contended that the State failed to prove that an oil well was actually producing during each of the 3,650 days the jury found that the well was being operated. We said:
The well remained unplugged and continuously ready to produce its allowable. It was maintained in an operable condition and production was regularly obtained therefrom. [D]efendants contend that `operation' means only `producing.' The words `operated', as used in the charge means everything that is done to maintain an oil well so as not to abandon it. We hold, in this case, that the well was being operated and maintained so as to attain the result appropriate to the nature of the enterprise.... The well was maintained and operated so that it could produce oil at a moment's notice. The pleadings were sufficient and the evidence introduced thereon is conclusive as to the duration of the operation of the well.
407 S.W.2d at 479.
Here, there was direct testimony of the operation of the sixth cooker on three specific occasions during the 478-day period. Although Texas Pet Foods introduced no direct testimony of when the cooker was placed into operation or when it was operated, both the president of the company and the plant manager testified that all six cookers were operated during production on a regular basis. The plant operated on a five-and-one-half to six-day work week, a fact corroborated by area residents. Under the rationale of Harrington, the jury was entitled to find that the sixth cooker was being "operated" on a daily basis for six days a week even when it was not actually producing a product by means of a cooking cycle. According to all of the evidence in the record, the cooker was available and operable full-time and was operated along with the other five cookers. It was capable of operating and producing even when it was not actually doing so. Since the evidence supports a finding of 409 days operation, the modified judgment was not erroneous.
*806 The judgment of the court of civil appeals is affirmed in part and reversed in part. As to the injunction, the judgment of the court of civil appeals is reversed and that of the trial court is affirmed; the judgment of the court of civil appeals modifying the civil penalties assessed is affirmed.
CAMPBELL, J., not sitting.
NOTES
[1] The Texas Clean Air Act is Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. art. 4477-5 (Vernon 1976); Texas Water Quality Act is Tex.Water Code Ann. § 21.001 et seq. (Vernon 1972); Texas Renderers' Licensing Act is Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4477-6 (Vernon 1976).
[2] The jury specifically found that during the period September 5, 1975 to August 2, 1976, Texas Pet Foods, Inc.: (1) failed to have installed proper hooding and duct work to pull all emissions from its hotwell, feather meal holding tanks, conveying system, or its feather meal driers through the venturi scrubber on 9 separate days; (2) failed to control openings to its rendering plant building so as to maintain a negative pressure within the building on 13 separate days; (3) failed to maintain its air pollution abatement equipment in a fully operable and functioning condition on 13 separate days; (4) discharged solids to its ridge-and-furrow field system on 40 separate days; and (5) failed to maintain a good cover crop on its ridge-and-furrow field system on 24 separate days. The record shows that these violations, independently or in combination, would cause obnoxious odors to emanate from the plant.
| TCPALN |
[The pharmacological properties of a direct-action anticoagulant from the herb Nonea poulla (L.) D. C].
Nondialyzed fraction of the ammonia extract from Siberian grass Nonea poulla is studied. A stable hypocoagulemy (without cumulative activity) was found in the experiments in vitro and in vivo carried out on rats (intravenous administration of the extract). The LD50 was 150 mg/kg at the effective dose of 10 mg/kg. Intraperitoneal and intramuscular administration during 20 days exerted neither hypocoagulemic nor toxic effect on the haemopoesis system and did not change the body weight of the animals. | TPCNKS |
// Copyright 2020 Oath Inc. Licensed under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license. See LICENSE in the project root.
package ai.vespa.metricsproxy.service;
import com.google.inject.Inject;
import com.yahoo.component.AbstractComponent;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import com.yahoo.jrt.ErrorCode;
import com.yahoo.jrt.Request;
import com.yahoo.jrt.Spec;
import com.yahoo.jrt.Supervisor;
import com.yahoo.jrt.Target;
import com.yahoo.jrt.Transport;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.StringReader;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
/**
* Connects to the config sentinel and gets information like pid for the services on the node
*/
public class ConfigSentinelClient extends AbstractComponent {
private final static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(ConfigSentinelClient.class.getName());
private final Supervisor supervisor = new Supervisor(new Transport("sentinel-client"));
@Inject
public ConfigSentinelClient() {
}
@Override
public void deconstruct() {
supervisor.transport().shutdown().join();
super.deconstruct();
}
/**
* Update all services reading from config sentinel
*
* @param services The list of services
*/
synchronized void updateServiceStatuses(List<VespaService> services) {
try {
setStatus(services);
} catch (Exception e) {
log.log(Level.SEVERE, "Unable to update service pids from sentinel", e);
}
}
/**
* Update status
*
* @param s The service to update the status for
*/
synchronized void ping(VespaService s) {
List<VespaService> services = new ArrayList<>();
services.add(s);
log.log(Level.FINE, "Ping for service " + s);
try {
setStatus(services);
} catch (Exception e) {
log.log(Level.SEVERE, "Unable to update service pids from sentinel", e);
}
}
/**
* Update the status (pid check etc)
*
* @param services list of services
* @throws Exception if something went wrong
*/
protected synchronized void setStatus(List<VespaService> services) throws Exception {
String in = sentinelLs();
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new StringReader(in));
String line;
List<VespaService> updatedServices = new ArrayList<>();
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
if (line.equals("")) {
break;
}
VespaService s = parseServiceString(line, services);
if (s != null) {
updatedServices.add(s);
}
}
//Check if there are services that were not found in output
//from the sentinel
for (VespaService s : services) {
if ((!s.getServiceName().equals("configserver")) && !updatedServices.contains(s)) {
log.log(Level.FINE,"Service " + s + " is no longer found with sentinel - setting alive = false");
s.setAlive(false);
}
}
//Close streams
reader.close();
}
static VespaService parseServiceString(String line, List<VespaService> services) {
String[] parts = line.split(" ");
if (parts.length < 3)
return null;
String name = parts[0];
int pid = -1;
String state = null;
VespaService service = null;
for (VespaService s : services) {
if (s.getInstanceName().compareToIgnoreCase(name) == 0) {
service = s;
break;
}
}
//Could not find this service
//nothing wrong with that as the check is invoked per line from sentinel
if (service == null) {
return service;
}
for (int i = 1; i < parts.length; i++) {
String keyValue[] = parts[i].split("=");
String key = keyValue[0];
String value = keyValue[1];
if (key.equals("state")) {
state = value;
} else if (key.equals("pid")) {
pid = Integer.parseInt(value);
}
}
if (state != null) {
service.setState(state);
if (pid >= 0 && "RUNNING".equals(state)) {
service.setAlive(true);
service.setPid(pid);
} else {
service.setAlive(false);
}
} else {
service.setAlive(false);
}
return service;
}
String sentinelLs() {
String servicelist = "";
int rpcPort = 19097;
Spec spec = new Spec("localhost", rpcPort);
Target connection = supervisor.connect(spec);
try {
if (connection.isValid()) {
Request req = new Request("sentinel.ls");
connection.invokeSync(req, 5.0);
if (req.errorCode() == ErrorCode.NONE &&
req.checkReturnTypes("s"))
{
servicelist = req.returnValues().get(0).asString();
} else {
log.log(Level.WARNING, "Bad answer to RPC request: " + req.errorMessage());
}
} else {
log.log(Level.WARNING, "Could not connect to sentinel at: "+spec);
}
return servicelist;
} finally {
connection.close();
}
}
}
| TMSCNF |
import pandas as pd
import featuretools as ft
from featuretools.entityset.deserialize import description_to_entityset
from featuretools.feature_base.features_serializer import FeaturesSerializer
SCHEMA_VERSION = "6.0.0"
def test_single_feature(es):
feature = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['value'])
serializer = FeaturesSerializer([feature])
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [feature.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
feature.unique_name(): feature.to_dictionary()
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
def test_base_features_in_list(es):
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['value'])
max_feature = ft.AggregationFeature(value, es['sessions'], ft.primitives.Max)
features = [max_feature, value]
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [max_feature.unique_name(), value.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
max_feature.unique_name(): max_feature.to_dictionary(),
value.unique_name(): value.to_dictionary(),
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
def test_multi_output_features(es):
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['product_id'])
threecommon = ft.primitives.NMostCommon()
tc = ft.Feature(es['log']['product_id'], parent_entity=es["sessions"], primitive=threecommon)
features = [tc, value]
for i in range(3):
features.append(ft.Feature(tc[i],
parent_entity=es['customers'],
primitive=ft.primitives.NumUnique))
features.append(tc[i])
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
flist = [feat.unique_name() for feat in features]
fd = [feat.to_dictionary() for feat in features]
fdict = dict(zip(flist, fd))
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': flist,
'feature_definitions': fdict
}
actual = serializer.to_dict()
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, actual)
def test_base_features_not_in_list(es):
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['value'])
value_x2 = ft.TransformFeature(value,
ft.primitives.MultiplyNumericScalar(value=2))
max_feature = ft.AggregationFeature(value_x2, es['sessions'], ft.primitives.Max)
features = [max_feature]
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [max_feature.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
max_feature.unique_name(): max_feature.to_dictionary(),
value_x2.unique_name(): value_x2.to_dictionary(),
value.unique_name(): value.to_dictionary(),
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
def test_where_feature_dependency(es):
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['value'])
is_purchased = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['purchased'])
max_feature = ft.AggregationFeature(value, es['sessions'], ft.primitives.Max,
where=is_purchased)
features = [max_feature]
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [max_feature.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
max_feature.unique_name(): max_feature.to_dictionary(),
value.unique_name(): value.to_dictionary(),
is_purchased.unique_name(): is_purchased.to_dictionary(),
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
def test_feature_use_previous_pd_timedelta(es):
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['id'])
td = pd.Timedelta(12, "W")
count_feature = ft.AggregationFeature(value, es['customers'], ft.primitives.Count, use_previous=td)
features = [count_feature, value]
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [count_feature.unique_name(), value.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
count_feature.unique_name(): count_feature.to_dictionary(),
value.unique_name(): value.to_dictionary(),
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
def test_feature_use_previous_pd_dateoffset(es):
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['id'])
do = pd.DateOffset(months=3)
count_feature = ft.AggregationFeature(value, es['customers'], ft.primitives.Count, use_previous=do)
features = [count_feature, value]
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [count_feature.unique_name(), value.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
count_feature.unique_name(): count_feature.to_dictionary(),
value.unique_name(): value.to_dictionary(),
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
value = ft.IdentityFeature(es['log']['id'])
do = pd.DateOffset(months=3, days=2, minutes=30)
count_feature = ft.AggregationFeature(value, es['customers'], ft.primitives.Count, use_previous=do)
features = [count_feature, value]
serializer = FeaturesSerializer(features)
expected = {
'ft_version': ft.__version__,
'schema_version': SCHEMA_VERSION,
'entityset': es.to_dictionary(),
'feature_list': [count_feature.unique_name(), value.unique_name()],
'feature_definitions': {
count_feature.unique_name(): count_feature.to_dictionary(),
value.unique_name(): value.to_dictionary(),
}
}
_compare_feature_dicts(expected, serializer.to_dict())
def _compare_feature_dicts(a_dict, b_dict):
# We can't compare entityset dictionaries because variable lists are not
# guaranteed to be in the same order.
es_a = description_to_entityset(a_dict.pop('entityset'))
es_b = description_to_entityset(b_dict.pop('entityset'))
assert es_a == es_b
assert a_dict == b_dict
| TDCFNE |
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Ironman Bike Set Up
Ironman Bike Set UpComfort is key for Ironman racing. Do not change anything relating to your bike position in the last 1,000 miles before your Ironman. The elite have been known to change from a road to triathlon bike 6 weeks before they race, however they will cover over 1,000 miles (1600 km). Wheels Make sure that your pair of wheels are relevant for the course you are doing. Wind conditions will affect your choice of aero or lightweight wheels. Choice of bars depends on the amount of climbing, descending or flat straight roads. Standard comfortable drop handlebars offer more choice of positions which is more important for Ironman racing. Have tyres that are appropriate for the road surface. Gears Bike gears No one ever asks what gears you use, they are more interested in times?Use your fitness not your strength. Have easier gears than you think you need so you use your fitness; there is no shame in using a 25 size sprocket or bigger. Most courses are often lapped based and have some hills which deplete strength. This means having a cassette with the right gearing for the terrain is important. Power MetersYou will be amazed how little power you generate down a hill and how much you overuse your power up a hill. For a well paced ride, a power meter is a vital tool to measure your effort in watts. Your target average for the Ironman bike is between 78-85%. Heart rate is only part of the picture. Complete a 30 minute time trial effort. If your average power for the test is 220 watts then your target average for the Ironman bike is 78-85% (171-187 watts). You can still cross reference between keeping your heart rate below your anaerobic threshold and keeping your watts in the Ironman zone. Bike PositionLearn to ride aero for long periods of time. Many triathletes ride for hours but fail to ride in the aero position. This occurs from group riding where an aero position is unsafe, that is why a very large percentage of your riding must be solo. Being comfortable is vital so you can stay aero and not be distracted by moving about on the bike. Too low a position will badly affect power, breathing and your ability to digest your food. Adopting a forward seat position will reduce stress on the hamstrings | SBCOME |
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