text
stringlengths 2
1.05M
| repo_name
stringlengths 5
101
| path
stringlengths 4
991
| language
stringclasses 3
values | license
stringclasses 5
values | size
int64 2
1.05M
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In 1706, Marshal Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban, a master of siege techniques, volunteered his services for the French siege of Turin. He was turned down due to his age, but he still gave his sagely advice which the commander of the operation, Louis de la Feuillade decided to ignore.
Vauban was very vocal about La Feuillade's decision on how he was going to lay siege that he stated publicly that he would cut his own throat if the French succeeded in taking Turin on La Feuillade's chosen point of attack.
Needless to say, the siege ultimately failed. Just something interesting that I just happened to stumble on.
That's an episode which is obviously studied in all schools here in Piedmont [substantially the dinasty of Savoy had its first proper King as a consequence of that victory, he was Vittorio Amedeo II].
The great mistake that the French general made was to underestimate the underground defenses of the city: while de Vauban, knowing them well, suggested a lateral attack, la Feuillade attacked directly.
An aspect of the sieges in that age, which usually is not that known, is that they saw not a few underground actions [all the armies had ranks of "miners" who excavated tunnels ... the attackers to mine the walls, the defenders to intercept the attackers ...].
Turin had defended by a well planned and realized network of underground tunnels.
But le Feuillade made even an other mistake.
The underground network of tunnels of the defenders were causing serious troubles to the attackers. King Louis had ordered not to kill Amedeo and the French general allowed him to leave Turin. But Amedeo and his troops started a real guerrilla to divert the besieging forces. Le Feuillade ordered to general Chamarande to chased him ... and Amedeo [knowing the territory, of course] attracted him into the valleys of the Valdesi. The French army renounced.
That's an episode which is obviously studied in all schools here in Piedmont [substantially the dinasty of Savoy had its first proper King as a consequence of that victory, he was Vittorio Amedeo II].
The great mistake that the French general made was to underestimate the underground defenses of the city: while de Vauban, knowing them well, suggested a lateral attack, la Feuillade attacked directly.
An aspect of the sieges in that age, which usually is not that known, is that they saw not a few underground actions [all the armies had ranks of "miners" who excavated tunnels ... the attackers to mine the walls, the defenders to intercept the attackers ...].
Turin had defended by a well planned and realized network of underground tunnels.
But le Feuillade made even an other mistake.
The underground network of tunnels of the defenders were causing serious troubles to the attackers. King Louis had ordered not to kill Amedeo and the French general allowed him to leave Turin. But Amedeo and his troops started a real guerrilla to divert the besieging forces. Le Feuillade ordered to general Chamarande to chased him ... and Amedeo [knowing the territory, of course] attracted him into the valleys of the Valdesi. The French army renounced.
Good stuff there. I've read about the siege on the internet, but the details are fairly scarce. But I just think his statement is really funny and brazen.
An old man with little patience with incompetence.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
NevenTaleTM: Forge of Fate
NevenTaleTM: Forge of Fate is the first freemium, largely voice acted, high fantasy mobile online RPG with an entirely nonlinear narrative-driven experience. It allows you to explore thousands of unique adventures in the ultimate dungeon crawler! Using our “NevEngineTM” content creation technology we offer players the ability to make moral choices that directly impact a very deep storyline.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Introduction
============
The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a conserved serine/threonine protein kinase involved in the regulation of multiple intracellular processes such as mRNA transcription and translation, ribosomal biogenesis, lipid biosynthesis, energy metabolism, autophagy and cytoskeletal organization \[[@B1]\]. Within the cells two distinct complexes, namely mTORC1 and mTORC2, are expressed, that are associated to different partners \[[@B2]\]. Increased activation of mTORC1 is observed in numerous human cancers due to gain-of-function mutations in oncogenes (PI3K, AKT or Ras) and/or loss-of-function mutations in tumor suppressors (PTEN, LKB1, or TSC1/2), upstream regulators of mTORC1 \[[@B3]\]. These mutations provide cancer cells with a selective growth advantage in comparison to normal cells \[[@B4]\]. On the other hand, mTORC2 is associated with cell adhesion and migration, thus mainly with tumor invasion of normal tissue \[[@B5]\].
Glioblastomas (GBM, World Health Organization (WHO) IV astrocytomas) are the most common and aggressive primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors, originating from glial cells and characterized by morphological and genetic complexity \[[@B6]\]. Current therapeutic strategies (that is, aggressive surgical resection combined with radiation and chemotherapy) are largely ineffective; tumors often recur and are invariably fatal, with a median survival of 12 to 15 months from diagnosis \[[@B7]\]. Recent studies on the glioma kinome have identified several deregulated pathways that converge and activate mTOR \[[@B8]\].
Despite the central role of mTOR in glioma biology, mTORC1 inhibitors, like rapamycin (RAPA) and its analogs (rapalogs), have been shown to have limited efficacy in clinical trials \[[@B8]\], with the exception of RAD001 in pediatric patients affected by subependymal giant-cell astrocytomas (WHO I astrocytomas) \[[@B9]\]. The reasons for the limited clinical success of rapalogs (in glioma but also in major solid tumors) have not been clarified but are likely related to the inhibition of a large number of mTORC1-regulated signaling systems normally involved in tumor suppression, such as the activation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), PI3K-Akt signaling, and the Ras-ERK pathway \[[@B10]\]. Moreover, rapamycin is unable to inhibit all the downstream targets of mTORC1 and to significantly suppress mTORC2 signaling \[[@B11]\]. In order to by-pass these limitations, alternative strategies have been explored in the past few years and a number of ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitors have been developed, which block both mTORC1 and mTORC2 activity. Interestingly, because of the high sequence homology between mTOR and PI3K, some compounds originally identified as PI3K inhibitors were later shown to inhibit mTOR as well \[[@B10]\]. Unlike RAPA, which is a specific allosteric inhibitor of mTORC1, these ATP-competitive inhibitors target the catalytic site of the enzyme, thus promoting a broader, more potent and sustained inhibition of mTOR, and preventing the activation of PI3K/Akt caused by the de-repression of negative feedbacks \[[@B12]\]. At present, ClinicalTrials.gov lists 299 ongoing studies on mTOR and cancer, 17 being studies on mTOR and glioma, mostly testing the dual inhibition of mTORC1 and mTORC2.
Recently, a direct role of mTOR in the modulation of glial functions has also been described. Data from our group and others support the notion that mTOR is involved in glial proinflammatory activation \[[@B13]-[@B15]\]. In particular, we have demonstrated that mTOR inhibitors reduce iNOS expression and activity induced by cytokines, but not those induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), in primary rat microglia \[[@B13]\]. Among glioma-infiltrating cells, microglia/macrophages represent the largest population, contributing to the total tumor mass by at least one third \[[@B16]\]. Under pathological conditions, these cells do not constitute a uniform cell population, but rather comprise a family of cells with diverse phenotypes and opposite biological activities: beneficial or, on the contrary, detrimental \[[@B17]\]. Macrophages and activated microglia, the latter defined as CNS macrophages, can be broadly divided into classically activated M1 cells, with cytotoxic properties, and alternatively activated M2 cells, with phagocytic activities. Macrophages infiltrating tumor tissues are polarized by tumor-derived and T-cell-derived cytokines towards an M2 phenotype \[[@B18]\]. In general, it is now well-established that tumor-associated macrophages promote tumor growth and progression \[[@B19]\]. As far as microglia and gliomas are specifically concerned, under the influence of glioma M2 microglia release several classes of molecules that foster glioma growth \[[@B20]\], progression and inflammatory activation \[[@B21]\] as opposed classically activated microglia, the M1 phenotype, release inflammatory products, such as nitrites, IL-10 and urea, that may exert detrimental effects on glioma cells. We have recently found that microglial cells undergo a different pattern of activation depending on the stimulus; in the presence of inflammatory activated glioma-derived factors, that is, a condition mimicking the late stage of pathology, microglial cells appear as a mixture of polarization phenotypes (M1 and M2a/b). At variance, microglia exposed to basal glioma-derived factors, that is, a condition resembling the early stage of pathology, show a more specific pattern of activation, with increased M2b polarization status \[[@B22]\].
The tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-mTOR pathway regulates macrophage polarization \[[@B23]\]; in particular, it seems that mTOR activation leads to M2 polarization. In fact, bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) mediates monocyte polarization into M2 macrophages through the activation of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway \[[@B24]\] and RAPA, by blocking mTOR, and unbalances the polarization of human macrophages towards the M1 status \[[@B25]\].
In the present paper, we have compared the effects of μM concentrations of RAPA and its analog, RAD, on activated microglia, in the attempt to block both mTORC1 and mTORC2 functions \[[@B26]\]. Microglial activation was obtained by exposing cells to conditioned medium harvested either from inflammatory activated glioma cells (LI-CM) or from glioma cells kept under basal conditions (C-CM) \[[@B20]\]. Consistent with the findings in peripheral macrophages, here we show that the inhibition of mTOR polarizes glioma-activated microglial cells towards the M1 phenotype endowed with cytotoxic activities, thus preventing the induction of the M2 status that promotes tumor growth.
Methods
=======
Materials
---------
Cell culture reagents (DMEM, DMEM-F12 and FCS) were from Invitrogen Corporation (Paisley, Scotland). Antibiotics were from Biochrom AG (Berlin, Germany). The rat recombinant IFNγ was purchased from Endogen (Pierce Biotechnology, Rockford, IL, USA). Bacterial endotoxin LPS (*Salmonella typhimurium*) was from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). β-actin (clone AC-74) mouse monoclonal antibody was from Sigma Aldrich; rabbit polyclonal anti-phospho (ser-2448) mTOR were purchased from Novus Biological (Littleton, CO, USA).
Cell cultures
-------------
### Microglia
Primary enriched cultures of rat glial cells, microglia and astrocytes, were prepared as previously described \[[@B27]\]. In particular, microglial cells were obtained by mixed cultures of cortical glial cells (at day 14 *in vitro*) by gentle shaking. Cells were plated in 96-well plates at a density of 3 × 10^5^ cells/cm^2^ using 100 μL/well DMEM-F12, containing 10% FCS and antibiotics. Under these conditions, the cultures were 95 to 98% CD11b-positive \[[@B28]\]. The use of animals for this experimental work has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Catholic University Medical School.
### C6 glioma cells
C6 glioma cells were passed once a week and were prepared as previously described \[[@B14]\]. Conditioned media from activated C6 glioma cells were generated following a protocol aimed to remove the proinflammatory stimulus from the medium \[[@B22]\]. Briefly, control-conditioned medium (C-CM) was obtained incubating C6 glioma cells for 4 h in plain medium, and after three washes with PBS in fresh plain medium for an additional 24 h. After this second period of incubation, the CM was collected, centrifuged to remove cellular debris and stored as C-CM. Similarly, LPS/IFNγ-conditioned medium (LI-CM) was prepared incubating C6 cells for 4 h with LI, followed after three washes with PBS by 24-h incubation in fresh plain medium. LI-CM was collected, centrifuged and stored after this second period of incubation, thus LI-CM did not contain the proinflammatory stimuli used to activate glioma cells. Both CM were stored at −80°C until the experiments on microglial cells were performed.
Nitrite assay
-------------
Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity was assessed indirectly by measuring nitrite accumulation in the incubation media. Briefly, an aliquot of the cell culture media (80 μL) was mixed with 40 μL Griess Reagent (Sigma-Aldrich) and the absorbance measured at 550 nm in a spectrophotometric microplate reader (PerkinElmer Inc, Waltham MA, USA). A standard curve was generated during each assay in the range of concentrations 0 to 100 μM using NaNO2 (Sigma-Aldrich) as the standard. In this range, standard detection produced a linear distribution and the minimum detectable concentration of NaNO2 was ≥3.12 μM. In the absence of stimuli basal levels of nitrites were below the detection limit of the assay at all the time points studied.
mRNA analysis in real-time PCR
------------------------------
Total cytoplasmic RNA was extracted using the RNeasy Micro kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), which included 15 minutes of DNAse treatment. RNA concentration was measured using the Quant-iTTM RiboGreen® RNA Assay Kit (Invitrogen Corporation, Carlsbad, CA, USA). A standard curve in the range of 0 to 100 ng was run in each assay using 16S and 23S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) from *Escherichia coli* as standard and provided by the kit. Aliquots (0.15 μg) of RNA were converted to cDNA using random hexamer primers. Quantitative changes in mRNA levels were estimated by real time PCR (Q-PCR) using the following cycling conditions: 35 cycles of denaturation at 95°C for 20 s; annealing and extension at 60°C for 20 s, using the Brilliant III Ultra-Fast SYBR® Green QPCR Master Mix (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA, USA), except for Raptor gene expression (35 cycles of denaturation at 95°C for 20 s; annealing 64°C and extension at 60°C for 20 s, using the Brilliant II SYBR® Green QPCR Master Mix). PCR reactions were carried out in a 20-μL reaction volume in a MX3000P real-time PCR machine (Stratagene). Primers used for the evaluation of gene expression are reported in Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. Relative mRNA concentrations were calculated from the take-off point of reactions (threshold cycle, Ct) using the comparative quantitation method performed by Stratagene software and based upon the -ΔΔCt method \[[@B13]\].
######
Primer sets used for Q-PCR analysis
**Genes** **Forward primers** **Reverse primers** **Product length (Base pair)**
----------- ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------ --------------------------------
α-TUB CCC TCG CCA TGG TAA ATA CAT ACT GGA TGG TAC GCT TGG TCT 110
iNOS CTG CAT GGA ACA GTA TAA GGC AAA C CAG ACA GTT TCT GGT CGA TGT CAT GA 230
IL-10 CAG CTG CGA CGC TGT CAT CGA GCA GTC CAG TAG ATG CCG GGT G 198
ARG1 TGC CCT CTG TCT TTT AGG GC CCT CGA GGC TGT CCC TTA GA 165
Raptor GCA GGC CTG GGA CCT TGC TG CGA CAG GGC CAA GCT CAC CG 271
Rictor AGC AGT GAT CCG AAA GGA GGG AAA TAC TTG GAG TGC TGC CAG TGT CTT 199
Cell viability measurement
--------------------------
Microglial viability was assessed by reduction of the tetrazolium compound (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt; MTS) contained in the CellTiter AQueous One Solution Reagent (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). For this assay cells were seeded in 96-well plates. At the end of the experimental procedure (46 h), 20 μL of MTS reagent were added to the cells that were further incubated for 2 h. Living cells bio-reduce yellow MTS into a purple soluble formazan product with an absorbance peak at 492 nm, that was read in a spectrophotometric microplate reader (PerkinElmer Inc, MA, USA).
Cell proliferation assay
------------------------
Microglial proliferation rate was determined using a nonradioactive proliferation assay (Exalpha Biological Inc, Maynard, MA, USA), used according to the manufacturer's instructions. This ELISA measures the incorporation of 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) into newly synthesized DNA of actively proliferating cells. Microglial cells were incubated in plain medium or C-CM, LI-CM for 48 h. BrdU solution was added 32 h later directly in the incubation medium, and cells were kept in the incubator for the remaining 16 h. At the end of the incubation time, medium was removed and cells were fixed. !BrdU immunoreactivity was measured using a specific primary antibody provided by the kit. Data are expressed as percentage of control values.
Western immunoblot
------------------
The cells were lysed in RIPA buffer (1 mM EDTA, 150 mM NaCl, 1% igepal, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 50 mM Tris--HCl, pH 8.0) (Sigma-Aldrich) containing protease inhibitor cocktail diluted 1:250 (Sigma-Aldrich). The protein content in each sample was determined by Bradford's method (Biorad, Hercules, CA, USA) using bovine serum albumin as the standard. A 10-μg aliquot of protein was mixed 1:2 with 2 × Laemmli Buffer (Biorad), boiled for 5 minutes, and separated through 7% polyacrylamide SDS gels. Apparent molecular weights were estimated by comparison to colored molecular-weight markers (Sigma-Aldrich). After electrophoresis, proteins were transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membranes by semi-dry electrophoretic transfer (Biorad). The membranes were blocked with 10% (w/v) low-fat milk in TBST (10 mMTris, 150 mMNaCl, 0.1% Tween-20, pH 7.6) (Biorad) for 1 h at room temperature, and incubated in the presence of the primary antibody overnight with gentle shaking at 4°C. Primary antibodies for phosphorylated-mTOR (Novus biological), β-actin (Sigma-Aldrich) were used at the final concentration of 1:1,000. Primary antibodies were removed, membranes washed three times in TBST, and further incubated for 1 h at room temperature in the presence of specific secondary antibody, anti-rabbit for mTOR and anti-mouse for β-actin immunoglobulin G (IgG)-horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated (Sigma-Aldrich), diluted 1:15,000 and 1:10,000 respectively. Following three washes in TBST, bands were visualized by incubation in ECL reagents (Thermo Scientific, Rockford, Illinois, USA) and exposure to Hyperfilm ECL (GE Healthcare NY, USA). The same membranes were washed three times in TBST, blocked with 10% (w/v) low-fat milk in TBST for 1 h at room temperature and used for β-actin immunoblot.
Data analysis
-------------
All experiments were performed using five to six replicates per each experimental group, and repeated at least three times. For the RNA analysis, samples were assayed in triplicates, and the experiments were repeated at least twice. Data were analyzed by one- or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni post hoc test or by the unpaired *t*-test where appropriate. *P*-values \<0.05 were considered significant.
Results
=======
We have previously shown that CM harvested from glioma cells under basal conditions (C-CM), as well as CM from glioma cells activated with LPS/IFNγ (LI-CM), increased the phosphorylation of mTOR at ser 2448, an index of mTORC activation, in microglial cells in 2-h experiments \[[@B21]\]. Here we confirmed this finding, and also observed that mTOR activation is rapid and time-persistent: after 30 minutes of incubation with both conditioned media we detected an increase in phospho-mTOR levels that persisted until 8 h (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). However, no significant upregulation was found in the mRNA levels of specific interactors of mTORC1 (raptor, Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}A) and mTORC2 (rictor, Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}B) in 4- and 24-h experiments.The administration of mTOR inhibitors (RAPA and RAD) to microglial cells exposed to C-CM significantly increased iNOS gene expression after 4 h (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}A), followed by an increase in the levels of NO after 48 h (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}B). Furthermore, RAPA and RAD were also able to increase iNOS mRNA levels after 4 h in microglial cells exposed to LI-CM (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}C); such upregulation was followed by a significant augmentation of NO production after 48 h (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}D).In addition, both drugs reduced the upregulation of IL-10 gene expression elicited by C-CM, with significant inhibition from 4 h onward (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}A). In parallel, the drugs were able to reduce the upregulation of IL-10 (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}B) and arginase (ARG) (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}C) elicited by LI-CM. Taken together, these data show that mTOR blockade promotes M1 microglial polarization in both experimental paradigms (that is, conditions resembling the early stage of pathology and conditions mimicking the late stage of pathology).
{#F1}
{#F2}
{#F3}
{#F4}
A subsequent set of experiments was carried out to assess the effect of mTOR inhibitors on cell viability and proliferation. First, we tested the direct effects of RAPA and RAD on C6 glioma cells and confirmed that both drugs reduce glioma viability (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A), as reported in the literature. In particular, RAPA and RAD at 1 nM, reduced C6 glioma viability by about 30% after 3 days of treatment. Thereafter, we assessed the effect of mTOR inhibitors on microglia viability in cells exposed to glioma-conditioned media. In this experimental model, RAPA and RAD significantly counteracted the increase in cell viability induced by the exposure to C-CM or LI-CM, although significantly higher concentrations (approximately 1,000-fold higher) were required to achieve a 50% reduction with respect to those found effective on C6 glioma cells (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}B and C) or else on microglial cells not exposed to glioma factors \[[@B13]\]. In untreated microglia, viability was significantly affected by mTOR inhibition even at a low dose (from 10 nM concentration onward) \[[@B13]\]. No significant differences were observed in microglia proliferation in the presence of mTOR inhibitors in the two different experimental paradigms (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type="fig"}).
{#F5}
{#F6}
Discussion
==========
In this study we evaluated the effects of mTOR inhibitors on microglial polarization in experimental models of glioma-microglia interaction. We have compared the effects of RAPA and its analog RAD on primary rat microglia activated by conditioned medium harvested from C6 glioma cultures in two different conditions. Drugs were administrated at high doses (0.01 to 10 μM concentrations), attempting to block the activity of both mTOR complexes. In fact, it was previously shown that RAPA given at higher concentrations and in chronic treatments also interferes with mTORC2 regulatory functions \[[@B26]\]. In particular, high intracellular levels of RAPA inhibit the binding and subsequent assembly of mTORC2-specific components Sin1 and rictor \[[@B24]\]. Rictor is a core component of mTORC2; we found that rictor is expressed in microglia cells, albeit its expression is not modulated by the exposure to either LI-CM or C-CM glioma-conditioned media (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}B). Consistently with the literature, we found that microglial cells express the specific component of mTORC1, raptor, whose expression was also unaffected by the exposure to glioma factors (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}A).
The crosstalk among mTORC1 and mTORC2 occurring in microglia cells ensures a correct balance between cell growth and division, regulating important intracellular metabolic processes and possibly different types of activation, as it is observed in other immune cells \[[@B29]\]. The activation of mTORC1 generally increases the cellular capacity of protein and lipid biosynthesis, and inhibits macroautophagy, thus promoting anabolic processes \[[@B1]\]. Hence it is not surprising that mTORC1 is deregulated in many tumor types, including malignant gliomas \[[@B11]\]. Several oncogenes (PI3K, AKT or Ras) and/or tumor suppressors (PTEN, LKB1, or TSC1/2), which are often mutated in cancer, contribute to control mTORC1 activation \[[@B3]\]. mTORC1 and mTORC2 are also important regulators of tumor invasiveness and cell migration \[[@B5],[@B30]\]. mTORC2 activity is elevated in gliomas and promotes growth and cell motility via the overexpression of rictor \[[@B31]\], although it has been reported that rictor silencing by siRNAs in human glioma cell lines and primary GBM cells induces MMP-9 activity and enhances the invasive potential of glioma cells through the Raf-1-MEK-ERK signaling pathway \[[@B32]\].
The available evidence on the role of microglia in CNS cancers would suggest a dual role, a tumoricidal role and, on the contrary, a role favoring tumor growth, as described in detail in the Introduction section. A further viewpoint arises from the recent finding that subpopulations of cells within human gliomas, specifically GBM, are neoplastic macrophages/microglia \[[@B33]\]. Metastatic cancer cells retrieved in spontaneous mouse brain tumors appear to express multiple properties of macrophages \[[@B34]\], thus suggesting that the most aggressive cells in GBM may be neoplastic microglia/macrophages. In this regard, fusion of tumor cells with microglial cells has been proposed as a mechanism underlying invasion and metastasis in GBM, as it occurs in several human cancers \[[@B33]\]. In this scenario, data presented in this paper suggest that the inhibition of mTOR in microglial cells, apart from the more relevant antitumor effects mediated by the polarization of microglia towards an M1 phenotype (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}), while on the same time polarization towards the M2 status is prevented (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}), might also result in anti-proliferative activity directly on neoplastic microglia.
Microglial cells in the M1 status release proinflammatory cytokines, proteinases, complement proteins, prostaglandins, and reactive oxygen intermediates, including nitric oxide. These substances can exert toxic effects on glioma cells and hence contribute to their destruction. Nitric oxide, for example, has emerged as a powerful adjuvant for the hyper-sensitization of tumors to more traditional chemo- and radio-therapeutics. Furthermore, emerging evidence indicates that nitric oxide donors have the potential to exert intrinsic antitumor activity in the clinical management of cancer \[[@B35]\]. However, while the above discussion would suggest an overall favorable role for M1 polarization of microglia, it should be taken into account that the latter may also have detrimental effects, as it has been shown that chronic activation of microglia can cause damage to normal neurons through the release of the same substances that are potentially cytotoxic for glioma cells \[[@B36]\].
In conclusion, the main finding of this study is the observation that mTOR inhibition by RAPA and RAD prevents microglial polarization towards an M2 phenotype in *in vitro* models of both early- and late-stage glioma. The subsequent increase in the ratio of M1 microglial cells bearing cytotoxic and perhaps tumoricidal properties is a mechanism of potential interest in light of a possible clinical development of mTOR inhibitors in the treatment of human glioma.
Abbreviations
=============
ANOVA: analysis of variance; ARG: arginase; BMP: bone morphogenetic protein; BrdU: 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine; C-CM: control-conditioned medium; CNS: central nervous system; Ct: threshold cycle; DMEM: Dulbecco\'s modified Eagle\'s medium; ELISA: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; FCS: fetal calf serum; GBM: glioblastoma; IFNγ: interferon-γ; IL: interleukin; iNOS: inducible nitric oxide synthase; LI-CM: inflammatory activated glioma cells; LPS: lipopolysaccharide; mTOR: mammalian target of rapamycin; PBS: phosphate buffered saline; RAPA: rapamycin; RAD: rapamycin analog RAD001; RTK: receptor tyrosine kinase; TSC: tuberous sclerosis complex; WHO: World Health Organization.
Competing interests
===================
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Authors' contributions
======================
Study concepts: LL, CDR, and PN; study design: LL, and EL; data acquisition: LL; data analysis and interpretation: LL, EL, and CDR; statistical analysis: LL; manuscript preparation: LL; manuscript editing: CDR; manuscript review: PN. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Acknowledgements
================
This work was supported by a grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals to CDR.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
A puzzle related to nested loops
For a given input $N$, how many times does the enclosed statement executes?
for $i$ in $1\ldots N$ loop
$\quad$for $j$ in $1\ldots i$ loop
$\quad$$\quad$for $k$ in $i\ldots j$ loop
$\quad$$\quad$$\quad$$sum = sum + i$ ;
$\quad$$\quad$end loop;
$\quad$end loop;
end loop;
Can anyone figure out an easy way or a formula to do this in general. Please explain.
A:
You need to solve simple formula
$\sum_{i=1}^N\sum_{j=1}^i\sum_{k=i}^j1$
this will give you overall result of
$\frac{1}{6}N(N+1)(N+2)$
Math is easy to do here but I used Wolfram Alpha
A:
What you really count in the variable $\text{sum}$ are triples of the form
$$\{ (a,b,c) \mid 1\le a<b<c\le N\}.$$
Clearly there are $N(N-1)(N-2)$ triples of different elements. Since you only consider sorted triples, you only count one of the possible $6=3!$ permutations for every triple containing $a,b,c$. Therefore you overcount by a factor of $6$, and this gives you $\text{sum}=N(N-1)(N-2)/6$.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Chenrup, 67, a nomad, said the prospect of being reborn as a fly or a dog could not be dismissed. “We have the same feelings as the fish,” said Chenrup, a vegetarian who spends eight hours a day digging in the mud. “It is our duty to liberate them from pain and suffering.”
From early morning until dusk, the soul-savers work to extract creatures that have become stranded as the river, which is fed by snow-draped mountains, recedes in summer. The shrimp, about the size of a fingernail clipping, are almost impossible to see in the sunbaked muck and only make themselves known by writhing faintly. After collecting them in buckets or paper cups, the diggers set them free into the river.
From the thousands of multicolor prayer flags that flutter across barren mountainsides to the monasteries that fleck even the most remote valleys, religious devotion suffuses every aspect of life on the Tibetan Plateau. Although many people here consume meat — and tending livestock sustains most rural families — it is not uncommon to see yaks or goats adorned with colorful strands of yarn, an indication that their lives have been spared.
Across the plateau, the practice of life liberation supports a growing mini-industry. Since 2008, the Kilung Monastery in Sichuan Province has saved hundreds of yaks, sheep and goats through a program financed largely by believers overseas. For $1,000 a yak and $100 a goat, participants can buy an animal headed to the slaughterhouse. A nomadic family will also set aside an animal in their herd and dedicate it to providing wool ($165) or milk ($35). The monastery accepts online payments, including Visa and MasterCard.
Local monks acknowledge that the practice has a negligible impact on the number of animals destined for slaughter, but they say it serves to remind people about the sanctity of life and can also produce concrete benefits for adherents.
In an essay to his followers, Chatral Rinpoche, a 101-year-old Tibetan religious figure who is said to have saved more than a million animals in his lifetime, said mercy release could lead to better harvests and healthier, longer lives for practitioners. “No greater crime is there than taking life away, and no conditioned virtue brings greater merit than the act of saving beings and ransoming their lives,” he wrote in a widely circulated essay. “Therefore, should you wish for happiness and good, exert yourself in this, the most supreme of paths.”
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Aqueous surface coating compositions such as paints, enamels, varnishes and their respective component materials are particularly susceptible to contamination by bacteria and other microorganisms.
Various mono- and bi- cyclic oxymethyleneoxazolidines exhibit biocidal and disinfectant activity and are disclosed in various United States patents, including: 3,890,264; 3,962,271; 4,012,261; 4,022,906; 4,038,284; 4,088,655; 4,138,545; 4,148,905; 4,153,701. These known compounds are substituted at the 2 and in the 4 positions of the ring.
This invention provides a class of hydroxyalkyl oxazolidines and polyoxymethyleneoxazolidines which are characterized by novel structures including substitution at the 3 and in the 5 positions of the ring. The hydroxyalkyl oxazolidines and the resulting polyoxymethyleneoxazolidines are highly effective as antibacterial agents.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
WASHINGTON -- The federal government admitted that it lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children it was tasked with resettling in 2017.Steven Wagner, the acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, detailed the situation in late-April testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations In his testimony, Wagner discussed the work of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which "helps new populations maximize their potential in the United States by linking them to critical resources that assist them in becoming integrated members of American society," according to its website.ORR offers " unaccompanied alien children services " for children who are referred to the agency by the Department of Homeland Security. Children are typically in ORR custody for an average of 56 days before the agency releases them into the custody of a sponsor , the vast majority of whom are parents or close family members. Some children, Wagner said, are released to "other-than-close relatives or non-relatives."Thirty days after a child is released from ORR custody, a case manager contacts the child and sponsor to conduct a welfare check."The case manager confirms that the child is still residing with the sponsor, is enrolled in school, is aware of upcoming court dates, and, most importantly, is safe," Wagner said, according to a transcript released by the Department of Health and Human Services. Case managers follow up with appropriate authorities should any concerns arise during that post-release check.During a three-month period in late 2017, Wagner said, ORR tried to reach 7,635 children and their sponsors. ORR learned that 6,075 children were still with their sponsors, 28 had run away, five had been removed from the country and 52 had relocated to live with somebody else other than the original sponsor.The agency was "unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts" of 1,475 children it attempted to reach, and it referred nearly 800 cases for further investigation.On its website , ORR notes that unaccompanied alien children are "especially vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation and abuse." According to Wagner, though, the Department of Health and Human Services has interpreted federal law such that it has no legal responsibility for children released from its care."However, considering the importance of the post-release period, we are taking a fresh look at that question as a matter of both legal interpretation and appropriate policy. Specifically, we are exploring the question of ORR's responsibilities in relation to children who are released to sponsors, and whether the level of responsibility would differ depending on the child's relationship to his or her sponsor," he told the committee.Wagner admitted that broadening the scope of the agency's responsibility for the children would require a "significant expansion of the current program structure and an increase in resources and possibly additional legal authorities to further clarify ORR's role."The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said after the testimony that federal agencies must assume full responsibility for the care of children, the Associated Press reported in April While Wagner's testimony occurred more than a month ago and was reported by the New York Times, the Associated Press and other media outlets at the time, it began to recirculate on social media Saturday as numerous celebrities, politicians and other public figures shared the story with the hashtag #WhereAreTheChildren. Many demanded that the government track down the missing minors.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pallet exchange apparatus for exchanging pallets between a table of a machine and turntable at a loading and unloading station.
2. Discussion of the Background
Pallet exchange apparatuses are known having a turntable at a loading and unloading station which is indexable to predetermined rotational positions to make it easy for an operator to load and unload a workpiece from a pallet mounted on the turntable, and an exchange mechanism for exchanging pallets between the turntable and a table of a machine tool.
In such pallet exchange apparatus, it is necessary to engage the pallet with the turntable and to disengage the same from the exchange mechanism during loading and unloading operation by the operator. In addition, it is necessary to engage the pallet with the exchange mechanism and to disengage the same from the turntable during the exchanging operation by the exchange mechanism.
Conventionally, such a pallet exchange apparatus is provided with pins which are slidably mounted on the turntable and which are moved by an actuator to engage with and be disengaged from the pallet, and a plurality of latches are pivotally mounted on the exchange mechanism and are rotated by an activator so as to engage with and be disengaged from the pallet.
Moreover, such conventional pallet exchange apparatus is operatively associated with a machine tool in such a manner as to place the pallet exchange apparatus in a desired approximate position relative to the machine tool followed by adjusting precisely the position of the exchange mechanism relative to the table of the machine tool, and finally, adjusting exactly the position of the turntable relative to the exchange mechanism.
As a result, such conventional pallet exchange apparatus becomes comparatively complex and large in structure as well as expensive. In addition, skill and time to adjust positions of the exchange mechanism and the turntable are required.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
The Morgan affair Reprinted from The Short Talk Bulletin - Vol. XI, March, 1933 No. 3. Perhaps the most romantic story of Freemasonry, the fuel which the alleged abduction and murder of William Morgan supplied to the anti-masonic hysteria of a hundred years ago, and the gradual emergence of the Ancient Craft from the cloud which threatened to extinguish it, is a tale which all Freemasons may ponder to their enlightenment. William Morgan, a brickmason, n3 lived in Batavia, New York, n1 from 1824 to 1826. Accounts of him differ widely, as they do of any notorious person. Few are so wicked as to be without friends; few are so good they have not their detractors. From the estimates of both enemies and friends, the years have brought an evaluation of Morgan which shows him as a shiftless rolling stone; uneducated but shrewd; careless of financial obligations: often arrested for debt; idle and improvident; frequently the beneficiary of Masonic charity. That he was really a Mason is doubtful; no record of his raising or Lodge membership exists, but it is certain he received the Royal Arch in Western Star Chapter R. A. M. No. 33 of Le Roy, New York [May 31, 1825 cf. Cummings p. 25]. n6 It is supposed that he was an "eavesdropper" and lied his way into a Lodge in Rochester [1] by imposing on a friend and employer, who was led to vouch for him in Wells Lodge No. 282 at Batavia. [Cummings notes that Wells Lodge never met in Batavia and that Western Star Chapter was numbered 35.] Judge Ebenzer Mix, of Batavia, a Mason of unquestioned reputation, wrote of this alleged Masonic membership: "There must have been a most reprehensible laxity among the Masons both of Rochester and Le Roy; for there was no evidence educed, then or afterwards, that he ever received any Masonic degree save the Royal Arch, on May 31, 1825, at Le Roy." At any rate, he visited Lodges, was willing to assist, made Masonic speeches, took part in degrees. When Companions of Batavia asked for a Royal Arch Chapter, he was among those who signed the petition. But suspicion of his regularity began to grow, and his name was omitted as a member when the Charter was granted. n2 Just how much this incident inspired the enmity he developed for the Fraternity is only a guess; doubtless it had much to do with it. Enemy he became, and it became known n9 that he had applied for a copyright on a book which was to "expose" Masonic ritual, secrets and procedure. n12 In spite of the deep resentment which this proposed exposé created, Morgan entered into a contract (March 13, 1826) with three men for the publication of this work. These were: David C. Miller, n5 an Entered Apprentice of twenty years standing, stopped from advancement for cause, who thus held a grudge against the Fraternity; John Davids, Morgans landlord; and Russel Dyer, of whom little is known. These three entered into a penal bond of half a million dollars to pay Morgan one fourth of the profits of the book. n11 Morgan boasted in bars and on the street of his progress in writing this book. The more he bragged, the higher the feeling against him ran, and the greater the determination engendered that the exposé should never appear. Brethren were deeply angered. Fearful that were the "secrets" of Freemasonry "exposed", the Order would die out, feelings ran high. Matters came to a head in September, 1826. Morgan was arrested for the theft of a shirt and tie. Of this he was acquitted, but immediately rearrested for failure to pay a debt of $2.68, and jailed. After one day behind bars, someone paid the debt. When he was released he left in a coach with several men, apparently not of his own free will. He was taken to Ft. Niagara and there confined in an unused magazine. Then Morgan disappeared! n16 What happened to William Morgan? Enemies of the Craft said Freemasons had kidnapped and murdered him, to prevent the publication of his exposé. Freemasons, of course, indignantly denied the charge. As time went on and Morgan was not found, members of the Craft disavowed any approval of any such act, if it had been committed. Governor Clinton, Past Grand Master, issued proclamation after proclamation, n21 the last one offering two thousand dollars reward "that, if living, Morgan might be returned to his family; if murdered, that the perpetrators might be brought to punishment." Cf. Cummings, pp. 30-31. Morgan in chains. [8] It was not too difficult to discover that Masons were concerned in Morgans hundred and twenty-five mile journey to Ft. Niagara. Three members of the Craft Chesebro, Lawson and Sawyer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to "seize and secrete" Morgan, and, together with Eli Bruce, Sheriff, and one John Whitney, all served terms in prison for the offense. n18 But murder could not be proved for no body was found. In October, 1827, a body was washed ashore forty miles below Ft. Niagara. Morgans widow "identified" the body, although it was dressed in other clothes than her husband had worn alive; was bearded, although Morgan was clean shaven; had a full head of hair, although Morgan was bald! Thurlow Weed [1797-1882], Rochester Telegraph Editor, was accused of having the corpse shaved and of adding long white hairs to ears and nostrils, to simulate the appearance of Morgan. The first inquest decided that this was, indeed, the body of William Morgan. Three inquests were held in all. The third decided, on the unimpeachable evidence of Mrs. Sara Munro, who minutely described the body, its marks, and the clothes it wore, that the corpse was not William Morgan, but Timothy Munro [or Monroe cf. Cummings, p. 29.], of Clark, Canada, her husband. Commonplace and unexciting truth seldom catches up with scandalous, electrifying, remarkable falsehood! William Morgan had disappeared. Freemasons had been convicted of abducting him. A body had been found and identified as Morgan. That better evidence and a less excited jury had later reversed this identification was anti-climatic. The stories of Morgans "murder" persisted. Thurlow Weed, whom history shows as an unscrupulous opportunist [4], no matter what the exact truth of his activities with the body may have been, added fuel to the flames. Weed died in 1882, On his death bed he stated that in 1860 (twenty-two years before) John Whitney, who had been convicted in the conspiracy charge, confessed to him the full details of the murder of Morgan. According to this alleged confession, Whitney and four others carried the abducted Morgan in a boat to the center of the river, bound him with chains, and dumped him overboard. Weed stated and here his memory failed him that Whitney had promised to dictate and sign this confession, but died before he could do so. But Whitney died in 1869, nine years after! Whitney did indeed tell a story not to Thurlow Weed, who was his accuser in the conspiracy case and whom he hated but to Robert Morris. This story is both the most probable and the best attested of any we have, as to the true fate of William Morgan. Whitney told Morris that he had consulted with Governor Clinton at Albany, relative to what could be done to prevent Morgan executing his plans to print the exposé. Clinton sternly forbade any illegal moves, but suggested the purchase of the Morgan manuscript, for enough money to enable Morgan to move beyond the reach of the influence and probable enmity of his associates in the publishing enterprise. From some source (Masons? Governor Clinton?) Whitney was assured of any amount needed, up to a thousand dollars, which was a great sum in those days. In Batavia Whitney summoned Morgan to a conference in which the bribe was temptingly held forth. n15 On the one hand, the enmity of all, persecution, continual danger it is not improbable that threats were mingled with the bribe! On the other hand, money, safety, freedom from a plan to publish which held much of danger. If Morgan would take five hundred dollars, go to Canada, "disappear", his family would be provided for, and later sent to him! Morgan agreed. He was to be arrested and "kidnapped", to make it easy to get away from Miller and his associates. Whitney feared that without some such spectacular escape, Morgan might at the last moment decline to go through with the plan, fearing reprisals from his friends in the publishing venture. Whitney told Morris that two Canadian Masons received Morgan from the hands of his "kidnappers" at Ft. Niagara, traveled with him a day and a night to a place near Hamilton, Ontario, where they paid him the five hundred dollars, receiving his receipt and signed agreement never to return without permission of Colonel William King, Sheriff Bruce, or Whitney. n17 Later there were two other "confessions" of complicity in the "murder" of Morgan neither consistent with the facts. Doubtless they were of the same hysterical origin which leads so many notoriety seekers to confess crimes which by no possibility they could have committed. Did William Morgan choose the easier way, disappear with five hundred dollars from a dangerous situation, eliminating from his responsibilities a wife and family suddenly burdensome, and, in a new freedom, ship on a vessel from Montreal and out into the world, there to come to an unknown end? n19 Or was he basely murdered by Masons who thought the crime less than the evil results to follow on the publication of Morgans book. No man knows. No incontestable evidence can be adduced or was ever adduced definitely to prove either solution. All that is undoubted is that William Morgan was apparently kidnapped and did disappear. n19 It is difficult, a hundred years after, to understand the extent and power of the widespread excitement and passions this incident created. For the fame and infamy of the Morgan affair spread over an immense territory. It was the beginning of an anti-Masonic sentiment which grew and spread like wild fire. meetings were held, the Order was denounced by press and pulpit. An anti-Masonic paper was started with Thurlow Weed as Editor soon joined by the Anti-Masonic Review, in New York City. The many groups in Pennsylvania, already opposed to any oath bound society (Quakers, Lutherans, Mennonites, Dunkards, Moravians, Schwenkfelders, German Reformed Church) were aroused to a high pitch of feeling against the alleged "murderers" and "kidnappers" the Freemasons. Cf. Cummings p. 40. The anti-Masonic excitement spread and fast and far. Gould, in his History of Free-Masonry, thus epitomizes the spirit of that time: "This country has seen fierce and bitter political contests, but no other has approached the bitterness of this campaign against the Masons. No society, civil, military or religious, escaped its influence. No relation of family or friends was a barrier to it. The hatred of Masonry was carried everywhere, and there was no retreat so sacred that it did not enter. Not only were teachers and pastors driven from their stations, but the children of Masons were excluded from the schools, and members from their churches. The Sacrament was refused to Masons by formal vote of the Church, for no other offense than their Masonic connection. Families were divided. Brother was arrayed against brother, father against son, and even wives against their husbands. Desperate efforts were made to take away chartered rights from Masonic Corporations and to pass laws that would prevent Masons from holding their meetings and performing their ceremonies." Reverend Brother John C. Palmer, Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, says in his little classic of the Craft, Morgan and anti-Masonry (Volume 7 of The Little Masonic Library, published by The Masonic Service Association in 1925): "The pressure was so strong that withdrawals by individuals and bodies were numerous. In 1827, two hundred and twenty-seven lodges were represented in the Grand Lodge of New York. In 1835, the number had dwindled to forty-one. Every Lodge in the State of Vermont surrendered its Charter or became dormant; and the Grand Lodge, for several years, ceased to hold its sessions. As in Vermont, so also in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut; and in lesser degrees in several other states. The Masonic Temple was cleft in twain; its brotherhood scattered, its trestleboard without work; its working tools shattered. Thus Masonry endured the penalty of the mistaken zeal of those fearful brethren who thought that the revealing of the ritual to profane eyes would destroy the Order and who hoped to save it by removing the traitor within the camp." Space here is not sufficient to retell the interesting, often exciting, and always varied story of the political campaigns [10] which were predicated on, and took much of their ammunition from, the anti- Masonic excitement which followed the Morgan affair. It is not to be supposed that the abduction and alleged never proved murder of Morgan was the sole cause of this outburst, any more than was the assassination in 1914 the sole cause of the World War. Both were triggers which set off guns which, in turn, caused other explosions. Suffice it here that a wave of hysteria was seized upon by able politicians, fanned by demagogues, increased by the righteous indignation of good men and true who saw not beneath the surface, helped onward by press and pulpit with the best of intentions but little understanding, until the whole east flamed with passion and Freemasons were spit upon in the streets, lodges threw away their charters, and Freemasonry bowed its head to a storm as unjust and undeserved as all religious persecutions have always been. Like any other hysteria, this passed. Passions wore themselves away. A few sturdy and brave men stood staunchly by a few Grand Lodges with high courage and the strength of the right never ceased to proclaim their allegiance to the principles of the Order. Little by little, Freemasonry raised its head; one by one, lodges took heart; brother by brother, Craftsmen returned to their Altars. After a period following almost twenty years of more or less complete eclipse, the sun of Freemasonry shone again, and the world was treated to a spectacle that has been a heartening lesson to millions and will be to counted millions yet to be born anew at the sacred Altar of Freemasonry the strange sight of an Order many had thought dead, suffering from uncounted thousands of stabs to the heart, coming again to life to grow and thrive and attract to it then. as it had in the historic past, men of the highest character. It is for this that the Craft of today can offer thanks to the Great Architect for the Morgan affair. Dreadful as it was to the men who lived through it, terrible in its consequences to the brethren who suffered, it demonstrated again and it may be hoped and believed, once for all that the underlying faith of Freemasonry, its Ancient Landmarks, its foundation upon Deity and the Great Light. together are stronger than any evil, more lasting than any calumny, more enduring than any human passions. Forever and forever, So mote it be ! Selected bibliography
1. History of Freemasonry,Robert Freke Gould. Vol IV. The John C. Yorston Publishing Co., Philadelphia: 1902. pp. 316-29.
2. The True History Regarding Alleged Connections of the Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons with the Abduction and Murder of William Morgan..., P. C Huntington. New York: 1886.
3. The Strange Disappearance of William Morgan,Thomas A. Knight. Published by the author at Brecksville, Ohio. The Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Company New York City: 1932.
4. William Morgan; Or political Anti-Masonry, Its Rise, Growth and Decadence,Rob Morris. New York: 1883. 398 pp.
5. Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry, Addressed to The Hon. John Quincy Adams,William L. Stone. New York: 1832.
6. "An American Masonic Crisis: The Morgan Incident of 1826 and Its Aftermath," J. Hugo Tatsch, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum Vol. XXXIV (1921), pp. 196-209.
7. Bibliography of Anti-Masonry. William Leon Cummings. With a Sketch of the "Morgan Affair" and an Appendix Containing Several Important Documents Etc. North Carolina Lodge of Research, No. 666. Syracuse, N.Y., September 24, 1933. pb. 128 pp.
8. Back page woodcut from Illustrations of Masonry by One of the Fraternity. Who has devoted thirty years to the subject. William Morgan. Rochester. Printed for the author. 1827. 90pp pb. H. L. Haywood, in the The Builder magazine (May 1923 - Volume IX - Number 5), reports that the best history of this whole movement is "The Anti-Masonic Party: A Study of Political Anti-Masonry in the United States, 1827-1840," by Charles McCarthy: this scholarly work will be found in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1902, Volume I, page 865. Consult also: Autobiography by Thurlow Weed: Autobiography by William H. Seward; Stanwoods History of the Presidency; The Jacksonian Democracy, by MacDonald; Hammonds Political History of New York, Volume II; Diary by John Quincy Adams; Harveys History of Lodge No. 61, of Wilkesbarre, Pa.; Letters on the Masonic Institution, by John Quincy Adams; Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry by William L. Stone; Mackeys Encyclopedia of Masonry; and Stevens' Cyclopaedia of Fraternities. In December, 1918, The Builder published a comprehensive study of "The Anti-Masonic Movement" by E.B. Gibbs.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
---
title: Field (ADO for Visual C++ syntax)
ROBOTS: INDEX
ms.prod: access
ms.assetid: 0e45d2ab-850d-5b1c-ac78-95c966d8cf26
ms.date: 10/12/2018
localization_priority: Normal
---
# Field (ADO for Visual C++ syntax)
**Applies to:** Access 2013 | Access 2016
## Methods
[AppendChunk](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/3fa931a3-2cd7-a3b0-a750-40e18bc9937e%28Office.15%29.aspx) (VARIANT _Data_ )
[GetChunk](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/1ef1c37a-8453-8d3b-251a-d16e0d519fd7%28Office.15%29.aspx) (long _Length,_ VARIANT * _pvar_ )
## Properties
[get_ActualSize](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/020a414d-e6aa-5fb9-9b77-bd9d10124f8a%28Office.15%29.aspx) (long * _pl_ )
[get_Attributes](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/4cc1f036-606e-7d4b-d270-af374e9d99fa%28Office.15%29.aspx) (long * _pl_ )
- **put_Attributes** (long _lAttributes_ )
- **get_DataFormat** (IUnknown ** _ppiDF_ )
- **put_DataFormat** (IUnknown * _piDF_ )
[get_DefinedSize](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/8d6db4c9-fbdc-9fcd-63f0-bd677c5ebcf6%28Office.15%29.aspx) (long * _pl_ )
- **put_DefinedSize** (long _lSize_ )
[get_Name](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/4b19bd08-ac3c-86f0-471d-06a37a0d4f89%28Office.15%29.aspx) (BSTR * _pbstr_ )
[get_NumericScale](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/51b232d2-5bfd-521c-f4e9-65655ecc7c70%28Office.15%29.aspx) (BYTE * _pbNumericScale_ )
- **put_NumericScale** (BYTE _bScale_ )
[get_OriginalValue](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/02ffc728-4692-d439-e2a6-2f02cca53a71%28Office.15%29.aspx) (VARIANT * _pvar_ )
[get_Precision](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/c9d54d78-d5a5-caf8-d635-259d1fcc0595%28Office.15%29.aspx) (BYTE * _pbPrecision_ )
- **put_Precision** (BYTE _bPrecision_ )
[get_Type](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/14d99172-2145-05ae-620b-459ba097f05c%28Office.15%29.aspx) (DataTypeEnum * _pDataType_ )
- **put_Type** (DataTypeEnum _DataType_ )
[get_UnderlyingValue](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/f84f4c1c-2bd4-a725-3575-ed063ead13c8%28Office.15%29.aspx) (VARIANT * _pvar_ )
[get_Value](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/ff21d122-98e3-2b48-d92f-e696b8079fc5%28Office.15%29.aspx) (VARIANT * _pvar_ )
- **put_Value** (VARIANT _Val_ )
## See also
- [Access for developers forum](https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/home?forum=accessdev)
- [Access help on support.office.com](https://support.office.com/search/results?query=Access)
- [Access help on answers.microsoft.com](https://answers.microsoft.com/)
- [Access forums on UtterAccess](https://www.utteraccess.com/forum/index.php?act=idx)
- [Access developer and VBA programming help center (FMS)](https://www.fmsinc.com/MicrosoftAccess/developer/)
- [Access posts on StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ms-access)
[!include[Support and feedback](~/includes/feedback-boilerplate.md)]
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Unix How to check if a specific word is entered in as an argument
I'm writing a script in Unix but I need a way to check an argument that is entered in the command line is a specific word.
So if when using the script the user types:
$ ./script hello
my script can tell that "hello" was entered as an argument and can display a message appropriately.
And if the user types something other than "hello" as an argument then my script can display another message.
Thanks.
A:
This should work:
#!/bin/bash
if [[ $1 == hello ]];then
echo "hello was entered"
else
echo "hello wasn't entered"
fi
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Long descending motor tract axons and their control of neck and axial muscles.
It has been tacitly assumed that a long descending motor tract axon consists of a private line connecting the cell of origin to a single muscle, as a motoneuron innervates a single muscle. However, this notion of a long descending motor tract referred to as a private line is no longer tenable, since recent studies have showed that axons of all major long descending motor tracts send their axon collaterals to multiple spinal segments, suggesting that they may exert simultaneous influences on different groups of spinal interneurons and motoneurons of multiple muscles. The long descending motor systems are divided into two groups, the medial and the lateral systems including interneurons and motoneurons. In this chapter, we focus mainly on the medial system (vestibulospinal, reticulospinal and tectospinal systems) in relation to movement control of the neck, describe the intraspinal morphologies of single long descending motor tract axons that are stained with intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase, and provide evidence that single long motor-tract neurons are implicated in the neural implementation of functional synergies for head movements.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
How do I do simple flat link to .php file redirect?
My current .htaccess file is as
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.+)\.html$ $1.php [L]
This is at the directory level, I do not want to have a site-wide .htaccess.
I can redirect ../file.html to ../file.php but I am not able to do it for ../file -> ../file.php
My URL would be www.domain.com/sub1/sub2/file/ The file that should be run is www.domain.com/sub1/sub2/file.php But I want this rule to work only under sub2. So the rule will be included in the .htaccess at sub2
What exactly I need to change on this code to be able to do that?
More specifically, why is this not working?
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php [L]
A:
This is working as I want it to work:
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)/?$ $1.php [L]
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Începând de vineri, 21 octombrie, RCS & RDS creşte vitezele de upload la serviciul de internet Digi Net Fiberlink 300, 500 şi 1000 şi reduce tarifele abonamentelor. Vitezele de upload disponibile la pachetul Digi Net Fiberlink 300 sunt de până la 150 Mbps, pentru Digi Net Fiberlink 500 de până la 250 Mbps şi pentru Digi Net Fiberlink 1000 de până la 500 Mbps şi se aplică clienţilor noi şi existenţi.
În acelaşi timp, compania reduce cu peste 10% tarifele serviciului de internet Digi Net atât pentru clienţii noi care contactează acum unul dintre abonamentele Digi Net Fiberlink 500 sau Digi Net Fiberlink 1000, dar şi pentru clienţii existenţi dacă solicită schimbarea tipului de abonament sau îşi prelungesc contractul existent.
Astfel, clienţii noi vor plăti pentru pachetul Digi Net Fiberlink 500 doar 34 lei/lună (TVA inclus) de la 39 lei (TVA inclus) şi pentru Digi Net Fiberlink 1000 doar 39 lei/lună (TVA inclus) de la 45 lei/lună (TVA inclus).
“Dezvoltarea infrastructurii şi investiţiile în tehnologii noi au reprezentat întotdeauna o prioritate pentru a oferi servicii adaptate cerinţelor clienţilor noştri şi de a da valoare pentru preţul plătit. Clienţii aleg compania RCS & RDS ca furnizor de servicii de internet pentru calitatea şi performanţa serviciilor, pentru flexibilitatea pe care o oferim în personalizarea pachetelor, pentru acoperire, precum şi pentru deschiderea pe care o avem de a extinde serviciile pornind de la cerinţele generate de evoluţia rapidă a pieţei. Noile prețuri pentru serviciile Digi Net Fiberlink 500 şi 1000 sunt de acum mai accesibile pentru toate categoriile de consumatori.” spune Valentin Popoviciu, Vicepreşedinte RCS & RDS.
De asemenea, clienții Digi Net Fiberlink 300, 500 și 1000 care îşi activează contul Digi Play – serviciul de video la cerere - până la 31 decembrie 2016, pot urmări, până la 31 iulie 2017, fără niciun cost suplimentar la abonament, conţinutul variat de filme, concerte şi animaţii disponibil online. În plus, în funcţie de tipul de abonament ales, clienţii vor avea acces fără costuri suplimentare în Digi Storage, serviciul de stocare, partajare şi organizare a datelor personale în cloud.
RCS & RDS a finalizat la sfârşitul anului trecut proiectul de modernizare a reţelei naţionale şi internaţionale prin trecerea de la multiplu de 10Gbps la capacităţi multiplu de 100Gbps, capacități care vor fi extinse și în acest an. Această implementare a îmbunătăţit calitatea furnizării serviciului de internet fix, a mărit capacitatea reţelei asigurând în acest fel o creşterea semnificativă a lărgimii de bandă pentru a susţine serviciile ce solicită trafic intens şi stabil pentru serviciile şi aplicațiile de ultimă generaţie.
Conform Netograf.ro - aplicația ANCOM pentru testarea și monitorizarea calității serviciului de internet fix, RCS & RDS se află pe primul loc în topul operatorilor care furnizeaza servicii de internet fix din România, înregistrând cele mai mari viteze pentru acest serviciu.
Serviciile oferite de compania RCS & RDS pot fi comandate apelând 03XX. 400 4600, în orice magazin Digi sau Punct de prezenţă RCS & RDS.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
289 F.2d 506
Application of SHAKESPEARE COMPANY.
Patent Appeal No. 6629.
United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.
February 21, 1961.
Rehearing Denied June 2, 1961.
Kenyon & Kenyon, New York City, Robert U. Geib, Jr., Washington, D. C. (Ralph L. Chappell, New York City, of counsel), for appellant.
Clarence W. Moore, Washington, D. C. (George C. Roeming, Washington, D. C., of counsel), for the Commissioner of Patents.
Before WORLEY, Chief Judge, and RICH, MARTIN, and SMITH, Judges, and Judge WILLIAM H. KIRKPATRICK.*
RICH, Judge.
1
This case has to do with marks on fishing rods which appellant claims to be and desires to register as a trademark. The appeal is from the refusal of the Patent Office to do so.
2
The application, Ser. No. 16,977, filed October 4, 1956, says:
3
"The mark consists of a continuous spiral marking formed in relief on the surface of and extending for substantially the full length of the rod.
4
* * * * * *
5
"The mark is used by applying it to the goods."
6
A drawing was filed which is supposed to show the mark, and does so as well as a drawing can, but its true nature must be gathered from the specimens actual fishing rods of resin-bonded glass filaments. The mark will best be understood from a consideration of how it is made, as described in United States Patent No. 2,571,717 to Howald and Meyer. Appellant's rod has been advertised as the "patented Howald-Process Wonderod."1
7
The Howald et al. patent discloses a rod and a method of making it wherein the rod is constructed by covering a core with a layer of longitudinally extending glass filaments which have been pre-coated with a hardenable synthetic resin adhesive such as a polymerizable unsaturated polyester or a diallyl ester. The core is some light wood or resin material strong in compression and may be tapered. It is fed into a machine wherein the resin-coated glass filaments are applied to it from bobbins and bound around it by a temporary spiral wrapping of binding tape. While still bound by the tape the assembly passes through an oven wherein the resin is set and after leaving the oven the tape is unwound. According to the patent specification, the tape may be a steel ribbon, a cellophane strip, or other tough smooth material. According to the record, cellophane is used in practice.
8
This manufacturing process leaves its mark on the rod. It is this mark which appellant wants to register. Until the mark has had attention called to it, it is not very apparent. Inspection of samples shows that a tape about 4 mm. wide has been wrapped spirally on the rod with an overlap of about 0.5 mm. The setting of the resin within this smooth wrapping leaves a glassy surface with a slight spiral rib of no greater height than the thickness of the cellophane wrapping, produced by the overlap of its adjacent turns. In other words, one can see where the edges of the tape were located during the curing of the resin. It might be considered more of a tactile mark than a visual mark because this surface roughness is easier to feel than to see. It is apparent that it got there as a necessary result of the process of manufacture, as an incident of the process used, and was not applied arbitrarily for the purpose of indicating origin or identifying the goods. In fact, such use was admittedly an afterthought. Goods made by this process necessarily bear this mark and if it is not to remain, it must be removed by a further processing step, such as grinding, which, it can be presumed, would involve further manufacturing cost.
9
Appellant tells us, by way of argument, that it recognized in the beginning that these markings might be a definite handicap to sales and considered the desirability of grinding them off to make a smooth rod. It then says:
10
"Appellant, however, decided against this step and adopted the spiral markings as a trademark and then started a campaign aimed at teaching the public that the spiral mark was a Shakespeare trademark."
11
On the basis of the assumed success of the advertising campaign, which we accept, arguendo, appellant says the mark has become distinctive of its goods in commerce, has acquired a "secondary meaning," and that registrability follows as a matter of course, citing section 2(f) of the Trademark Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. § 1052(f), 15 U.S.C.A. § 1052 (f)).
12
We have just had occasion to review the law relevant to the instant appeal in the case of In re Deister Concentrator Company, Inc., appeal No. 6608, which we are deciding concurrently herewith, Cust. & Pat.App., 289 F.2d 496. That case involved an alleged trademark which we held unregistrable because it was "functional." While the appellant here argues that the spiral ridge marking is not "functional" in the sense that it performs no useful function in the rod, nor any decorative function, the principle of law which underlies the refusal to register "functional" marks applies equally to the instant case. In the Deister case we said:
13
"The true basis of such holdings is not that they [the marks] cannot or do not indicate source to the purchasing public but that there is an overriding public policy of preventing their monopolization, of preserving the public right to copy."
14
For a discussion of the law which leads us to that conclusion we refer to our opinion, which also points out the irrelevancy of attempts by advertising to create exclusive trademark rights in that which cannot be monopolized under the law.
15
We hold that the spiral marking on glass fishing rods which results from the above described process of manufacture cannot be monopolized by treating it as a trademark, for which reason it is not registrable as a trademark. Whether or not the process is covered by the claims of the Howald et al. patent, we must treat the process, and the resulting product, as one which will eventually be in the public domain, even if it is not now. Were the spiral marking to be treated as a trademark the holder of the trademark rights would have a potentially perpetual monopoly which would enable it either to prevent others from using the process which results in the mark or force them to go to the trouble and expense of removing it. It is immaterial that other processes may be available by which glass rods without the mark can be made. Absent patent protection on the Howald et al. process, a condition which will exist after October 16, 1968, when the patent expires, freedom to utilize that process and whatever advantages it may have is a public right which cannot be interfered with by alleged trademark rights. This is true notwithstanding any present ability of purchasers to recognize a Shakespeare "Wonderod" by reason of the spiral marking for reasons fully explained in the Deister opinion. It is also immaterial how many fishermen or purchasers think the marking is a "trademark."
16
The Patent Office Solicitor would have us hold the spiral marking to be "functional," "because it results from the specific process described in the Howald et al. patent." While this might be convenient from the standpoint of making certain precedents literally applicable and facilitate the classification of legal literature, the controlling principle goes deeper and we prefer to rest our decision on the principle rather than on a mere label. It seems to us appellant is quite accurate in saying the spiral mark performs no function whatever, but that is not the determining factor.
17
The decision below is affirmed.
18
Affirmed.
Notes:
*
United States Senior District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, designated to participatein place of Judge O'CONNELL, pursuant to provisions of Section 294(d), Title 28 United States Code.
1
The presence of the trademark "Wonderod" on the goods has in no way influenced our decision and has no bearing on the issue
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
The textField is ignoring pattern for showing sum with currency
I have a variable V{Total} where the pattern ###0.00 is not applied, what am I missing?
<textField pattern="###0.00" isBlankWhenNull="false">
<reportElement uuid="ea9933c9-1863-474f-a6e2-65cfe3f07426" x="390" y="9" width="144" height="20" forecolor="#000000"/>
<box>
<pen lineColor="#999999"/>
<topPen lineColor="#999999"/>
<leftPen lineColor="#999999"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.5" lineColor="#999999"/>
<rightPen lineColor="#999999"/>
</box>
<textElement>
<font fontName="Verdana" isBold="true" isUnderline="false"/>
</textElement>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[$V{Total}+".- €"]]</textFieldExpression>
</textField>
A:
You are trying to format a string:
$V{Total}+".- €" will be a string, even if the the variable was decimal adding the .-€ will turn it into a string, thus meaning your formatting won't work
What you need to do is format the value on its own and the add the trailing characters, try something like this:
new DecimalFormat("###0.00").format($V{Total})+".- €"
Full Solution:
<textField isBlankWhenNull="false">
<reportElement uuid="ea9933c9-1863-474f-a6e2-65cfe3f07426" x="390" y="9" width="144" height="20" forecolor="#000000"/>
<box>
<pen lineColor="#999999"/>
<topPen lineColor="#999999"/>
<leftPen lineColor="#999999"/>
<bottomPen lineWidth="0.5" lineColor="#999999"/>
<rightPen lineColor="#999999"/>
</box>
<textElement>
<font fontName="Verdana" isBold="true" isUnderline="false"/>
</textElement>
<textFieldExpression><![CDATA[new DecimalFormat("###0.00").format($V{Total})+".- €"]]></textFieldExpression>
</textField>
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
All posts in category Plutonomy
The Twitter world is atwitter with a photo of a spectacular bar tab in Dubai.
Bloomberg News
The now infamous receipt is from the Cavalli Club, the posh bar at the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai. It’s dated 3:19 a.m. on Monday. The amount: $105,000.
And that doesn’t include dinner – only drinks. Apparently, however, it did include a birthday cake, suggesting that this epic drinking binge at least had a celebratory purpose.
The identity and nationality of the payer is not known. Yet the bill, confirmed by the club, is being seen as a sign that extravagance has returned to Dubai, which you might recall had some cash flow problems in 2009. According to the Cavalli Club’s operations manager, tabs of $105,000 or more are now commonplace.
“Spend of this nature is not unusual at Cavalli Club,” he told the The National.
What was the mystery drinker (or drinkers) drinking? Here’s are some of the items on the receipt, which says as much about the mark-ups at the Cavalli Club as the state of hyper-consumption in the Middle East.
“Bankers whose bonuses have not materialized, entrepreneurs suffering temporary lulls in cash flow and other formerly wealthy individuals are seeking respite at the pawnshop, more typically the refuge of the destitute,” the article states.
Apparently, the business of pawning Ferraris, fine art, Rolexes and and Cartier jewels has never been better. A pawn business called borro is sending tow trucks to posh enclaves like Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham to pick up an ever growing list of Porsches and BMW’s.
He said that the the volume of clients has more than doubled and the average size of loan has tripled. Clients can borrow up to $1.5 million as long as they have good credit, but the interest rates on the biggest loans can top 60%.
Why would the rich pay such rates?
Just as we’ve seen in the U.S., today’s rich are increasingly reliant on financial markets and therefore more prone to sudden income shocks that can leave them short of cash. Sometimes those shortages are temporary. Sometimes they signal long-term collapse. Either way, the over-leveraged, over-spending High-Betas continued to fuel a rise in high-end repo men and pawn shops to the wealthy.
This year’s bad bonus season (bad still being relative if you’re unemployed) will only add to the business.
The fact that the rise of High-Beta pawn shops is happening at the same time as the rise in luxury sales is not inconsistent. First, most of the luxury growth is in Asia. Second, the 1% is such a fast-changing group that some of the newer arrivals to wealth are celebrating with bling while the departing rich are headed to the pawn shops.
Why do you think high-end pawn shops are booming at a time when the rich are supposedly getting richer?
When it comes to mapping the world’s changing plutocracy, the Rolls-Royce Index is among the more useful tools.
Simply put, it measures which country is buying the most Rolls-Royces. The index not only gives us a sense of the country’s with the most excess wealth to burn (a base model Rolls will set you back at least $245,000), but also the citizens who are most anxious to display it. For ages, America has topped the list.
But 2011, China beat out the U.S. to top the index for the first time.
According to a report in the L.A. Times, the country known only a decade ago as the bicycle capital of the world now leads in Rolls Royce buying. To honor their new best customers, Rolls is unveiling “Year of the Dragon” models “with hand-embroidered versions of mythical animals on leather headrests.” The sticker price: $1.6 million.
Many of China’s Rolls buyers are heirs and heiresses, rather than self-made rich.
“Our customers are super-rich, second-generation young people who have inherited money or whose parents buy them cars,” Wilson Ho of the dealership and luxury group Sparkle Rolls. “Chinese parents love their kids. They’ll buy them whatever they like.”
Rolls Royce said the official numbers for 2011 won’t be out until Jan. 9, and it never breaks out country by country sales. In 2010, the company had its best year ever with 2,711 cars sold globally and 2011 will be even better.
The company said that as of June of 2011, Asia Pacific led the world in Rolls sales growth. While sales in North American grew 40%, sales in Asia/Pac grew 170%. Here is the 2010 Rolls Index, which will presumably be updated soon.
For the American wealthy, the year 1932 always conjures The Nightmare Scenario.
It was the year of reckoning both financially and politically.
After the 1929 crash and anemic recovery, American voters rose up in a wave of populist anger and sought to bring down the powerful cartels and plutocrats that they blamed for the country’s ills. Labor unrest was rife. In 1932, thousands of war veterans marched on Washington to demand their promised cash bonuses.
The year 1932 was the year Huey Long, “The Kingfish,” became a U.S. senator and launched his “Share Our Wealth” crusade, announcing that 4% of the American people own 85% of America’s wealth. (Today it’s closer to 60%). Long proclaimed, Michael Moore-like, that new limits had to be placed on the nation’s millionaires and billionaires:
“Giv’em a yacht! Giv’em a Palace! Send ‘em to Reno and give them a new wife when they want it, if that’s what they want. [Laughter] But when they’ve got everything on God’s loving earth that they can eat and they can wear and they can live in, and all that their children can live in and wear and eat, and all of their children’s children can use, then we’ve got to call Mr. Morgan and Mr. Mellon and Mr. Rockefeller back and say, come back here, put that stuff back on this table here that you took away from here that you don’t need. Leave something else for the American people to consume.”
The same year, FDR was elected President and pushed through a tax increase on the wealthy that included a hike in the top rate to 63% from 35%.
The year 1932 was also the year that many of the wealthy recorded their biggest losses, as the “false bottoms” of 1930 and 1931 finally caved. In 1929, there were 413 Americans earning more than $1 million a year. In 1932, there were only 20, marking a 95% decline.
It was, in short, the annus horribilis for the American rich – both politically and financially.
Will 2012 mark a replay? It’s unlikely in politics, but financially, anything is possible.
Obama is no Huey Long, of course. His proposed tax hikes on the rich are more Clinton than FDR. Yet the big fear among the wealthy is that the election-year political rhetoric will fan the flames of the Occupy movement and create another historic assault on the wealthy, where the rich are universally vilified by the public, taxed more by Washington and targeted in the broader culture.
There are already signs of this coming true. The Occupy movement is planning a new phase of “guerilla” tactics next year. Coverage of inequality and anger against the wealthy have reached a fever pitch (even if inequality is actually declining). New York has led the way to raising taxes on the wealthy, after promising not to. And even the Republicans are using “wealthy” as the ultimate insult against each other.
But the likely reality is that when it comes to policy, 2012 won’t come anywhere near 1932. National politics may shift slightly to the left next year, they won’t go as far as 1932. In the end, Americans care more about growth than inequality.
The real risks for the rich are in financial markets. As we’ve seen among today’s High-Beta Rich, financial markets make or break today’s big fortunes. Given the recent volatility, the real risk of a return to 1932 lies in the stock market – not in Washington.
Lost in the hyper-politicized debate over taxing the rich is one critical fact: the wealthy are bad taxpayers.
I don’t mean that they avoid taxes (though they do). I mean that of all economic groups in the U.S., the wealthy are the most unpredictable and unstable. (For more on their booms and busts, see here).
In an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, conservative author Brendan Miniter argues that raising taxes on the 1% would make an already precarious revenue stream even more dangerous. Take California, which derives more than 40% of its personal income-tax collections from the 1%. A study showed that the decline in incomes among those making $200,000 or more accounted for 93% of the state’s revenue decline between 2007 and 2008.
In other words, what’s wrong with California? The manic incomes of the rich.
He also cites New York as an example of the dangers of depending on the rich.
“The truth is that the wealthy are unreliable taxpayers because their income is volatile,” he writes.
His answer is to avoid taxes on the wealthy and to cut government spending – the usual conservative position.
Yet the volatility argument doesn’t have to lead to lower taxes on the wealthy. Another solution to the problem is to keep or raise taxes on the wealthy, but allocate their boom-time revenues to one-time infrastructure projects, like roads, bridges and school buildings. If the incomes of the rich crash (which they always do), the state won’t have to cut ongoing programs.
Another solution, ala Massachusetts, is to create a real rainy day fund, with enough money put away during a bubble to fund the aftermath.
What do you think is the solution to the extreme volatility of revenues from the rich?
We hear it every day: “Inequality is at an all-time high.” America has woken up to the real crime — the gap between the rich and the poor. The President says it. Pundits say it. The Occupiers are living, breathing proof.
There’s just one flaw: Americans as a whole aren’t more concerned about inequality.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 52% of Americans say the rich-poor gap is “an acceptable part of our economic system.” A slightly lower 45% said the gap “needs to be fixed.”
Associated Press
Protesters have been speaking out against the gap between the rich and the poor. But Americans as a whole aren’t more concerned about the gap.
Those are high numbers, no doubt. But Gallup says Americans are less concerned about inequality now than they were in 1998. In 1998, 52% of Americans wanted to “fix” inequality.
The survey found that Americans prefer growth over a reduction in inequality. Some 82% said growth was either “extremely” or “very” important; only 46% said “reducing the income and wealth gap between rich and poor” was “extremely” or “very” important.
“In short, the public wants fairness but retains a healthy skepticism about the federal government’s ability to achieve it,” as Charles Lanewrites in the Washington Post.
Inequality crusaders will say Americans just don’’t understand the problem. If they knew the real numbers, that 45% who said the gap “needs to be fixed” would be much higher. Others say Americans have simply become numb to the problem.
But there is another possible explanation for why Americans care less about inequality today than they did in 1998. Inequality itself is lower than it was in 1998.
I know this is hard to believe. But the most recent data from the IRS and Federal Reserve show that income inequality was lower in 2009 (the latest period available) than it was in 1995. The top 1% of earners held 16.93% of the nation’s income in 2009. In 1998, their share was 18.47%.
Their share of wealth is flat or down. “The share of the wealthiest one percent has shown no significant change since 1995,” according to arecent study by the Federal Reserve. In 1998, the richest 1% held 33.9% of the wealth. In 2009, it was 33.3%.
Would Americans notice the declines? Not likely. And the numbers may have changed since 2009.
But the stats showing flat to lower inequality may help explain why Americans aren’t more concerned about inequality than they were in 1998 – especially given how much it’s being covered in the media.
Why do you think Americans are less worried about the wealth gap than they were in 1998?
Yale University just released its top 10 quotes of the year. The rich, as is their wont, held a disproportionate share of the top.
The number one, two and three quotes were all about the rich, or more specifically, about the anti-rich. They were, in order:
1. “We are the 99 percent.” — slogan of Occupy movement.
2. “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for.” — U.S. Sen. candidate Elizabeth Warren, speaking in Andover, Mass., in August.
3. “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress.” — Billionaire Warren Buffett, in a New York Times op-ed on Aug. 15.
As a full-time Wealth Watcher, I spotted some other quotes that should rank right up there. And not all were anti-rich.
To round out the top 10, here are seven of my favorites from this year’s Wealth Report:
4 - “He’s a wealthy man, a very wealthy man. If you have a half a million-dollar purchase from Tiffany’s, you’re not a middle-class American.” — Mitt Romney (who has a net worth of $160 million-plus on lesser millionaire Newt Gingrich)
5 - “Rather than assume that the wealthy are a monolithic, selfish and unfeeling lot who must be subjugated by the force of the state, set a tone that encourages people of good will to meet in the middle.” — Leon Cooperman, open letter to President Obama.
6 - “My personal taxes are 53% of my taxable income. That’s 36% on the federal level and 17% for state and local.” — Private-equity chief Steve Schwarzman on taxing the rich more.
7 - “When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around.” — Nick Hanauer, entrepreneur who supports higher taxes on the wealthy.
8 - “That would probably be the largest support order in the history of the Family Court.” — Manhattan Family Court Support Magistrate Matthew Troy, on Linda Evangelista’s request for $46,000 a month in child support for her three-year old.
9 - “As with the onset of sudden celebrity, for the newly rich, the world often becomes a darker, narrower, less generous place; a paradox that elicits scant sympathy, but is nonetheless true.” — British millionaire Felix Dennis in his new book, “The Narrow Road.”
10 - “It only lasted 15 minutes but the flavors will last in the memory forever.” — Businessman Carl Weininger after eating his $34,000 pudding.
The GOP is supposed to be the party that celebrates individual success and achievement. Leave the politics of envy to the Democrats, Republicans always say. The GOP is about dynamism, unleashing the creative forces of growth and rewarding the hard-working, job-creating wealth builders.
Or they used to be. Last night saw a remarkable moment in the changing politics of wealth. One Republican candidate accused the other of being “wealthy.” And it wasn’t mean to be a compliment.
Mitt Romney – net worth $190 million plus – told CBS News that rival Newt Gingrich (net worth more than $6 million) is too wealthy to be in touch with the middle class.
“He’s a wealthy man, a very wealthy man,” Romney said. “If you have a half a million dollar purchase from Tiffany’s, you’re not a middle class American.”
Let’s set aside for a moment the issue of pots calling kettles black (or pearls calling the diamonds blingy). And we all know this is Romney’s effort to deflect criticism from his “$10,000 is mere pocket change” betting gaffe.
The important message here is that even among Republican voters, wealth may now be a dirty word. The real class warfare is between the 1% and the top 1% of the 1% — between the millionaire politicians and the centi-millionaire candidates. The Democratic anti-wealth narrative is creeping into the supposedly wealth-protecting ranks of the GOP.
Romney, who once touted his financial success in business as a qualification for his presidency, now uses “wealthy” as the ultimate insult.
The question is whether any rich candidates can win voters in the current wave of populist rhetoric. Recall the elections of 2010 – most of the self-financed, rich candidates failed.
There was Jeff Greene in Florida, who spent his whole Senate campaign defending his yacht. There was Meg Whitman in California, who spent more than $140 million of her own money and was attacked for being overly cavalier about money.
And there was Linda McMahon, the pro wrestling queen who lost her Senate bid in Connecticut despite contributing around $50 million of her own cash.
Of the 58 federal-level candidates who contributed at least a half-million dollars to their own campaigns, fewer than one in five won the seat they had sought, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
There were lots of reasons for the losses. But even before the Occupy movement, voters clearly showed a lack of enthusiasm and maybe even a distaste for wealthy candidates.
The Occupiers cite inequality and the ill-gotten gains of the wealthy as a chief cause for the nation’s economic ills.
Yet as I’ve written before, inequality today (by any measure) is lower than it was during the boom times of 2007.
The New York Times looks at the data today and notes that the income share of the top 1% fell to 17% in 2009 (the latest period available) from 23% in 2007. The average income of the one-percenters fell a surprising 32%, to $957,000 from $1.4 million.
We shouldn’t shed a tear for these sub-million-dollar earners, of course. (As The Times says: “Hold the condolence cards.”) And their incomes probably rebounded (somewhat) with the markets in 2010.
But the income stats highlight the swings of the “High-Beta Rich” – the new class of rich people who have huge jumps and crashes in wealth and income because of their reliance on financial markets.
They also highlight the fact that recessions have been the only regular reducers of inequality over the past 30 years. The declines are temporary. But recession-induced equality has had the desired effect for the Occupiers — a smaller gap between the 1% and the rest.
All of which raises a key question: Is inequality a necessary side-effect of growth, or a disease that ultimately reduces growth?
Steven Neil Kaplan of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business tells the Times: “If you want to reduce inequality, all you need to do is put the economy in a recession. If you want the economy to do well, as all of us do, then you’ll get more inequality.”
Others disagree. In a piece in The Economist, Mark Thoma argues that inequality can reach such high levels that it reduces economic growth. Perfect equality lowers growth because people lose incentives to get ahead, while extreme inequality (where one person or group gets all the growth) also reduces incentives.
“We may be near or even past the level of inequality where growth begins falling,” Thoma writes.
For the past 30 years, however, the surest way to reduce inequality in America has been to have a recession. And when the rich lost, the rest didn’t gain.
President Obama was criticized by conservatives for suggesting that an income of $250,000 a year made people rich.
If anything, however, Mr. Obama may have been aiming too high.
A new Gallup poll shows that Americans say they would need to earn a median of $150,000, or have $1 million in total net worth, to consider themselves rich. The $150,000 in income puts you roughly in the top 10%.
Getty Images
On the income side, 30% said they would need to earn less than $100,000. And another 18% said $60,000 a year would make them rich. Fully 15% said they would need to earn $1 million or more a year to think of themselves as rich.
Those who lived in cities said they would need twice as much ($200,000) than what those who live in towns or rural areas said they needed ($100,000).
Men also say they need more than women: $150,000 compared with $100,000.
As a whole, the results show that “Americans would need quite a bit less than what the wealthiest 1% of Americans earn to consider themselves rich,” Gallup says.
Income, however, differs from wealth. And to be rich in net worth requires a median of $1 million, according to the survey. That’s the same response Americans gave in 2003. Fully 26% of respondents said they needed $1 million or more to be rich, while 14% said $5 million or more and 13% said $100,000 or more.
The biggest winners in the world’s most winning economy are losing confidence.
Associated Press
According to a survey from Allianz China Life Insurance, the Chinese wealthy are putting more money into cash and less into stock, real-estate and other investments.
“Compared to three years ago, the rich people care more about the safety of their wealth than the returns,” said Liu Jian, the survey’s chief researcher.
They still have big exposure to risk –especially to real-estate. The survey, which polled individuals with more than $78,520 and $157,000 in investments (which apparently counts as “rich” in China for survey purposes) , said that property makes up 75% of the respondents’ assets.
The survey bolsters recent evidence that the froth may be settling on the Chinese luxury and auction markets. A recent Christie’s auction of Chinese contemporary art came up far short of expectations, with six of the 14 lots failed to sell for the minimums and four sold below their low estimate.
“I did really expect it to go better,” Christie’s wine sales chief, Charles Curtis told Reuters. “I knew that Lafite was soft and that it had struggled in my competitor’s auctions in recent months but I didn’t realize the depth of the problem.”
The depth of the problem is indeed the problem. The Chinese rich have been supporting markets for everything from Bordeauxs to Birkin bags and Gulfstreams, making up for slack demand in the U.S. and Europe. If the Chinese economy has a hard landing, the newly rich are sure to take a hit.
If they lose their consuming confidence, the business of selling to the global rich will become a lot tougher.
If you’re feeling guilty about spending $40 for that Harry and David “Tower of Treats” this holiday season, consider Carl Weininger.
Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel
He’s a wealthy businessman who reportedly just paid $34,000 for a chocolate pudding.
British press reports say that Weininger forked over the princely sum for a chocolate-laced confectionary made at Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel in Windermere, Cumbria. The hotel is hoping to win the Guinness Book of World Records title for the world’s most expensive dessert — usurping the title from Serendipity 3 and it’s $25,000 “Frozen Haute Chocolate.”
This may well be a classic British publicity stunt. Press reports say Weininger brought the pudding to a ball recently and allowed others to have a taste – with each bite costing him an estimated $1,200.
“It was absolutely delicious, as you would expect, ” the 60-year-old businessman who told the Daily Mail, adding that he bought the pudding as a “pick-me-up” after being dumped by his girlfriend. “It only lasted 15 minutes but the flavors will last in the memory forever.”
(A spokesman for the Lindeth Howe hotel confirmed the reports).
What did he get for his $34,000? A 3” by 3” pudding made with a cover resembling a Faberge egg.The pudding is made with a light biscuit joconde and champagne jelly, infused with peach, orange and whiskey. The outside is garnished with edible gold leaf and handmade flowers and a diamond. (The British use the word “pudding” as a more general term for dessert, while Americans sue the word to refer to the creamy custard-like stuff).
A spokesman for Serendipity 3 said that he hadn’t heard of the pudding until I called him.
“I’d like to see how it compares to our own record-breaking dessert,” the spokesman said. Asked if the company would plan to top the $34,000 pudding, he said “In this tough economy, we’ll probably leave that alone.”
News that New York governor Andrew Cuomo is no longer ruling out raising taxes on the wealthy follows reports that California governor Jerry Brown may file a ballot initiative asking voters to hike taxes for those making more than $250,000 a year.
Many say the Occupy Wall Street movement has helped change the debate over inequality and taxing the rich. And it probably played a role. But the real catalysts for taxing the rich are gaping and growing state budget holes. States need money, so (Willie Sutton-like), they’re going where the money is.
New York faces a possible $3 billion to $3.5 billion deficit for 2012-2013. California’s could be upwards of $13 billion over the next 18 months.
The tax increases, along with others that are sure to come in more liberal states, may cheer the majority of voters who support them. And with high inequality, it may even be smart politics.
But from an economic perspective raising taxes on the rich will cause already volatile state finances to become even more manic.
As I’ve written before, states are already highly dependent on the taxes of the 1%. Both California and New York already get more than 40% of their personal-income tax revenue from the top 1% of earners. Our new age of “High-Beta Wealth” means that those 1% are the most volatile segment of the population, with violent swings both up and down driven by stock markets.
But markets are more volatile today than they’ve been in years. And in the long term, states are piling more and more risk onto the most risky part of the tax base.
If going to increase their dependence on the rich, states should also create real rainy day funds that can smooth out the high-beta spikes and crashes that are sure to accompany any tax hikes on the rich.
The argument over whether the rich create jobs is ultimately unwinnable.
Democrats point to the lousy job market and revived fortunes of the rich and argue that the rich just create wealth for themselves rather than employment for others. Republicans argue that the rich are the most productive, inventive and dynamic people in our economy. Taking their hard-earned investment capital would kill jobs, they argue.
Now a millionaire entrepreneur has weighed in with his own twist on the debate. Rich people don’t create jobs, he says in a Bloomberg column. Demand does.
“I’ve never been a ‘job creator,’ ” writes Nick Hanauer, who helped start several start-ups, including aQuantive, which was sold to Microsoft for $6.4 billion. “I can start a business based on a great idea and initially hire dozens or hundreds of people. But if no one can afford to buy what I have to sell, my business will soon fail and all those jobs will evaporate.”
It’s this “feedback loop” between mass consumers and businesses that creates jobs.
“When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution,” he writes. “In fact, it’s the other way around.”
The spending of the rich can’t make up the difference for a gutted middle class. Hanauer said his biggest expense is his jet, which doesn’t support many American jobs since it was made in France and fueled with oil from the Middle East.
The answer, he says, is to tax the rich so their money can be used to improve the purchasing power of the middle class.
Some might argue that tech titans like Hanauer can’t talk about job creation since tech companies aren’t big employers. Yet he is CEO of the Pacific Coast Feather Co., which manufactures pills and bedding. And he helped start a picture-frame chain.
True, Hanauer has a political agenda. He co-founded “The True Patriot Network,” whose slogan is “Patriotism is Progressive.”
Yet his argument is worth considering in a debate that’s become as fraught as the argument over squirrels and evolution.
According to a new study from HNW Inc, half of the top 1% of earners don’t think they’re in the top 1%. (Note to one-percenters: if your household income is more than $340,000, you’re a one-percenter).
Some of the one percenters even side with the Occupiers when it comes to anger at Wall Street. More than two thirds of the one-percenters believe the wealth gap is a problem, and many of them don’t like Wall Street.
More than half support prosecution of executives responsible for the financial crisis and support more regulation of financial instutions.
Yet the one-percenters don’t fit neatly into the binary “left” or “right” dogmas. Only 37% of them believe the top 1% should be taxed more, and 44% say they already pay too much in taxes. Nearly 90% of them say they have worked hard to get where they are.
And here’s the kicker: 70% of them feel the wealthy are being unjustly demonized.
The survey proves one of the enduring paradoxes of the American rich: They like to think of themselves as middle class, even if their bank accounts say otherwise. “The rich” are always someone else, even to the rich.
Why do you think half of the one-percenters don’t think they’re one-percenters?
About The Wealth Report
The Wealth Report is a daily blog focused on the culture and economy of the wealthy. It is written by Robert Frank, a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of the newly released book “THE HIGH-BETA RICH.”
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Gun Range and Juan Cruz Anon
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Juan Cruz Anon (Chef Don Juan) was introduced to the gastronomic and outdoor world at an early age, following the family’s tradition. He was a young culinary apprentice, fisherman, and a hunter. Today’s new gastronomic trend , “FARM TO TABLE,” has been Chef Don Juan’s way of life for the last 35 years.
International Chef Don Juan, graduated with honors from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, France with The Grand Diplome de Cuisine & Patisserie. His skills as a fly fisherman and hunter lifted him to professional levels as well. Chef Juan is recognized as one of the best extreme fly fishermen.
These combinations of talents have carried Chef Juan around the globe, from a top three-star rated Michelin restaurant in Paris, to a world-tour cruise ship, and everything in between. These experiences have given him the opportunity to fish and hunt around the world.
Chef Don Juan has been featured in numerous TV Shows and articles, including; The Best and Worst of Tred Barta, The World of Beretta, Pescaventura (Brazil), and Weekend Magazine (Argentina).
In 2012 chef Don Juan was awarded with the TOP TAGGING (Catch and release after reaserch TAG is attached) ANGLER FOR PACIFIC SAILFISH AND THE OVERALL TAGGING ANLER , for THE BILLFISH FOUNDATION. Becoming the first south American to ever receive this achivement.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Carrie Lam has been a lightning rod for protesters' anger (Reuters)
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she has never asked the Chinese government to let her resign to end the city's political crisis, responding to a Reuters report about a voice recording of her saying she would step down if she could.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets since mid-June in protests at a now-suspended extradition bill which would see people sent to mainland China for trial in Communist Party controlled courts.
Lam told business leaders last week that she had caused "unforgivable havoc" by introducing the extradition bill and that if she had a choice then she would apologise and resign, according to a leaked audio recording.
Lam, a lightning rod for protesters' anger, told a televised news conference on Tuesday that she had never considered asking to resign and that Beijing believed her government could solve the three-months long crisis without mainland China's intervention.
"I have not even contemplated discussing a resignation with the central people's government. The choice of resigning, it's my own choice," Lam said.
"I told myself repeatedly in the last three months that I and my team should stay on to help Hong Kong ... That's why I said that I have not given myself the choice to take an easier path and that is to leave."
Lam added that she was disappointed that comments made in a private meeting, where she had been sharing the "journey of my heart", had been leaked.
Comments on the Reuters story appeared to be censored on mainland Chinese social media, although state media covered Lam's Tuesday press conference.
The growing unrest has morphed into a broader call for Chinese-ruled Hong Kong to be granted greater autonomy by Beijing, which has accused foreign powers, particularly the United States and Britain, of fomenting the unrest.
In the audio recording, Lam said that her ability to resolve the crisis was now "very, very limited" as she has to serve "two masters" and the issue had been elevated "to a national level", a reference to the leadership in Beijing.
But Lam said on Tuesday that her government had the confidence of Beijing and could bring an end to unrest itself.
"I think I can lead my team to help Hong Kong to walk out from this dilemma. I still have the confidence to do this," she said. "Up till now, the central government still thinks (the Hong Kong) government has the ability to handle this."
More protests
Hong Kong school and university students on Tuesday are due to boycott classes and hold pro-democracy rallies for the second straight day.
This followed a weekend marred by some of the worst violence since the unrest escalated more than three months ago, with protesters burning barricades and throwing petrol bombs, and police retaliating with water cannon, tear gas and batons.
Thousands of protesters blocked roads and public transport links to Hong Kong airport on Sunday. Some then targeted the MTR subway station in nearby Tung Chung, ripping out turnstiles and smashing CCTV cameras, glass panels and lamps with metal poles.
Police have arrested around 900 people since the protests began, including high-profile activists like Joshua Wong, one of the leaders of the pro-democracy "Umbrella" movement five years ago that foreshadowed the current unrest.
Protesters are seeking greater democracy for the former British colony which returned to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula that guarantees wide-ranging autonomy, including the right to protest and an independent judiciary.
They fear those freedoms are being slowly eroded by Communist Party rulers in Beijing, a charge China denies.
A spokesman for China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office is due to speak to the media about the situation in Hong Kong at 3pm (0700 GMT).
With protesters and authorities locked in an impasse and Hong Kong facing its first recession in a decade, speculation has grown that the city government may impose emergency laws, giving it extra powers over detentions, censorship and curfews.
Lam said on Tuesday that her government was considering all legal avenues to solve the crisis.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Elka Park bartenders
From Old Fashions to Manhattans, professional bartenders can provide a unique flavor of entertainment at your event. With GigMasters, it’s easy to find and book event professionals in the Elka Park, NY area.
I have been bartending for the past 13 years. I've bartended for businesses and privately. I think the biggest part of doing a private party is making sure at all time your client's guest are happy. Even if it means helping out with more than just the bar. Also working in the business helps on all levels. I have an understanding of bar, kitchen, serving and event planning. I work with a team of 3 other people as well. So no matter how big the party its no problem staffing.
Making...(more)
I have been bartending for the past 13 years. I've bartended for businesses and privately. I think the biggest part of doing a private party is making sure at all time your client's guest are happy. Even if it means helping out with more than just the bar. Also working in the business helps on all levels. I have an understanding of bar, kitchen, serving and event planning. I work with a team of 3 other people as well. So no matter how big the party its...(more)
I am able to provide quality bartending experience, to benefit your event. I have five years of bar experience and would enjoy the opportunity to help you celebrate any of your events. I have worked in multiple styles of restaurants and club settings, in many different settings across New York state. I am available to travel for your event. I look forward to working with you at your next upcoming event.
I am located about a half an hour from both Kingston and Albany New York and...(more)
I am able to provide quality bartending experience, to benefit your event. I have five years of bar experience and would enjoy the opportunity to help you celebrate any of your events. I have worked in multiple styles of restaurants and club settings, in many different settings across New York state. I am available to travel for your event. I look forward to working with you at your next upcoming event.
I am located about a half an hour from both...(more)
Carr's Event Services Provides Bartenders with YEARS of experience (eTIPS CERTIFIED - SEE PHOTOS) working Weddings, Birthday Parties, Graduations, Corporate Functions, etc.
We also have professional servers available who are detail oriented, able to adapt to any situation, and work seamlessly with each other, and of course, the bartender! When you hire us, you are getting the best service in the industry. We understand how important your event is to YOU. We aim to make it perfect in...(more)
Carr's Event Services Provides Bartenders with YEARS of experience (eTIPS CERTIFIED - SEE PHOTOS) working Weddings, Birthday Parties, Graduations, Corporate Functions, etc.
We also have professional servers available who are detail oriented, able to adapt to any situation, and work seamlessly with each other, and of course, the bartender! When you hire us, you are getting the best service in the industry. We understand how important your event is to YOU. ...(more)
We provide mobile bars or our 1976 restored horse trailer converted into a mobile bar, equipped with beer on tap. Our team and bars roll up ready to serve with all the necessary bar accessories & innovative custom cocktail menu, along with an equally impressive mocktail menu. All you need to do is provide the alcohol and we will handle the rest. Our personable and knowledgeable staff are dressed professionally and ready to cater to your every need.
With our extensive experience in the...(more)
We provide mobile bars or our 1976 restored horse trailer converted into a mobile bar, equipped with beer on tap. Our team and bars roll up ready to serve with all the necessary bar accessories & innovative custom cocktail menu, along with an equally impressive mocktail menu. All you need to do is provide the alcohol and we will handle the rest. Our personable and knowledgeable staff are dressed professionally and ready to cater to your every need.
With...(more)
Hi, my name is Keith Lamont, and I would love the opportunity to serve drinks at your next event; whether it is a birthday, wedding, we'll be there in full bartending attire, with equipment, serving up terrific drinks!
Full caterer's insurance
Mobile bar available.
We are able to bring garnishes
Happy to help you create a signature cocktail(s)
Tastings available
We will also help you with a personalized shopping list of what to buy, based on your guests.
To help build...(more)
Hi, my name is Keith Lamont, and I would love the opportunity to serve drinks at your next event; whether it is a birthday, wedding, we'll be there in full bartending attire, with equipment, serving up terrific drinks!
Full caterer's insurance
Mobile bar available.
We are able to bring garnishes
Happy to help you create a signature cocktail(s)
Tastings available
We will also help you with a personalized shopping list of what to buy, based on your...(more)
My creativity and energy allows me to serve people for over 10 years!
I enjoy handcrafting drinks, that is my forte! I put love in my mojitos and specialty drinks for that extra kick you are looking for! I worked at one of the oldest cafe bar in New York with passion for 11 years, so I decided to bring the bar at your event!
I can be your personal bartender, mix YOUR favorite drinks
or
be your bartender-on-the-go where you can choose MY specialty cocktails!
Just let me know what your...(more)
My creativity and energy allows me to serve people for over 10 years!
I enjoy handcrafting drinks, that is my forte! I put love in my mojitos and specialty drinks for that extra kick you are looking for! I worked at one of the oldest cafe bar in New York with passion for 11 years, so I decided to bring the bar at your event!
I can be your personal bartender, mix YOUR favorite drinks
or
be your bartender-on-the-go where you can choose MY specialty...(more)
We are Famous Events!
Myself along with my team bring a large array of knowledge, friendliness, and charisma to rock your next event. We offer servers, barbacks, and great bartenders available for weddings, birthdays, special occasions, and much more. Our experienced staff have worked for hundreds of different events all throughout the trip-state area including NY and NJ.
We would love to be a part of your event and help make it memorable! We offer a great selection of experienced...(more)
We are Famous Events!
Myself along with my team bring a large array of knowledge, friendliness, and charisma to rock your next event. We offer servers, barbacks, and great bartenders available for weddings, birthdays, special occasions, and much more. Our experienced staff have worked for hundreds of different events all throughout the trip-state area including NY and NJ.
We would love to be a part of your event and help make it memorable! We offer a...(more)
Max Hospitality Group is a mobile bartender's service that is committed to the preparation, presentation, and execution of our client's events. As one of New York's choice bar catering and hospitality agency, we have the trained professionals and expertise necessary to turn your next gathering into an event. We know that great events are the direct results of teamwork. From consultation to event execution, Max Hospitality Group becomes an extension of your team, not just another vendor. We...(more)
Max Hospitality Group is a mobile bartender's service that is committed to the preparation, presentation, and execution of our client's events. As one of New York's choice bar catering and hospitality agency, we have the trained professionals and expertise necessary to turn your next gathering into an event. We know that great events are the direct results of teamwork. From consultation to event execution, Max Hospitality Group becomes an extension of your...(more)
----PLEASE CALL BEFORE BOOKING TO DISCUS DETAILS OF YOUR EVENT----
"A Good Time Starts With A Great Bartender"
Nationwide Bartenders is a fully insured private bartender service
Serving all – Venue, Residential, Private, Formal & Casual Bartender Needs.
We guarantee availability 365 days a year anywhere in the US.or Canada
We'll help you plan the perfect bar & specialty drink menu.
We offer Frozen, Tropical, Shot, Popular,trending, Traditional Seasonal,Holiday & Creative specialty...(more)
----PLEASE CALL BEFORE BOOKING TO DISCUS DETAILS OF YOUR EVENT----
"A Good Time Starts With A Great Bartender"
Nationwide Bartenders is a fully insured private bartender service
Serving all – Venue, Residential, Private, Formal & Casual Bartender Needs.
We guarantee availability 365 days a year anywhere in the US.or Canada
We'll help you plan the perfect bar & specialty drink menu.
We offer Frozen, Tropical, Shot, Popular,trending, Traditional...(more)
"Professional, upscale service complete with bar and equipment; Competitive pricing"
BIO
Previously head bartender and manager of corporate hospitality at Singer Family Park, a 10,000-seat music and sports venue on the Merrimack River in Manchester, New Hampshire. Master of mixology from the Boston Bartending School with many years of experience from New Hampshire restaurants.
SERVICES
We are fully insured (with workman's comp for NH, MA, Maine & VT) TIPS certified bartenders, event...(more)
"Professional, upscale service complete with bar and equipment; Competitive pricing"
BIO
Previously head bartender and manager of corporate hospitality at Singer Family Park, a 10,000-seat music and sports venue on the Merrimack River in Manchester, New Hampshire. Master of mixology from the Boston Bartending School with many years of experience from New Hampshire restaurants.
SERVICES
We are fully insured (with workman's comp for NH, MA, Maine & VT)...(more)
We are a full service catering company that specializes in high end luxe catering. We offer flavorful cuisine, chic design and employ NYC's finest wait staff and bartenders. We have an array of rentals to make your event eye-catching and memorable. We work closely with clients to develop a custom menu that brings your vision to life. TRK Events sources the freshest organic ingredients when possible to create delicious and eye-pleasing cuisine. We use the freshest flowers from the flower...(more)
We are a full service catering company that specializes in high end luxe catering. We offer flavorful cuisine, chic design and employ NYC's finest wait staff and bartenders. We have an array of rentals to make your event eye-catching and memorable. We work closely with clients to develop a custom menu that brings your vision to life. TRK Events sources the freshest organic ingredients when possible to create delicious and eye-pleasing cuisine. We use the...(more)
READY TO MAKE YOUR PARTY POP ?! Morsels and Mixology is a professional chefs and mixologists team that specialize in offering creative cuisine, canapés, and hors d'oeuvres along with artisinal crafted cocktails and mocktails for every event! We offer services for the following events: bar & mixology service, brunch, luncheon, corporate functions, buffet, cocktail party, hors d'oeuvres, family-style dining, dinner party, plated dining service, desserts, and much much more!
We offer...(more)
READY TO MAKE YOUR PARTY POP ?! Morsels and Mixology is a professional chefs and mixologists team that specialize in offering creative cuisine, canapés, and hors d'oeuvres along with artisinal crafted cocktails and mocktails for every event! We offer services for the following events: bar & mixology service, brunch, luncheon, corporate functions, buffet, cocktail party, hors d'oeuvres, family-style dining, dinner party, plated dining service, desserts, and...(more)
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Dead Sea Spa Magik brings all the benefits of the spa into the comfort of your own home. Other than proving spa style relaxation, Dead Sea Spa Magik helps to normalise the mineral levels in your body which will aid your inner health. This is because contained in Dead Sea Spa Magik are unique minerals from the Dead Sea The power of these minerals helps to alleviate skin conditions as well as having anti-aging properties. We stock a range of Dead Sea Spa Magik products in our Norwich store including masks, moisturisers and body lotions.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Mindfulness: another tool in the case managers' toolbox.
Case managers and their patients/clients may benefit from the practice of mindfulness-based stress reduction. Recently, using MRI technology, science has found that the gray matters in specific areas of the brain increased from premindfulness training to postmindfulness training. The area affected improves regions involved with learning and memory processes, modulation of emotional control, and the process of awareness. This can be another tool in the case management toolbox.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
FIG. 1 is a graph showing a conventional distance measuring method, which decides according the signal size whether a signal is arrived. One example of this type of method is a method of measuring distance using ultrasonic waves, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,019 (Delon-Martin, et al.). However, this technique has a problem in that it may be mal-operated in response to a large noise. That is, this technique uses a variable gain in order to maintain constantly the shape of signals. A time-domain signal is transformed into a frequency-domain signal, which is again transformed into a time-domain signal after being digital-processed, so that a high-performance computer is required, thereby lacking practicality. It can be seen from FIG. 1 that this method responds easily to noise. Therefore, with this conventional method, the size of signal cannot be amplified above the noise.
In order to solve these problems, the present inventor has proposed a distance measurement method and device using ultrasonic waves, which is disclosed in PCT application No. PCT/KR/2004/001917
As shown in FIG. 2, the above distance measuring method and apparatus is designed to measure a distance using an analogue-digital converter (AD), a digital signal processor (DSP), and a period measurement. That is, in the previous technique of the present inventor using ultrasonic waves to measure a distance, a received ultrasonic signal is adequately amplified, and a natural frequency is separated from the ultrasonic signal mixed with undesired signal and transformed into a digital signal, so that the arrived signal of initial pulse can be extracted, thereby enabling the calculation of target distance in a stable fashion, as compared with any other conventional one.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
1. Introduction {#sec1}
===============
Coats\' disease is a retinal disorder associated with telangiectasias which consist of dilated capillaries and microaneurysms and exudation. The majority of cases are diagnosed in males around the age of ten. The retinal findings are usually unilateral, although some bilateral cases with prematurity have been presented \[[@B1]\]. Three infants, who were diagnosed with unilateral Coats\' disease, have been reported \[[@B2]--[@B4]\]. The aim our paper is to report a case of presumed bilateral Coats\' disease combined with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and treated with intravitreal bevacizumab injection (IVB), laser photocoagulation (LP), and cryotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of presumed bilateral Coats\' disease combined with ROP.
2. Case Report {#sec2}
==============
Written informed consent was procured from the parents of the patient prior to therapy and also for the publication of this case report. All interventions, namely, 810-nm diode LP (Iridex, Mountain View, CA), IVB (Avastin; Genentech, San Francisco, CA) injection, and cryotherapy, were performed under general anesthesia. Fundus photographs were taken using the RetCam (Clarity Medical Systems, Pleasanton, CA).
The 31-week premature, 1200-g neonate was hospitalized in our institution\'s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and treated with nasal continuous positive airway pressure as primary respiratory supporting system for three weeks. The infant had no family history nor did the case have any associated systemic findings. The initial examination for ROP was performed at 6 weeks of age by indirect ophthalmoscopy after the infant was discharged from the NICU. Zone III, stage 1 ROP was observed in the right eye, and zone II, stage 1 ROP was seen in the left eye. Weekly examinations were performed to follow up the retinal vascularization. Retinal vascularization was almost complete in the right eye, whereas zone III, stage 3 ROP and preplus disease were observed in the left eye at 43 weeks of postmenstrual age (PMA) ([Figure 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Intraretinal exudates developed and retinal hemorrhages increased in the temporal quadrant of the left eye at 51 weeks of PMA. Diode LP was applied to the left eye on the day after these findings were observed. The left eye received a near confluent pattern of diode LP (duration = 300 ms; laser power = 400 to 700 mW; 1,550 shots) to the avascular retina. During follow-ups the preplus appearance persisted, and exudates involved the macula and a telangiectatic vascular appearance including microaneurysms developed in the temporal quadrant one month following LP ([Figure 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Additional diode LP was applied around the telangiectatic vessels in the left eye combined with IVB injection at 55 weeks of PMA. Bevacizumab 0.75 mg (0.03 cc) was injected intravitreally using a 30-gauge needle placed 1 mm behind the limbus. The amount of bevacizumab was preferred according to our results obtained from our previous applications in ROP cases \[[@B5]\]. Weekly examinations were performed throughout the first month after IVB injection. Exudates and the vascular activity resolved one month after the additional therapy.
Monthly examinations were performed. Total regression of the telangiectatic changes and the exudation in the left eye was documented. At the 14-month examination of the baby, telangiectatic changes including microaneurysms were observed in the temporal quadrant of the right eye. Intraretinal exudates developed in the temporal and nasal quadrants of the right eye. Diode LP (300 ms; laser power = 400 to 700 mW; 350 shots) was applied around the area of telangiectatic retinal changes in the right eye combined with IVB injection two days after the observation of the findings ([Figure 2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}). Weekly examinations were performed throughout the first month after the treatment of the right eye. Exudates did not resolve completely and cryotherapy was applied to the area of telangiectatic retinal changes one month following LP. Total regression of the retinal findings occurred three months following the cryotherapy. At the final visit at the age of three years, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) (iVue, Optovue, Fremont, USA) images, cycloplegic refraction (handheld autorefractometer Retinomax (Nikon corporation, Tokyo, Japan)), and fundus photographs were obtained under general anesthesia ([Figure 3](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}). Fundus photographs showed the regression of the disease in both eyes. The SD-OCT map showed a well-formed foveal pit in both eyes. The eyes were orthotropic. The final cycloplegic refraction in spherical equivalent was +3.00 in the right and +2.00 in the left eye. The best corrected visual acuity was at least 0.5 in the right and 0.4 in the left eye.
2.1. Genetic Analysis {#sec2.1}
---------------------
Genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood sample by using MagNA Pure Compact DNA isolation kit and MagNA Pure LC instrument (Roche Applied Science) according to the manufacturers\' instructions. Forward and reverse primers were obtained from the studies by Black et al. \[[@B6]\] and Kondo et al. \[[@B7]\]. PCR reactions were carried out in a final volume of 50 *μ*L (1X PCR buffer; 2 mM Mg^++^, 150 *μ*lM dNTPs, 5 pmol of each primer, 1.5 U Vivantis Taq, and 100 ng of genomic DNA). The following cycle was applied: 2 min at 95°C, 35 cycles of 20 s denaturation at 94°C, 30 seconds at 54°C (F1-R1) to 56°C (F2-R2), 57.5°C (F3-R3), 1 min extension at 72°C, and 7 min final extension at 72°C. Sequencing reactions for all exons of NDP gene were performed after ExoSAP purification (Affymetrix, HT ExoSAP-IT, High-Throughput PCR Product Cleanup). Sequence variations were analyzed at National Center for Biotechnology Information. The DNAs from the patient were analyzed for mutations in three exons and flanking exon--intron boundaries of the NDP gene. In the coding region and noncoding region there was no mutation.
3. Discussion {#sec3}
=============
Most children with Coats\' disease do not have any complaints, so the cases are usually diagnosed at late stages \[[@B8]\]. Early stages of Coats\' disease are characterized by telangiectasias and exudation without retinal detachment \[[@B1]\]. We recognized the present case incidentally before the development of retinal detachment. Fundus examination is usually sufficient to diagnose Coats\' disease \[[@B1]\]. We considered the case as Coats\' disease after the recognition of exudation and vascular changes in the left eye, because these findings are not associated with ROP. The observation of similar findings in the right eye at the 14-month examination made us think of bilateral Coats\' disease. 95% of Coats\' disease is unilateral \[[@B9]\], but the other eye was also involved in the 14-month examination of our case.
Somatic mutations in the NDP gene have been implicated in Coats\' disease \[[@B6], [@B7]\]. These mutations have been demonstrated in retinas of enucleated eyes from Coats\' cases \[[@B6]\]. It was not possible to extract DNAs from the retina of this case, so blood samples of the family were used for genetic analysis. We thought that somatic mutations that occurred in early embryological life could have been found in peripheral blood of this patient, because the presentation was during first years of life. There was no mutation, but this does not exclude the diagnosis of Coats\' disease.
The differential diagnosis of peripheral exudative retinal vascular lesions includes ROP, Coats\' disease, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), and Norrie\'s disease (ND) \[[@B6], [@B7], [@B10]\]. Lipid exudates may develop in FEVR, but the cases are usually healthy term infants with a positive family history, associated with bilateral peripheral retinal avascularity seen temporally \[[@B10]\]. FEVR cannot be excluded based on these findings, because X-linked recessive inheritance and FEVR cases in premature infants have been reported \[[@B11], [@B12]\]. ROP also developed in our case with typical ridge formation, but the other findings in both eyes were typical for Coats\' disease. ND is often associated with hearing loss and/or developmental delays. Symmetrical involvement and poor outcomes are other features of ND \[[@B13]\]. The lack of family history, the presence of telangiectatic changes, and prematurity supported the diagnosis of bilateral Coats\' disease combined with mild ROP.
IVB injection, LP, and cryotherapy are different treatment choices in Coats\' disease \[[@B14]\]. We preferred to use IVB injection and LP in both eyes, whereas cryotherapy was applied to the right eye. The incidental finding of Coats\' disease saved the child\'s vision, but lifetime follow-up is required, since the disease can recur in years \[[@B15]\].
Based on our experience of this case, the subclinical retinal pathology in Coats\' disease may develop at a very early age, but late diagnosis may be the major problem in many cases \[[@B16]\]. If Coats\' disease could be diagnosed at early stages, it would be a disease associated with better prognosis.
Conflict of Interests
=====================
The authors do not have any financial conflict of interests in the study.
{#fig1}
{#fig2}
{#fig3}
[^1]: Academic Editor: Cristiano Giusti
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Welcome to the GWTW Forum.Guests (non-registered users) can view the forum but are unable to post. If you don't have anything to say then why would you bother to register?One of the most popular sections of the GWTW Forum has long been the Swap Meet. A great place to sell old, seldom flown kites or to get great deals on used (gently flown) kites. Only registered users can see the Swap Meet section, let alone wheel and deal. 1000's (literally) of kites have changed hands thanks to the Swap Meet.There are several more benefits to being a registered user, but you'll have to join our little community to find out all the "secrets".Questions or concerns? Contact Steve ... just drop an email to: [email protected]
So.....I got to finally fly the Zero this morning. Of note is that our flight area is about a 50X45 fT. area in the front yard with lots of obstructions and winds that swirl coming from all 4 directions.
First off, the kite is certainly a glider. Smooth and long glides were obtainable on the factory settings especially down wind. In any wind at all the kite does not want to turn upwind with little to no elevation... It will just nose into the grass, and bringing the canard forward is a bit difficullt with the way it's bridled, into the wind. I would suggest that one uses a heavier line, than is supplied with the kite, in any wind at all. It will definitely cut or burn you as you pay out under tension or stop the the pay out. I flew it for awhile and then decided to mess with the bridle attach point and found it is a lot better low rather than high, for the wind conditions here that would go from 0 to 6 or seven MPH.
I then tried to adjust the nose tension and was very disappointed that, at least on our kite, the sliding fitting appears to be glued. It is on the factory marks, that's one good thing, for sure, but our kite has no adjustment.
All in all, it is a totally different glider than anything else I've flown and the case and packaging are far superior to anything FW has to offer..........the assembly instructions and paperwork that come with are also excellent and so are the links to the Prism website and the videos Prism has provided.
I haven't flown mine yet JIm but I have played with the setup. On mine the canards tension slider was really tight and took some work to get it to move but once I did it moves a bit easier. IT helps to flex the spine and take tension off the lines for the first few tries and twist the fitting. if it feels like its glued try moving it before you assemble the kite.
I haven't flown mine yet JIm but I have played with the setup. On mine the canards tension slider was really tight and took some work to get it to move but once I did it moves a bit easier. IT helps to flex the spine and take tension off the lines for the first few tries and twist the fitting. if it feels like its glued try moving it before you assemble the kite.
Sorry, this one ain't moving // Took it totally apart, put both ends on a flat surface and twisted and tapped the fitting while holding on to the spar...........I actually think I see remnants of glue on the nose end of the fitting.........(towards the nose) It's really no big deal, just a tad bit disappointing......
Hmm that kinda sucks but the heat trick to break the glue bond will work but I wonder if they got mixed up on the rods. Check and see if the fitting is the same distance as the wing fitting. No matter though you know as well as I do a quick call to prism will resolve it. I flew mine for a bit tonight and that adjustment makes a big difference in how the kite handles.
you know as well as I do a quick call to prism will resolve it. I flew mine for a bit tonight and that adjustment makes a big difference in how the kite handles.
I think it would be better to wait a month or two, or until there is an excess of available kites..........this event is not really new to me......Had some problems with the 4D and the first run of Zephyrs.........I give Mark a break when it comes to new kites in production.......There is always a let's see how the factory is doing thing going on.
I just can't wait to get it in a more wide open area with no wind or at least a little coming from one consistent direction.......I can fool with the spine tension later
I had great expectations after seeing the Zero-G in videos and at a festival, but so far have been disappointed with mine. I must point out, this is for indoor flying only. I can do a better job flying my Skate and far better with my modified Platz gliders, copies of the design by Dick Curran*. I was quite impressed by the videos of Howard Bashant's* and Wayne Dowler's flying*. I suspect that my problem is in the adjustments. I have contacted both to ask for recommended adjustments. Wayne just said to experiment until you get what you like, and I haven't heard from Howard yet.
* - Google any of these for YouTube videros.
The nose tension fitting CAN be moved. Heat may help; careful persistence worked for me. The knot on the short cord connecting the canards trailing edge to the spine can be moved also. The fact that the forward end of the bridle connects to this line, sliding on the spine rod rather than tied to it, is a unique feature of the kite. This creates an active control of the canard incidence, making it dependent upon the tension (pull) on the bridle. Changing the nose tension adjustment does not change the glider geometry, but changes the resistance of the canards to respond to the bridle pull. Reducing the nose line tension , by moving the fitting on the spine foward, should allow the canards to respond more to pull on the bridle. Changes to the length of the line connecting the canard trailing edge to the bridle and spine (by sliding the knot) should affect both the glide and the response to bridle pull. The location of the tow point on the bridle will affect only the climb and turning under pull. So, you can see that there are interelated adjustments and many combinations possible. I haven't found a satisfactory combination yet, and wouild appreciate any recommendations for good performance.
I had great expectations after seeing the Zero-G in videos and at a festival, but so far have been disappointed with mine. I must point out, this is for indoor flying only. I can do a better job flying my Skate and far better with my modified Platz gliders, copies of the design by Dick Curran*. I was quite impressed by the videos of Howard Bashant's* and Wayne Dowler's flying*. I suspect that my problem is in the adjustments. I have contacted both to ask for recommended adjustments. Wayne just said to experiment until you get what you like, and I haven't heard from Howard yet.
* - Google any of these for YouTube videros.
The nose tension fitting CAN be moved. Heat may help; careful persistence worked for me. The knot on the short cord connecting the canards trailing edge to the spine can be moved also. The fact that the forward end of the bridle connects to this line, sliding on the spine rod rather than tied to it, is a unique feature of the kite. This creates an active control of the canard incidence, making it dependent upon the tension (pull) on the bridle. Changing the nose tension adjustment does not change the glider geometry, but changes the resistance of the canards to respond to the bridle pull. Reducing the nose line tension , by moving the fitting on the spine foward, should allow the canards to respond more to pull on the bridle. Changes to the length of the line connecting the canard trailing edge to the bridle and spine (by sliding the knot) should affect both the glide and the response to bridle pull. The location of the tow point on the bridle will affect only the climb and turning under pull. So, you can see that there are interelated adjustments and many combinations possible. I haven't found a satisfactory combination yet, and wouild appreciate any recommendations for good performance.
Ok first off your misunderstanding how the nose adjustment affects the kite so that may be partly why you haven't found a good set up. The nose adjustment changes the bow of the spine which changes the angle of incidence of the rear wing making the kite nose up faster or slower depending on how you set it. It also changes the sweep angle of the canard wings some making for a bit faster speed(some affect on turn rate as well). The line on the canard to spine only adjusts the slack angle of the canards affecting glide stability. This latter adjustment I found should only be used If really needed to fine tune the glide path by lengthening or shortening the line to get the kite to glide true and not rock side to side.
Now for indoor or dead calm out door going for long glides I leave the nose setting stock and set the bridle in the middle or forward. IF the kite glides nose down shorten the center canard line some so the kite glides just slightly nose high but doesn't nose up. IF it still noses down a bit in a glide and you have gone as short as you can on the center canard line then move the nose slider 1/16 inch toward the rear wing. 1/16 on the nose slider does a lot. Once you get it set so it glides long, flat and lands on the center T at the end of a glide, mark it and that should be your starting point for future flights. Fast active flight will be 1/8 to 1/2 inch from your base tune point depending on how active you want it.
Keep in mind that variations during building at the factory as well as the flex variations from rod to rod in a particular batch will really affect the base tuning so no two kites will have the same base set up. My two zero g's base settings are nearly 1/8 inch apart and they are from the same build run. One spine happens to flex easier than the other.
I had not thought of how each rod might have a slightly different bend to it!! I missed the canard to bridle adjustment, but the kite was a friends, and I had some limited time on it!! On his, we had to move the nose adjustment towards the nose! We also moved the towpoint to the rear for a quicker response! Loosening up the canards seemed to help the glide for us and helped it climb faster! But as was said, every kite might be assembled a little differently, hence our adjustments differ from others!! That's the beauty of these, experimenting to find what works for you! Knowing what did what, marking "happy places" for the future, all add up to the fun!! I have to say - my older Plutz II keeps it simple with only the towpoint to adjust!! But now I'm looking forward to getting one of CeeWan's Mega-Plutzs and the surprises that brings!!
Our forum is made possible by the good folks whose ads appear above and by the members of our community (PayPal donation button at top)In case you missed it each ad is linked to the sponsors web site. So please, take a moment and visit our sponsors sites as this forum wouldn't be possible with out them.Interested in running an ad for your business or kiting event? Contact Steve at [email protected] for a quote.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Discussion
Thanksgiving Appetizers
I am going to my mothers house for Thanksgiving, and have been asked to bring some hors d'ouevers. I am hoping I can get some suggestions from my fellow chowhounds.
I do have some restrictions though:
1. I have to drive 2 hours to get there, although of course I can put something together when i get there.
2. I don't have a working oven. My stovetop is working just fine, but the heating coil in my oven is on the fritz, and I will not have a replacement before thanksgiving, so nothing baked; I do have access to a great weber grill, and of course my stovetop.
Marinated shrimp with herbed olive oil - a little fancier than cocktail shrimp, but just as easy and you don't need a dipping sauce (marinate cooked shrimp for about 4 hours in herbs and EVOO or flavored olive oil. I use fresh basil and chives, some lemon zest, salt, pepper, and little garlic, and Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning). Serve as an appetizer, or individually wrapped in a baby spinach leaf for hors d'ouevres. I like how pretty pomegranate seeds are since they're available now. I've done a tabouleh with pomegranate seeds, served with pita chips. Dips are always good as they taste better made in advance. The link below mentions the blue cheese dip with caramelized shallots I make every year (from Epicurious). I serve it with store-bought gourmet rosemary potato chips, and sometimes crudities. For hors d'ouevres, maybe on crostini? Another popular one is the Barefoot Contessa's Sun-Dried Tomato Dip. I've served it in a hollowed-out acorn squash to make it more festive.
At my parents house, no one will be happy unless there is an old style relish tray and deviled eggs. These offer the advantage of letting people graze and nibble without getting too full before a big meal and they can sit out several hours if needed (excepting eggs.) it would be easy to bring and put together onsite. You can buy everything or make some of the components yourself. Think of it as a retro chic dish and put out some unexpected goodies.
Chill celery and carrot stick, cauliflowerettes and radish roses in ice water and transport on ice, no biggie if it melts. You can stuff the celery with cream cheese, pimento dip or a mix of cream cheese and blue. You can fancy it up easily by adding your own roasted peppers layered with anchovies, capers, garlic slivers, salt & pepper and olive oil. Marinate overnight. Likewise you can make a marinade for any blanched veggie like cauliflower or zucchini--there are some nice Italian recipes. You can get interesting pickles, olives and peppers at a Deli.
If this will be out for a few hours ahead, I might add a cheese ball, smoked salmon, sardines, or salami slices.
If you do delived eggs, you can make up the filling at home, stuff a pastry bag and wrap it with plastic and fill onsite.
I almost forgot the crab mold! Sometimes we serve this spread and now that it is so easy to by the chilled cans of crab I might make this. The family has always used this recipe with the Cream O Mushroom soup (it pretty much disappears into the dip):http://whatscookingamerica.net/Appeti...
I've always intended to try a recipe that doesn't use the canned soup. Also, for some reason they insist that it be served with Waverley crackers. I like water crackers, personally.
Ya know, I love a good relish tray: marinated artichokes, good olives, hearts of palm, marinated mushrooms, roasted red peppers and some fancy crudite and unique cheeses. Or, how about a good soup that's a little lighter. Make it ahead of time, freeze it or put it in the cooler and put it in a crockpot upon arrival. Put some mugs on the table with some croutons and maybe sour cream for garnish. A good butternut squash soup can be found at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...
I have to ask as this has me slightly confused: Why is it called a relish tray?? Looks like an antipasto platter to me, at least as described above. Also it's something I've never some across before, or at least not to my knowledge (as in no one ever called it that).Relish tray to my imagination just means a variety of pickles...
One easy and no cooking. Skewer grapeseed tomatoes, small mozzarella balls and basil leaves and serve with good store bought basil pesto. You can pre-assemble at home and plate at your moms. You can even make the skewers the night before and wrap.
Another is just to buy some good quality italian antipasto ingredients like olives, salami, parmigano-reggiano, artichoke hearts, stuffed cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, etc from a good pork store (an italian grocery store) or well stocked grocery store. Just arrange on a pretty platter and serve with sliced semolina and extra virgin olive oil.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Pseudo-septic hip arthritis as the presenting symptom of ankylosing spondylitis: a case series and review of the literature.
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) typically presents with inflammatory back pain and stiffness, but severe hip involvement may also be present. In this study, we evaluated the frequency of severe hip arthritis mimicking septic arthritis as initial presenting symptom of AS. Utilising billing records, we retrospectively studied all AS patients seen from the years 2006 to 2009 at our institution. The primary endpoint was severe hip arthritis mimicking septic arthritis as the initial presenting symptom of AS. A total of 121 AS patients were identified from billing records, of whom 3 had severe hip arthritis mimicking septic arthritis as the initial presenting symptom of ankylosing spondylitis. Our study highlights the importance of including AS in the differential diagnosis of severe acute inflammatory hip arthritis in young adults, even when the onset appears to be abrupt.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
1981 European Marathon Cup
The 1981 European Marathon Cup was the 1st edition of the European Marathon Cup of athletics and were held in Agen, France.
Team
Individual men
Individual women
References
Results
European Cup 1981. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
External links
EAA web site
Category:European Marathon Cup
European
Category:International athletics competitions hosted by France
Category:1981 in French sport
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a photographic camera for enabling pseudo telephoto and/or pseudo panoramic prints to be produced from normal exposures taken with the camera, by coding each exposure to identify a selected pseudo format. More particularly, the invention relates to a camera adapted to receive a conventional film cartridge for taking exposures for use in producing normal prints and a special film cartridge for taking exposures for use in producing pseudo telephoto and/or pseudo panoramic prints. The special cartridge is distinguishable from a conventional cartridge to permit it to be routed at the photofinisher to particular equipment for producing pseudo telephoto and pseudo panoramic prints.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A pseudo telephoto print is one that is made from a central portion of an exposure having the same width-to-length ratio, e.g. 31/2:5 , as that of the exposure. During the printing process, the negative is masked at its upper, lower, left and right marginal zones, leaving the central portion of the negative unobscured. Alternatively, the film gate in the enlarger may be correspondingly masked or adjusted. Then, an enlargement is made of the central portion of the negative to provide a print with the same width-to-length ratio as that of the central portion. Thus, the print will have a telephoto or close-up format.
A pseudo panoramic print is one that is made from a narrow portion of an exposure having a greater width-to-length ratio, e.g., 1:3, than that of the exposure. During the printing process, the negative is masked at its upper and/or lower marginal zones, leaving the narrow portion of the negative unobscured. Alternatively, the film gate in the enlarger may be correspondingly masked or adjusted. Then an enlargement is made of the narrow portion of the negative to provide a print with the same width-to-length ratio as that of the narrow portion. Thus, the print will have a panoramic or elongate format.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,844, granted Jan. 20, 1970, discloses a method of making a print of a selected portion of a subject to be photographed. The method comprises the following steps: (1) viewing the subject in the viewfinder of a camera; (2) manually adjusting mechanical masking members visible in the viewfinder to frame a selected portion of the subject; (3) exposing the film in the camera to obtain a latent image of the subject; (4) encoding the exposure on the film with indicia which represents the selected portion of the subject; (5) processing the film to obtain a negative of the latent image of the subject; and (6) sensing the indicia to make a print of the selected portion of the subject from the negative.
When, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,844, the selected portion of the subject has the same relative position in the viewfinder as a corresponding portion of the exposure, enlargement of the portion in the negative will provide a pseudo telephoto effect similar to the actual telephoto effect provided by a telephoto lens. Thus, a pseudo telephoto print can be made during the printing process from an exposure taken without a telephoto lens.
Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,102, granted Nov. 2, 1982, discloses a method of making a pseudo panoramic print from an exposure. According to the method, a window in the viewfinder of a camera has its upper and/or lower marginal zones masked off by an appropriate insert to provide a viewing area with a width-to-length ratio greater than 1:2 and preferably 1:3. Exposures are taken with the window partially masked and, during the printing of the negatives, the film gate in the enlarger is correspondingly masked or provided with an aperture of the same width-to-length ratio as that of the unobscured portion of the window. Printing paper with a similar width-to-length ratio is used. Prints can thus be obtained which have a panoramic or elongate format, without using a panoramic lens.
Although U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,844 discloses a method of making pseudo telephoto prints from exposures taken without a telephoto lens, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,102 discloses a method of making pseudo panoramic prints from exposures taken without a panoramic lens, in each instance the exposures are made on film in a conventional (standard) cartridge. Thus, unless otherwise provided by the photographer, there is no indication to the photofinisher that the conventional cartridge was used in a pseudo telephoto or pseudo panoramic camera, rather than a regular camera. During the photofinishing process, a cartridge containing film on which exposures have been made for use in producing pseudo telephoto or pseudo panoramic prints will be indistinguishable from a cartridge containing film on which exposures have been made for use in producing normal prints. Consequently, film on which exposures have been made for use in producing pseudo telephoto or pseudo panoramic prints may not be correctly routed to the special equipment described in the patents for producing pseudo telephoto or pseudo panoramic prints.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Shortening of simple reaction time by peripheral electrical and submotor-threshold magnetic cortical stimulation.
Subthreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the motor cortex can shorten the simple reaction time in contralateral arm muscles if the cortical shock is given at about the same time as the reaction stimulus. The present experiments were designed to investigate whether this phenomenon is due to a specific facilitatory effect on cortical circuitry. The simple visual reaction time was shortened by 20-50 ms when subthreshold TMS was given over the contralateral motor cortex. Reaction time was reduced to the same level whether the magnetic stimulus was given over the bilateral motor cortices or over other points on the scalp (Cz, Pz). Indeed, similar effects could be seen with conventional electrical stimulation over the neck, or even when the coil was discharged (giving a click sound) near the head. We conclude that much of the effect of TMS on simple reaction time is due to intersensory facilitation, although part of it may be ascribed to a specific effect on the excitability of motor cortex.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Silence as an element of care: A meta-ethnographic review of professional caregivers' experience in clinical and pastoral settings.
In interactions between professional caregivers, patients and family members at the end of life, silence often becomes more prevalent. Silence is acknowledged as integral to interpersonal communication and compassionate care but is also noted as a complex and ambiguous phenomenon. This review seeks interdisciplinary experience to deepen understanding of qualities of silence as an element of care. To search for published papers which describe professional caregivers' experience of silence as an element of care, in palliative and other clinical, spiritual and pastoral care settings and to synthesise their findings. Meta-ethnography: employing a systematic search strategy and line-of-argument synthesis. PsycINFO and seven other cross-disciplinary databases, supplemented by hand-search, review of reference lists and citation tracking. No date range was imposed. Inclusion criteria focused on reported experience of silence in professional caregiving. Selected papers ( n = 18) were appraised; none were rejected on grounds of quality. International, interdisciplinary research and opinion endorses the value of silence in clinical care. As a multi-functional element of interpersonal relationships, silence operates in partnership with speech to support therapeutic communication. As a caregiving practice, silence is perceived as particularly relevant in spiritual and existential dimensions of care when words may fail. Experience of silence as an element of care was found in palliative and spiritual care, psychotherapy and counselling supporting existing recognition of the value of silence as a skill and practice. Because silence can present challenges for caregivers, greater understanding may offer benefits for clinical practice.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Display devices are ubiquitous. There are many situations where viewers of apparatuses including display devices are concerned about privacy issues when using the display device in public or unsecure environments, for example when working on confidential or sensitive documents. Examples of display devices where such concerns exist include computer apparatuses, such as desktop computers, laptop computers and tablets; mobile communication devices, such as smartphones; and display devices in static installations, such as kiosks and ATMs. In such circumstances, the primary viewer is required to be vigilant of other people in their surroundings and to take action to obscure or turn off the display device when unwanted, secondary viewers are present. It would be desirable for the display device to have a privacy control function which assists the primary user in preventing unwanted viewing of the displayed image.
There exist privacy functions which may determine that secondary viewers are viewing a display device, and in response may blur the displayed image. However, typically the display device is then blurred for everyone, including the primary viewer. This is less than desirable and it may be more constructive for the primary viewer to be able to continue viewing.
Display devices which are directional are known. Examples of a type of directional display device using a directional backlight are disclosed in U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2012/0127573, and U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2014/0240828. Directional display devices of this and other types may direct the displayed image into a viewing window, which may have a finite width in a viewing plane, being typically much narrower than the viewing width of a conventional display device. Such a directional display device may be operated in a mode in which the displayed image is directed into a viewing window of relatively narrow width in order to provide a privacy function. The privacy function may be used to provide the displayed image with reduced or negligible visibility to a secondary viewer.
An aspect of the present disclosure is concerned with the functionality of a directional display device used to provide a privacy function.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Former NSW deputy premier Troy Grant was advised in May last year to make public "as soon as possible" a landmark gambling harm report that recommends banning a controversial poker machine feature that was the subject of a Federal Court battle involving billionaire James Packer's casino company Crown.
But the NSW government sat on the report until October this year – almost two years after it was delivered – despite inquiries from its lead author, University of Sydney gambling researcher Professor Alex Blaszczynski, who "expressed frustration" at the delay.
The revelations are contained in emails and briefing notes released to Fairfax Media under government information access laws.
In October Gaming Minister Paul Toole finally released the report by the University of Sydney gambling treatment clinic, commissioned in 2013 at a cost of $263,000 and handed to the government in December 2015.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Tag Archives: 18-55mm lens
Our white flowering magnolia was in peak form on a sunny morning. Camera was a Nikon D90; lens was the Nikon 18-55mm AF-S VR DX. I used a Nikon Circular Polarizer. (The Nikon polarizer is expensive as filters go, but I use one 77mm filter with step-up rings so that I have one filter for […]
Our flowering white magnolia is blooming. Every year this process is touch and go. This magnolia flowers very early. Often as not, it gets frosted. It seems to want to bloom about one warm spell sooner than it ought. And, like many flowering trees, it seems to be at its peak alternate years. In thirteen […]
Surf’s up at McConnells Mill State Park after heavy spring rains this week. The water gauge on the side of the mill read almost six feet, one foot from the top at seven feet. Last month when I photographed the mill with snow and ice still visible, the water was below the gauge entirely. This […]
I take this photograph every winter. Witch hazels are small trees that usually grow next to shady streams. They bloom at odd times. The Pennsylvania native species blooms into November. A southern species, the Ozark witch hazel, blooms in late winter. This particular tree is a hybrid of the two. It’s probably bred for hardiness, […]
Today’s One Picture a Day is actually a series. I was inspired by this recent post of a visit to an abandoned mill at the Quirk’n It blog. I love old machinery. It’s a window into a bygone era of heavy iron that was reality for generations of our ancestors, but has faded away. Much […]
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
The Czech reception of the Frankfurt School
Source
Abstract
The article deals with the reception of the thought of the main authors of the Frankfurt School in the Czech intellectual context. The author also attempts to respond to the question of why there was heightened interest, at a given time, in a certain author of the Frankfurt School, or in a certain work. In the thirties a group of young leftist historians who published the collection 'Dejiny a pritomnost' (History and the Present) discovered the Frankfurt School. In texts that were published by the Institute for Social Research they primarily sought inspiration for the methodology of historical science. In the view of these Czech historians, historical science should embody, in its basic methodological principles, socio-emancipatory thinking. In the sixties the interest of nondogmatic Czech Marxists centred above all on the work of Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse, in which it was possible to find helpful stimulus for the development of an anthropological problematic and thus to question the governing ideology which considered all the problems of man to be solved by the institution of a supposedly Socialist order. Interest in the work of Marcuse was further aided by the significant relations between his thinking and the theoretical concepts of the Czech inter-war avant-garde (especially surrealism), which was still very much alive in the thought of the Czech social and art studies (Robert Kalivoda, Vratislav Effenberger). The seventies then brought what was, generally speaking, only a crude ideological critique of the Frankfurt School as one of the sources of so-called Marxist revisionism of the sixties. The process of socio-political 'normalisation' required the suppression of all thinking which might cause subversion and thus might damage the re-instated Marxist-Leninist ideology and the new regime of occupation in general.
Accessibility options
You can change the active elements on the page (buttons and links) by pressing a combination of keys:
TAB go to the next element
SHIFT + TAB go to the previous element
Financed by the National Centre for Research and Development under grant No. SP/I/1/77065/10 by the strategic scientific research and experimental development program:
SYNAT - “Interdisciplinary System for Interactive Scientific and Scientific-Technical Information”.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
North Korea carries out new ballistic missile test
North Korea has carried out another ballistic missile test, days after a new president took office in the South.
Japanese officials say the missile, which launched from north-western Kusong, reached an altitude of 2,000km.
South Korea’s newly elected President Moon Jae-in, who campaigned on a platform of better engagement with the North, said it was a provocation.
US President Donald Trump has called for “stronger sanctions” against North Korea, while China is urging restraint.
A series of North Korean missile tests this year – which are banned by the UN – has sparked international alarm and raised tensions with the US.
Two missile launches last month both failed, with the rockets exploding just minutes into flight.
Is it a new type of missile?
The nature of the launch is still being determined, but analysts have said the test could suggest a longer range than previously tested devices.
The Japanese defence minister said it flew for about 30 minutes before falling in the Sea of Japan and could be a new type of missile, Reuters reported.
Tomomi Inada said it covered a distance of 700km (435 miles), reaching an altitude of more than 2,000km (1,245 miles) – higher than that reached by an intermediate-range missile North Korea fired in February.
The US Pacific Command said in a statement the type was being assessed but that its flight was not consistent with that of an intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM], which would have the range to reach the US mainland (more than 6,000km).
North Korea is believed to be developing two types of ICBM, but neither has so far been flight tested.
How close is the North to an ICBM? BBC’s Korea correspondent Stephen Evans
If the Japanese analysis of the trajectory is right (that the missile reached an altitude of 2,000km), North Korea appears to have advanced its technology markedly.
The previous two tests failed, so reliability is not there yet. But last month some experts reckoned that a seemingly new missile on parade in Pyongyang may have been an ICBM (the type President Trump said “won’t happen”).
Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California thought at the time that the new missiles on show might be ICBMs. Is this that missile?
One thing is certain: North Korea will certainly trumpet its success if it does now have the capability to strike the US military bases on Guam, 3,400km from Pyongyang in the Western Pacific. Mr Trump would ponder what to do with even greater urgency.
What has been the reaction?
After hosting an emergency meeting of his security council, Mr Moon condemned the latest launch as a “provocation”.
“The president said while South Korea remains open to the possibility of dialogue with North Korea, it is only possible when the North shows a change in attitude,” his spokesman said.
Image copyrightEPAImage captionSouth Koreans will be watching closely to see how their new leader’s responds to the test
The White House said President Donald Trump “cannot imagine Russia is pleased” because the missile did not land far from Russian territory.
It added that the new launch should serve as a call for stronger sanctions against North Korea.
A Kremlin spokesperson later said Russian President Vladimir Putin was concerned by the test.
China, North Korea’s only major ally, called for restraint by “all relevant parties” in the wake of the latest test.
How are US-North Korea relations?
The North has conducted five nuclear tests despite UN sanctions and is also developing long-range missiles.
It is reported to be continuing efforts to miniaturise nuclear warheads and fit them on missiles capable of reaching the US.
Washington has accused other UN Security Council members of not fully enforcing existing sanctions against the North, and has urged China in particular to use its trade links as influence.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Highly parallel functional characterization of human regulatory elements PROJECT SUMMARY One of the most effective means of identifying human regulatory elements is by discovery of open chromatin using methods like DNase hypersensitivity or FAIRE. While there is ample evidence that open chromatin regions are functional and bound by sequence-specific regulatory factors, we typically do not know what function an individual element has, or how DNA sequence variation in human open chromatin regions affects that function. Traditionally, function has been measured experimentally in reporter assays, one functional element at a time. However, it is not feasible to characterize the ~100,000 open chromatin regions that exist in each cell type using low-throughput, serial methods. We propose to develop two complimentary approaches to overcome these obstacles. The first will test the function of tens of thousands of human regulatory elements in a single experiment, and the second will test the effect of natural human sequence variation within 10,000 of those elements in a single experiment, representing 1,000 to 10,000-fold improvements over existing methods. First, putative regulatory elements isolated by FAIRE will be cloned en masse into a Gateway-based entry vector, allowing us to easily swap the inserts into reporters that test promoter, enhancer, insulator, or silencer function. Cells containing inserts with biological activity can be isolated by cell sorting, and the corresponding inserts can be identified by next-generation sequencing. We also will develop a variant of this method that does not require cell sorting. A second major obstacle in discovering the effect of human sequence variation on the function of regulatory elements is the limited ability to measure the effect of a large number of designed DNA sequences in a highly controlled setting. Using Agilent array technology, we will synthesize 10,000 regulatory sequences ~200 bp in length that corresponds to alternate alleles of 5,000 putative regulatory regions. The 5,000 regions synthesized will be selected based on their linkage to human disease risk. After transfection into cells, we will use a flow cytometer to sort the resulting pool of transfected cells into 64 bins of reporter levels, amplify the inserted synthesized region from the cells of each bin using PCR, and measure the DNA content of each activity bin using next-generation sequencing. For every barcode (representing one tested element), the distribution of its next-generation sequencing reads across the expression bins provides a measure of both its mean and standard deviation of expression. Promoter, enhancer, insulator, and silencer function will be tested. Since all tested sequences are transfected to the same cell line, the trans-factor environment is held constant, allowing us to truly test whether the genetic variation among human individuals has a causal effect on expression. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Highly parallel functional characterization of human regulatory elements PROJECT NARRATIVE Public health relevance Defects in transcriptional regulation are at the foundation of many human diseases, including cancer and many aging-related maladies. Gene transcription programs are determined by regulatory elements encoded in DNA. However, it is currently difficult to test the function of more than a few of these DNA regulatory elements at the same time, and it is difficult to test the effect of sequence variation. We propose to develop two complementary technologies. The first will test the function of tens of thousands of human regulatory elements in a single experiment, and the second will test the effect of natural human sequence variation, including variants associated with human disease risk, in 10,000 DNA elements in a single experiment. These experiments may prove valuable in identifying non-coding DNA sequence variants that are causally linked to human disease.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Probability of one event given the probability of two other events
Let $A$, $B$, and $C$ be events. Suppose $P(A) \ge .9$, $P(B) \ge .8$, and $P(A \cap B \cap C)=0$.
Show that $P(C) \le .3$.
Now, I tried using the inclusion-exclusion principle to solve this, but I'm getting nowhere. Perhaps that is the correct way of starting, but I'm looking at it the wrong way? It's been a little white since I've worked with this, so I'm not sure I'm on the right track.
Also, is it correct that $P(A \cap B \cap C)=0$ means that the events $A$, $B$, and $C$ are disjoint (but not necessarily $A \cap C$, $A \cap B$, and $B \cap C$)?
Any hints would be appreciated.
Thanks.
A:
Since $A\cap B$ and $C$ are disjoint,
$$\Pr(A\cap B)+\Pr(C)\le 1.\tag{$1$}$$
But $\Pr(A\cup B)\le 1$, so from the familiar
$$\Pr(A\cup B)=\Pr(A)+\Pr(B)-\Pr(A\cap B)$$
we conclude that $\Pr(A\cap B)\ge 1.7-1=0.7$.
Since $\Pr(A\cap B)\ge 0.7$, it follows from $(1)$ that $\Pr(C)\le 0.3$.
Remark: One can also use a formula-free argument, using a Venn diagram. That is better, but drawing and uploading a picture is (for me) not easy.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
DRIVEBY SHOOTING: Man Shot In Chest
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
DRIVEBY SHOOTING: Man Shot In Chest
A Des Moines man is in the hospital after being shot while sitting inside his home on the city’s north side. Des Moines Police say they got the call just before 7 a.m.
Sgt. Jason Halifax said, “Victim was in own residence seated. He was hit in the upper torso.” Sgt. Halifax says a bullet went through the front window at 4114 1st Street. He said, “It did go in his back, out his chest, and it is lodged in the wall of the residence at this point.”
Paramedics took the victim, 41-year-old Russell Quinnett, to the hospital. Police say he should recover. Sgt. Halifax said neighbors heard two gun shots, but no one saw anything. Police are calling it a drive-by shooting, but they don’t have a suspect or vehicle description. Sgt. Halifax said, “We don’t have a long trip history in this area, so at this point, it’s really hard to say whether this is a random thing, or a targeted thing.”
Neighbor Luke Bowers says, “Definitely not a normal morning in this neighborhood.”
He said, for now, he’s not worried. “I think it was an isolated, personal matter hopefully. I still feel for anyone who might be affected by it.”
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Anthropology and Policy
Truth
Anthropological research reveals what individuals feel about policy, among other things: do policy makers want to know?
Anthropology can be used in the analysis of policy in many important ways. As Erwin points out in the beginning of his chapter on the connection of anthropology and policy, anthropology and policy are similarly all-encompassing categories into which fit all of human activity (Erwin 44). Where anthropology is the study of every facet of human culture and society, policy is the attempt by governments, organizations, etc. to create rules, modes of dialogue, and strategies related to many of those same facets of culture and society. Furthermore, policy is particularly akin to applied anthropology in that both systems take for granted the idea that "...thoughtfully directed social action can lead to desirable outcomes." (Erwin 44).This affinity between applied anthropology and policy seems to me like one of the best opportunities for any government considering itself to be 'for the people' to improve the reflexivity of its processes, the validity of its definitions and the alignment of its aims with those of its citizens. Traditional anthropology can study the effects of various policy initiatives on different segments of society, but only through the direct application of that data can the policy and social welfare be improved.
Erwin points out some of the fundamental places in which the American government could benefit from the introduction of extensive anthropological research when writing about the "less visible dimensions of policy making" and questioning how "...cultural ideologies exhibit themselves in the policy process?" (45). Both of these lines of inquiry seem as ripe to me now as they were at the time Erwin wrote them. Following them up with research into the process of policy making vis-à-vis powerful corporate interests and varied other groups with lobbyists all pushing their agendas forward would be an interesting path to identifying gaps in the spectrum of interests being pursued. These gaps would represent groups of citizens whose voices are not being represented in the backroom political forums where the lobbyists operate, and thus the illumination of such gaps would be useful in the pursuit of alleviating social inequality. If, as Erwin suggests, policy making is not only a political and social process, but also a cultural one, then ideally the voices of each micro-culture within any democracy should bear some influence on its formulation (Erwin 46).
Beyond the inherent relation between improving social equality through anthropological research and relevant adjustments to policy, anthropology seems like one of the most valuable tools available for initially identifying patterns in social inequality to begin with. Without research into the effects of policy on the varied publics which it governs, an understanding of its effectiveness is impossible. As is any understanding of its shortcomings. Erwin suggests a number of interesting ways in which anthropology is central to any policy which effects multiple publics: "It is important to disaggregate the public into as many subpublics as are relevant to the issue, to try to determine what their needs are in reference to the issue in question, to map out potential conflicts, and to assess the reactions of different publics to proposals." (48).
All of these applications of anthropology seem very useful to me - corners of the discipline which can only grow in the future. Erwin goes on to show how increasing understanding of the relationship between policy and its inheritors is also fruitfully applied to the processes of development (49), at least in theory. Erwin shows that the critics of development - and its anthropological 'co-conspirators' - have been harsh (49). If anthropology is to be associated with the policy of development, the lesson seems to be, then it should be on the terms of the subjects via the anthropologists.
Erwin moves on to show the relevance of anthropology to policy issues concerning the environment (50), social and socioeconomic issues (51), business (52), education and tourism (53), indigenous groups and technology (54), and other realms of human endeavor. Overall, the message is simple: policy formulated by an organization or government which will affect people should involve the study of those people before, during, and after the implementation of the policy. Erwin recognizes that the list of fields in which the chapter has explored the uses of anthropology in policy is limited, though I found some of his categories almost as all-encompassing as the term policy itself (e.g. social and socioeconomic processes).
Another interesting way in which anthropology can be used both in the analysis of policy and in the connection between policy and social inequality is pointed out at the beginning of Chambers' article "The Policy Idea", in which the author describes a conversation he had with an applied anthropologist (1985:36). Chambers writes about how his colleague explained to him that the origins of the anthropological concerns of any given era are driven largely by socio-historic conditions at the time. These conditions, in turn, are in part driven by the policies of the time. The retrospective look at the ways in which policy has influenced the course of anthropology could prove useful in formulating ways in which anthropology can influence policy. Understanding that the influence is a two-way street can disabuse anthropologists of the purity of the origins of their research interests, providing a platform for a wider perspective on their research.
Later on, Chambers describes the rapid evolution of American culture and the necessity of anthropology in maintaining the connection between policy and the changing perceptions and intentions of citizens (40). In a country as diverse as America, concepts such as "American values" can only influence policy to a certain extent before disenfranchisement begins. Chambers outlines the different stages involved in the creation of policy, naming "...formulation, planning, implementation, and review." (41). Each of these stages can, in my view, benefit from the input of anthropological research by using information gathered from and about people to inspire, design, release, and evaluate the policy.
Chambers also describes in this segment an example of how policy can create social inequality, when writing about two low-income housing companies, one of which pursues legal action to protect its (and its tenants) interests, and another which does not. The former succeeds in fending off opposition, while the latter ends up blaming the victims (44). I found Chambers' mentioning of the concept of "too many answers" to have interesting applications to the investigation into anthropology's relation to policy (46). At some point, the practicality of including every voice into the formulation of policy becomes questionable, to me. Yet there remains the question, inspired by the Erwin quotation from above: how many subpublics are there (how far do we subcategorize), how does one decide how many of those subpublics are ‘relevant to the issue’, and who decides? If a ‘subpublic’ of one has a strong interest in an issue, for example, should it really bear strong influence on a policy that affects thousands or millions?
Of the many different types of policy-anthropology relationships discussed in the readings, one of the most relevant to my own aspirations comes from the Okongwu article, where the authors write about policies related to global agriculture and social inequality (114). Though I have not by any means finalized ideas for my practicum, I'm thinking it will likely be related to that area of interest. I’m interested in a number of facets of the indigenous experience in the globalizing world, but one of my primary interests is the adaptation, symbiosis, or hybridization of indigenous knowledge systems with the global science paradigm. This should be done at a rate and include only those features of the global paradigm as dictated by the protectors/perpetuators of the indigenous knowledge systems. From what I’ve read so far, this process is taking place around the world on two major fronts. These are agriculture and the environment: ground zero for the meeting of epistemologies, and to my mind one of the most fertile fields for the sustainable cooperation of them.
Should anthropological research be used to formulate policy in a democracy?
This website uses cookies
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host API
This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook Login
You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Maven
This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking Pixels
We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google Analytics
This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
Comscore
ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking Pixel
Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
[Effect of harvesting on the genetic diversity and dynamic behavior of a limited Mendelian population].
A mathematical model of the changes in the size and genetic diversity of a harvested, single-locus Mendelian population under the conditions of density-dependent selection is analyzed, with a special emphasis on the possibility of conserving or loosing polymorphism as a result of equilibrium harvesting. It is demonstrated that harvesting leads to changes in intrapopulation parameters under the conditions of density-dependent selection; as a result, the genotypes that were the least fit in an unharvested population will prove more fit, the genetic composition of the population at equilibrium being changed accordingly. Thus, harvesting may, under different conditions, either conserve or reduce the genetic diversity of the population.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Find Out More About Me!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
James Jones: Novel Contest, Controversial Author
If you’re an unpublished novelist who doesn’t know about this contest, you should. The entry fee is a bit steep, but winning this, or even getting into the finals, is a great way to get some attention (i.e. agent) for your novel-in-progress. (And note that linked stories are acceptable, too.) The deadline is March 1, so better get cracking!
My manuscript for Pears on a Willow Tree made it to the round of finalists…but then it got accepted for publication, so I had to withdraw it from the competition…which was okay with me!
Vaguely related and possibly distracting side notes: Don’t you just have to love the beach scene from the movie of James Jones' novel, From Here to Eternity?! I read this in an interesting history of the making of the movie:
“At first, they kissed on the beach standing up, and it was Lancaster's idea for the love scene to be played horizontally in the surf. Their embrace was filmed at Halona Cove on the eastern end of Oahu and the location became a highlight of island tours for many years. The clinch has been endlessly parodied since its appearance. The MPAA banned photos of the kiss with the surf washing over Lancaster and Kerr as too erotic. Many prints had shortened versions of the scene because projectionists would cut out frames as souvenirs.”
Apparently, at the time, the novel was quite controversial in language and content, viewed as unfilmable. James Jones was more rugged than uber-rugged Norman Mailer! (same source):
“In paperback, Eternity is a densely packed 950 pages, much longer than any popular novel these days. It is not hard to understand why it was considered almost impossible to adapt. The writing is raw for its time, both in its language and the depiction of sex. There was a lot of squabbling with [editor Maxwell] Perkins over how many uses of the "f-" and "sh-" words could be permitted in the repressive atmosphere of the 1950s. Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, a combat novel, uses the curiously muted "fug" instead of the actual "f" word, used copiously in Eternity.”
Now that you’re totally revved up, here’s the contest announcement:
The 16th Annual James Jones First Novel Fellowship will be awarded to an American author of a first novel-in-progress, in 2008, by the James Jones Literary Society. Novellas and collections of closely linked short stories may also be considered for the competition.
The award is intended to honor the spirit of unblinking honesty, determination, and insight into modern culture exemplified by the late James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and other prose narratives of distinction. Jones himself was the recipient of aid from many supporters as a young writer and his family, friends, and admirers have established this award of $10,000 to continue the tradition in his name. Two runner up awards of $750 each will also be given by the Jones Literary Society.
Judges: Kaylie Jones, his daughter and a novelist; J. Michael Lennon, one of his biographers; and Bonnie Culver, Director of Master of Arts in Creative Writing at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Eligibility: The competition is open to United States citizens who have not previously published a novel. Manuscripts may be submitted for publication simultaneously, but the Society must be notified of acceptance elsewhere. Officers of the James Jones Society are not eligible for the award.
Entry Fee: A $25 check/money order, payable to Wilkes University, not to James Jones First Novel Fellowship, must accompany each entry.
Manuscript Guidelines: A two-page (maximum) outline of the entire novel and the first 50 pages of the novel-in-progress are to be submitted.
The manuscript must be typed and double-spaced; outline may be single-spaced. Name, address, telephone number and e-mail address (if available) should be on the title page, but nowhere else on the manuscript. Pages should be numbered.
If a manuscript is selected for the final round, the author will be asked to send another copy of the originally submitted first 50 pages plus pages 51-100. Submissions will be acknowledged only if accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped postcard. No manuscripts will be returned. Failure to comply with manuscript guidelines may disqualify entries.
For a copy of the press release on the winners, please submit a SASE (to the address listed in the next paragraph) marked "Winners 2008 Contest." The press release will be available in late Fall 2008.
Timetable: Entries are to be sent to the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, c/o M.A./M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Wilkes University, 84 West South Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766, and postmarked no later than March 1, 2008.
The winner will be notified on or about September 1, 2008. The first-prize winner must accept the award at the James Jones Literary Society Conference held each fall, usually in early November. Transportation funding will be provided. An excerpt from the winning manuscript will be published in Provincetown Arts (July 2009.)
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
On Monday, CNN hosted a live town hall forum for a single presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders.
The second question from the audience summarized the Democratic front-runner’s predicament. “There’s a lot of misinformation regarding your plan for universal health care,” a woman began. “Would you please provide a brief overview of your plan and how it differs from that of other candidates?”
The Vermont senator outlined his proposal—the federal government covers all nonelective medical costs, basically—but then he left the rest of the question open for viewers to deduce the differences between his plan and that of fellow candidate Senator Kamala Harris (D-California). In the past couple of months, CNN has hosted three town halls starring Harris, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), and former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, who is exploring a potential run as an independent candidate. Harris, too, touted “Medicare for all” at her town hall four weeks earlier. Indeed, she and several other Democratic presidential candidates have cosponsored Medicare-for-all legislation authored by Sanders.
But Harris—facing conservative derision for her answer—quickly hedged her enthusiasm to “eliminate” the private insurance market. Less than a day later, she further amended her response to welcome “alternative,” “moderate” proposals short of Sanders’s vision for a single-payer health care system.
Sanders seeks to lead a party that can barely stand to mention his name and explicitly cite his influence. The independent senator who identifies as a Democratic socialist authored conventional wisdoms that have come to dominate modern Democratic politics, and now he confronts several presidential rivals who might mimic and displace him. “Before I ran for president in 2016,” Sanders said, “[Medicare for all] was considered to be a wild and crazy idea.” It’s not so prohibitively wild now. Though he remains indispensable, Sanders isn’t so alone.
The 2016 Democratic presidential primary was, supposedly, an exhausting and destructive process. A 14-month bloodbath. Hillary Clinton and Sanders, the front-runner and the insurgent, respectively, devoured one another. Clinton—arguably the second-most-divisive figure in modern U.S. politics—won the nomination but lost crucial confidence among her party’s younger, left-wing contingents. Sanders was a sore loser; Clinton was a hopeless winner. She limped into the larger confrontation with now-President Donald Trump and suffered from the contrast between her rigid, conventional choreography and Trump’s loud, counterfeit candor. Clinton won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College, having lost former president Barack Obama’s crucial contingents in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Trump mimicked Sanders to undermine Clinton in these key states. “Every insider getting rich off of our broken system is throwing money at Hillary Clinton,” he argued in his stump speech. “The hedge fund managers, the Wall Street investors, the professional political class—it’s the powerful protecting the powerful. Insiders fighting for insiders. I am fighting for you.”
Sign up for the The Ringer Newsletter Email (required) By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. Subscribe
For 14 months before Clinton won her party’s nomination, she and Sanders argued about capitalism. It was an unthinkable pretext for a party that fears comparisons to socialism, communism, and Europe in general. Al Gore and Bill Bradley were not about to spend the 2000 primary season grousing about wealth creation, nor was Howard Dean prepared to abandon the private health insurance market. Clinton mounted a tough-loving defense of free enterprise: “It is our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn’t run amok and cause the kinds of inequities that we are seeing in our economic system,” she argued in one televised debate. “But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history of the world.”
Sanders doesn’t broadly condemn capitalism so much as he resists the easy valorization of wealth creation. His 2016 presidential campaign amounted to a cathartic, left-wing critique of the global economy, which had, for the past decade, shocked the national conscience. For once, Democrats argued openly—angrily—about private capital and public services. Sanders, the outsider, posed annoying questions about the Democratic Party’s role in the neoliberal project. Had liberal Democratic policies protected anyone? Could the party do better than middle-class tax cuts? Sanders forced pundits, activists, and voters to reevaluate the broader Democratic project. His campaign was a referendum on a party that had spent the past half-century rehearsing Republican style and priorities. Suddenly, Democratic politicians take social democracy seriously. So, too, do many voters.
Clinton has so far declined to launch a third presidential bid. The former secretary of state has lost twice already, largely due to her tragic misapprehension of Democratic politics in the new century. Two years after she won the national popular vote, her critics in both major parties have demoted her to resentful obsolescence. Clinton commands a large following, but she rarely, if ever, commands broader arguments about liberalism, the Democratic Party, and the future: As a candidate, Clinton has been a political movement unto herself. Meanwhile, Sanders has remade the party’s larger thinking without serving primarily as a Democrat.
Withstanding Clinton, Sanders faces his most formidable contrast in the form of Obama’s vice president, former Delaware Senator Joe Biden, the charming, moderate alternative to the left-wing rebellion embodied by Sanders and emulated by senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, et al. Klobuchar, who has struggled to build a campaign team due to reports about her mistreating Senate staff, has positioned herself as the most conventional, center-left figure in the current primary bunch, and even she is stumping for universal health care. “The Affordable Care Act is a beginning and not an end,” Klobuchar said in 2014. For many Democrats, Biden embodies an old-school political style in his friendly, paternal mannerisms and an old-school political liberalism in his resistance to comparisons with socialism that Sanders and his successors openly cultivate. Rather, Biden appeals to older, disenfranchised moderates through sheer force of his public persona. He’s folksy, but he’s no populist. He’s pugnacious, but he’s no revolutionary.
But revisionism and socialism aren’t really—fully—Biden’s problems. Biden wouldn’t be the only 2020 Democratic hopeful who would have to account for an inglorious legislative record; the leading Democrats, including Sanders, are all senators, after all. Biden’s distinct advantages seem self-evident: his stature, his gravitas, his favorability. What self-respecting folk archetype from Wisconsin wouldn’t want to vote for cheesy, dear old Joe Biden? Still, Biden’s own political constitution is a mystery. In half a century of public service, he hasn’t distinguished his outlook on Democratic politics. Biden’s most substantial leadership term—as Senate Judiciary chairman from 1987 through 1995—is now largely defined by his failure to investigate Anita Hill’s sexual harassment accounts about now–Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He’s run for president twice already—disastrously in 1988 and marginally in 2008—only to rank along the bottom and drop out before Super Tuesday. In 2016, Biden nearly ran against Clinton and Sanders, only to withhold himself from contention following the May 2015 death of his son Beau. He has agonized for the past several months about launching a 2020 presidential bid. The Democratic base may be starving for Biden’s viability against Trump, but it’s hardly suffering for a lack of Biden’s ideas.
Sanders’s ideas are something different. He isn’t a Democrat—and yet he’s radically improved the party’s discourse and responsiveness to its own political base. Sanders has rescued the party from its terminal sheepishness and has discouraged the party’s leading presidential candidates from the previously ceaseless urge to run to Biden’s right. Indeed, Sanders has emboldened his own competitors, who have appropriated enough of his priorities and posturing to risk rendering the 77-year-old senator obsolete. Already, he is struggling to address the gender and racial dynamics—often maligned as “identity politics”—of the most diverse presidential primary in U.S. history. “We have got to look at candidates not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or gender and not by their age,” Sanders told NPR a week ago. At Monday’s town hall, Sanders answered a pointed question about his prominence, and his credibility, in this presidential contest: “I am enormously proud of the fact that we have the most diverse, progressive freshman class in the history of the United States Congress,” Sanders said. “And you know what I did in 2016 and in 2018? I ran all over this country to try to make that happen.”
So Sanders supporters, and the Democratic Party in general, suffer the Sanders paradox. If he really is uniquely committed to social democracy in short order, then the Democratic Party is hopeless: Who will stump for social democracy once Sanders has left the scene? In the House, there’s freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–New York)—and there’s only one other socialist in Congress quite like her.
Sanders led the Democratic Party further left, Trump led the Republican Party further right, and both men embodied a loosely defined new populism.
Given the benefit of Trump’s incumbency, Republicans are hardly so inclined to host a second existential crisis at the presidential level. Trump is running for reelection, and whatever ambivalence conservatives might have once broadly expressed, rather vividly and passionately, about the president last time, Trump is now the only game in town. In South Carolina, party officials may cancel the state’s February 2020 contest to spare Trump a primary challenge from center-right candidates such as former Ohio governor John Kasich and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld. “Considering the fact that the entire party supports the president, we’ll end up doing what’s in the president’s best interest,” South Carolina GOP chairman Drew McKissick told the Washington Examiner. Meanwhile, Bill Kristol has piled Trump’s detractors into a single life raft bound for a luxurious exile. Self-appointed hitman Tucker Carlson is hunting Trump’s conservative critics—Mitt Romney, Kristol, Max Boot—for sport. The Republican Party is closing. For two decades, GOP leaders struggled, however half-assedly, to broaden conservatism’s appeal and thus expand their base. In 2020, the Republican establishment will double down on Trumpism—a right-wing movement defined by its most repulsive, exclusionary impulses.
In centrist theories and conservative assessments, Sanders risks alienating moderate voters, including the mythical Obama-Trump supporters who might otherwise break in favor of a more conventional Democrat in the 2020 general election. It’s the classic and potentially insurmountable fear about Sanders, whom would-be Biden supporters have already come to resent as vividly as the Clinton campaign did.
“Democrats netted 40 seats in the midterms and did so with a lot of candidates that pundits in D.C. would dismissively call ‘center left,’” one Biden confidant recently told The Atlantic. The 2020 Democratic primaries may indeed pit “liberals” against “leftists” in a grudge match that ends with party loyalists agreeing to split the difference in the form of Harris. Sanders may struggle to differentiate himself from Elizabeth Warren. But his first presidential campaign wasn’t entirely about left-wing notches on a simplified political spectrum. In 2016, Sanders didn’t campaign as a candidate more liberal than Clinton; he campaigned as a different kind of liberal—the rare, persuasive U.S. socialist. His supporters believe him to be one of a kind. One can only hope they’re wrong.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Query Date From a Table in Access VBA
I've looked around everywhere but I've found any solutions. I'm trying to query a date from a table in Access VBA but after trying various placements of "#", I still can't get it to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Code:
Dim varStartDate As Date
varStartDate = "SELECT Employees.StartDate FROM Employees WHERE Employees.Name LIKE Manny"
I get type mismatch error.
I also tried
varStartDate = "# " & "SELECT Employees.StartDate FROM Employees WHERE Employees.Name LIKE Manny" & " #"
Same error.
A:
The type mismatch error was because you were attempting to assign a string to varStartDate, but since it was declared As Date, it can't accept "SELECT Employees.StartDate FROM ...".
I think you can get what you need with DLookup.
Dim varStartDate As Variant
varStartDate = DLookup("StartDate", "Employees", "[Name]='Manny'")
If another issue is that Employees.StartDate is text instead of Date/Time datatype, maybe you also need to convert the value you get from DLookup.
If Not IsNull(varStartDate) Then
varStartDate = CDate(varStartDate)
End If
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Is the dominance of even carbon atom molecules odd?
The unexpected higher frequency of occurrence of even carbon atom molecules over odd carbon atom ones revealed through previous database searches is shown to be a consequence of the predominantly bimolecular nature of bond formation processes and the fact that combinations of odd and odd as well as even and even atom molecules result in even atom products whereas odd and even atom molecule combinations alone lead to odd atom products.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In case they are separated under President Donald Trump's approach to immigration policy, many of Greater Cincinnati's migrant families are going through wrenching discussions about living apart.
The conversation is ongoing around one kitchen table, at least. Mauricio Vivar, 20, will become the guardian of his three U.S.-citizen siblings if their parents are deported to Mexico. His brother is 14 and sisters 11 and 4.
"They would be in culture shock if they went there," said Vivar, who has legal status through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known more widely as DACA or as the "Dreamers" program.
The Vivars are not alone. Immigrant families across Greater Cincinnati are making separations plans. In fact, advocates and attorneys are encouraging them.
A 10-page packet titled "Family Preparedness Plan" was available in English and Spanish during a recent immigrant rights rally and prayer service at San Carlos Borromeo Church in Carthage.
"People are trying to figure out the best way of going back," said Don Sherman, a labor lawyer and chair of civil rights for the Cincinnati League of United Latin American Citizens.
Though sending mixed signals at times, the Trump administration promises to increase enforcement and deportations of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Most are Mexicans or Central Americans who arrived from some of the world's most violent and impoverished nations.
Trump issues revised travel ban for six majority-Muslim countries
Dairy farms fear Trump's immigration policies
As a result, some families are seriously considering a return to their countries of origin or Canada, according to local immigration lawyers and advocates. Decisions are complicated because, like the family of Mauricio Vivar, some relatives are citizens or have legal immigration documents and others don't.
The Trump administration's deportation priorities are broader than those in Barack Obama's second term as president, when only unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal histories were targeted for removal.
"President Trump changed how immigrants are viewed and characterized," said Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the nonpartisan think tank Migration Policy Institute. "They are now seen as criminals and security threats. This context is new and different, not seen in any recent administration, Republican or Democrat."
Long-term studies of metropolitan areas by criminologists show that immigration does not cause crime to increase and may, in fact, suppress it.
ICE vows to honor 'sensitive' sites: schools, churches, hospitals
Since Trump's election, immigrant communities have been on edge, crackling with rumors that spread like electricity. Not long after Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation raids in early February netted 680 arrests in six states, rumor spread via word of mouth and over social media. Immigration agents are parked at the Paddock Road exit of Interstate 75. They are monitoring churches and social service agencies.
Not true, said Khalid Walls, spokesman for the Detroit office of immigration enforcement, known widely by the acronym ICE. Detroit ICE has jurisdiction over Ohio.
"Our work is targeted … in which specific individuals are sought," Walls said.
ICE officials say its agents continue to conduct operations to arrest "deportable foreign nationals." Immigration enforcement agents, who do not drive marked vehicles or wear a uniform, are not waiting outside the offices of Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio in Bond Hill or Catholic churches with large Central American immigrant memberships, Walls said.
Under the Trump administration, immigrant advocates fear ICE and the Department of Homeland Security would no longer honor the "sensitive locations" policy implemented in 2012 under Obama. In Texas, ICE is detaining an unauthorized immigrant from El Salvador who has a brain tumor. In Virginia, agents arrested two undocumented men as they left a church-run shelter from cold weather.
But the ICE spokesman said agents will not start showing up in hospitals, medical clinics, houses of worship and schools.
"DHS is committed to ensuring that people seeking to participate in activities or utilize services at any sensitive location are free to do so," Walls said.
Cincinnati Public Schools services 34,000 students, some of them unauthorized immigrants or their children.
"We have not received any requests from ICE agents to enter our schools or school property," said Janet Walsh, director of the district's public affairs department. "It's also hard to imagine why they might attempt to do so, given that federal law gives immigrant students the right to a free public education, regardless of their documentation status."
Two weeks ago, officials with Chicago Public Schools said the district would deny access to federal agents unless served with a criminal warrant.
Cincinnati, like many major U.S. cities, has a sanctuary congregation movement. One congregation, Christ Church Cathedral, home of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, has committed to housing and protecting unauthorized immigrants.
Capps, the expert on unauthorized immigrant populations and immigrant trends, said he understands the confusion related to enforcement of illegal immigration. In the second Obama term, people with felonies or serious misdemeanors were the removal priority for ICE. The Trump administration has expanded the priority to the parameters of the early Obama years and second half of the George W. Bush administration.
The enforcement shift and inconsistencies of Trump's statements on immigrations — will he protect young Dreamers? — have left many immigrant families considering their options. Even if they don't have a criminal record, do unauthorized immigrants run the risk of sudden arrest and fast-tracked deportation? Do they leave on their own terms? Where do they go, back to Mexico or Central America or north to Canada, which is perceived to be more immigrant-friendly?
Canada is an option for some local immigrant families, advocate Sherman said. Canada in December lifted a visa requirement and anticipated a likely surge in Mexican and Central American migrants.
Data on Canadian immigration applications since Trump's election is not available. Canada showed increases in temporary residence applications in the first nine months of 2016 (compared to the same period of 2015) from El Salvadoran, Honduran, Guatemalan and Mexican nationals. Increases in numbers of African and Muslim refugees crossing into Canada from North Dakota and Minnesota have been reported.
"All applicants who apply to Canada’s immigration programs are treated equally no matter where they are from," said Remi Lariviere, of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, in the country's capital of Ottawa. "Anyone can emigrate to Canada provided they meet the qualifications."
Besides weighing migration and legal options, families with undocumented relatives are also relying on their faith. An immigrant rights rally Feb. 25 at San Carlos in Carthage ended in an hour of prayer.
The voices of undocumented people mixed that night with pleas for changes to U.S. immigration laws and for Trump's protection and well-being.
We came here to work. …Thank you to Americans who support us. … We didn't come here to take anything away from anyone. … We pay $12,000 a year in taxes. … Families are terrorized by the news. … We came to educate our children. … It's only in the hands of God.
Mauricio Vivar and his family lean on their Christian faith, even as they work hard every day. "We have a plan for everything," said Mauricio, who works with his father.
Mauricio was 4 and another Mexican-born brother 11 months old when his parents crossed the border illegally in 2000 in search of work. They went first to Los Angeles before migrating to the Cincinnati area.
If they return to Mexico, his parents would resettle in the more urban state of Morelos, just south of Mexico City, not in their native rural area of another neighboring state, Puebla. The family is going to invest in dual Mexican-U.S. citizenship of the three U.S.-born children, so if they are forced to return to Mexico, they will not be undocumented there.
"My parents don't want to show us they're scared," said Mauricio, who recently renewed his DACA for two more years. It cost him $495.
"They have brought us up to be strong," he said of his parents. "Even in the face of adversity, we have to do our best and keep moving forward."
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Can't get razor page route to work using anchor tag helper
Background
This is a follow on issue to an initial question I asked around asp.net core v3.1 razor page routes.
I added the following to the startup as suggested in the solution here which allowed me to route to the razor page in both ways I wanted:
services.AddMvc()
.AddRazorPagesOptions(options =>
options.Conventions.AddAreaPageRoute("Identity", "/account/signupandapply", "/identity/account/signup")
);
/identity/account/signup
/identity/account/signupandapply/<fooapplyid>
Issue
I'm struggling to use the anchor tag helper to respect the path route /identity/account/signupandapply/<fooapplyid>. The href shows using the parameter instead /identity/account/signupandapply?fooapplyid=<fooapplyid>. This is my anchor tag helper markup:
<a asp-area="identity" asp-page="/account/signupandapply" asp-route-fooapplyid="@Model.FooApplyId">Apply here</a>
Currently, I'm manually setting the href but would like to know how to get this working using the tag helper.
<a href="/identity/account/signupandapply/@Model.FooApplyId">Apply here</a>
Note: The anchor markup is being added to a view outside of the identity area.
Attempted
I've tried adding the below which shows the href as I want. I.e /identity/account/signupandapply/<fooapplyid>
.AddAreaPageRoute("Identity", "/account/signupandapply", "/identity/account/signupandapply/{applyid}")
But I then get an error when I go to the page, which makes sense
AmbiguousMatchException: The request matched multiple endpoints. Matches: /Account/SignUpAndApply /Account/SignUpAndApply
Neither of these work, the href still shows as ?applyid=:
.AddAreaPageRoute("Identity", "/account/signupandapply?applyid=", "/identity/account/signupandapply/{applyid}")
.AddAreaPageRoute("Identity", "/account/signupandapply/{applyid?}", "/identity/account/signupandapply/{applyid}")
Question
Is there a further startup route that needs defining or how do I get the anchor tag helper to respect the path route?
A:
AddAreaPageRoute("Identity", "/account/signupandapply", "/identity/account/signup")
To quote the docs on this (emphasis mine):
conventions.AddAreaPageRoute(string areaName, string pageName, string route)
Adds the specified route to the page at the specified pageName located in the specified area.
The page can be routed via route in addition to the default set of path based routes. All links generated for this page will use the specified route.
So this convention effectively tells the routing to use the /identity/acount/signup route from now on to generate all links, while accepting incoming routes to hit both these routes.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that you can control this any better using the page conventions. Razor pages do not really fit a routing model where you are having different route to reach the same page. After all, Razor pages are page-centric instead of route-centric like MVC actions.
So if this is a hard requirement for you, you might want to look at using a controller for this one use-case instead that renders the same view. For what it’s worth, controllers do mix nicely with an application that is otherwise using Razor pages.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Suppressive effect of SUN1165 on supraventricular tachycardia.
The electrophysiologic properties of SUN1165 and its suppressive effect on supraventricular tachycardia were assessed in 14 patients, nine with atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (AVRT) and five with atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT). This new agent prolonged the PR interval and QRS duration but did not alter the QT interval or the corrected QT interval. It did not alter the sinus cycle length or sinus node recovery time. The drug prolonged the AH interval, HV interval, and intraatrial conduction time but did not change the effective refractory periods of the right atrium or right ventricle. SUN1165 prevented the induction of tachycardia in six of nine patients with AVRT by a complete retrograde block of the accessory pathway and prevented AVNRT in four of five patients by a complete retrograde block of the fast atrioventricular nodal pathway as well. We conclude that SUN1165 is very effective in preventing AVRT or AVNRT. Larger studies with more patients are warranted.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Data visualization with qt and qtopengl
I understand that "Data visualization or data visualisation is the creation and study of the visual representation of data, meaning "information that has been abstracted in some schematic form, including attributes or variables for the units of information".
And now...It's a quite strange question, but...I'd like to make a (very) simple programme with qt and qtopengl- a cube, whose vertexes have RGB-coordinates, I mean its colours (0,0,0; 0,255,0 and so on). Will this programme illustrate data visualization (maybe just a little...)?
A:
Yes, you could class that as data visualisation if you layer some meaning over the coordinates of your cube. Say for example, the furthest a point is from some reference point on the cube, the darker the colour is of that point.
For some excellent examples of data visualisation techniques and examples, please have a look at this website.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Product Description
The TTM7212DK is a black gas wall oven with electronic ignition and an oven broiler. Black glass construction on the door ensures durability and style. The unit is set for natural gas, but can be converted to LP without a kit. The oven door has a see-through glass door with light for the best view during baking. A digital clock with timer adds convenience. The interior is constructed from porcelain for lasting quality, with an 18000 BTU oven.
The30 Single Wall Oven from Jenn-Air will be the best addition to your place The unit features V2 Vertical Dual-Fan Convection System 5 cu ft Capacity Soft Auto Close Door Wi-Fi Connectivity and Halogen Interior Lighting...
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Sign up to be the first to know about our Exclusive Sales, Special Offers, & Member's Only Discounts!
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
140 B.R. 571 (1992)
In re Edwin Campbell Lee SCHMITT, Debtor.
Edwin Campbell Lee SCHMITT, Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES of America, (INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE), Defendant.
Bankruptcy No. 90-5144-BH, Adv. No. 91-224.
United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Oklahoma.
June 4, 1992.
Patrick Sampair, of MacPherson & McCarville, P.A., Phoenix, Ariz., for debtor/plaintiff.
Dennis M. Duffy, of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Tax Div., Washington, D.C., for defendant.
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
RICHARD L. BOHANON, Chief Judge.
This dispute arises over debtor's request to discharge his federal income tax liability for several tax years. While the parties have raised numerous issues we reach only the first question, which is of first impression in this court whether an addition to the jurat clause on an income tax form renders the form invalid as a tax return? The facts are not in dispute.
Debtor/plaintiff, a tax protestor, was convicted of willfully failing to file income tax returns, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7203. Debtor apparently contends that wages are not income, but an even exchange for services.
As required by the judgment and probation commitment order, Debtor submitted a form 1040 for those tax years in which he had failed to file. These returns contained financial information necessary to compute a tax. Debtor signed the returns, except for one tax year.
*572 As a closing retort, debtor filed returns containing a statement at the end of the jurat clause. This statement reads "SIGNED UNDER DURESS, SEE STATEMENT ATTACHED." The attached statement read:
"This return is signed under duress. I do not concede that my wages are taxable income under the law, however, I am acquiescing to the power of the State and I am filing this Return per the instructions of the I.R.S."
The I.R.S. deemed these documents to be frivolous and refused to accept them as returns.
Debtor then filed a complaint to determine his tax liability in the United States Tax Court. Debtor and the I.R.S. entered into a settlement of this suit. The tax court entered the settlement as a judgment. The settlement assessed deficiencies against debtor for all the tax years for which he had been convicted of willful failure to file. The settlement included an assessment of penalties for fraudulent failure to file under 26 U.S.C. § 6653(b) for three of the tax years.
Debtor filed his Chapter 7 petition a year and a half after this settlement. He was granted a general discharge three months later and the case was subsequently closed.
Four months after closure of the case, debtor filed this complaint seeking to determine the dischargeability of the debts owed to the I.R.S. for all the tax years covered under the settlement in the judgment entered by the tax court.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
I.R.S. argues that it is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law under these facts. It contends that under the law, debtor never filed a return, as determined by 26 U.S.C. § 6065, and therefore the debts are not dischargeable, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(B)(i). The I.R.S. argues that the statement added to the return qualified the jurat rendering it ineffective and, therefore, no return has been filed, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6065, as interpreted by the Court of Appeals in Borgeson v. United States, 757 F.2d 1071 (10th Cir.1985).
I agree with defendant's argument. Our income tax system is voluntary and the Internal Revenue Service must perforce rely on the self assessment of the taxpayer. The tax code therefore, includes §§ 6061 and 6065 which courts have interpreted to require execution of an unqualified jurat clause, the taxpayer's assurance that the figures supplied are true to the best of his or her knowledge, and numbers sufficient to compute a tax. See Borgeson v. United States, 757 F.2d 1071 (10th Cir. 1985); United States v. Stillhammer, 706 F.2d 1072 (10th Cir.1983); United States v. Porth, 426 F.2d 519 (10th Cir.1970); Ted Kimball v. United States, 925 F.2d 356 (9th Cir.1991); United States v. Moore, 627 F.2d 830 (7th Cir.1980).
Debtor's addition to the jurat clause, although seemingly innocuous, forces the Internal Revenue Service to evaluate the jurat, under the tests imposed in the circuit concerned, to determine if the jurat has been qualified and is, therefore, defective and invalid. I agree with the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that the Internal Revenue Service should not be required to undertake this analysis. United States v. Moore, 627 F.2d 830, 835 (7th Cir.1980). Such an effort comes at the expense of all other taxpayers who file in good faith and who do not alter the jurat.
Bright line rules should be applied sparingly, but this situation requires just such a rule. I find that the jurat clause has been qualified if any addition or deletion is made to it.
For the above reasons, I find that under the law, debtor qualified the jurat clause on the forms he filed with the I.R.S. making them ineffective as returns. Zellerbach Paper Co. v. Helvering, 293 U.S. 172, 180, 55 S.Ct. 127, 130, 79 L.Ed. 264 (1934); Borgeson v. U.S., 757 F.2d 1071 (10th Cir. 1985). Therefore, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(1)(B)(i) the tax and associated interest owed by debtor for tax years 1979 1985 is excepted from his discharge.
*573 Accordingly, defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted and judgment will be entered in its favor.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Background
==========
The effects of oxidative stress induced by nicotine have been reported to cause damage to the membrane structure even at the chromosomal level \[[@b1-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\] and ultrastructural level \[[@b2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], which subsequently alter multiple physiological processes such as oocyte maturation \[[@b3-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], fertilization and preimplantation embryonic development \[[@b4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]--[@b6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], implantation \[[@b7-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], as well as pregnancy and fetal outcome \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Oxidative stress occurs as a result of an interrupted balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as O~2~, H~2~O~2~ or OH^--^, and endogenous antioxidants such as glutathione peroxidase (GP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) or catalase \[[@b8-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. In health, these 2 systems usually remain in balance. Another type of antioxidant is exogenous antioxidants or non-enzymatic antioxidants such as vitamins A, C and vitamin E derivatives, including tocopherols and tocotrienols, which are only available in the form of dietary supplements.
Our previous study showed that nicotine-induced oxidative stress on pregnant mice is possibly mediated through lipid peroxidation \[[@b4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. In female reproduction, lipid peroxidation is associated with impaired mitochondrial functions and inhibition of antioxidant enzymes \[[@b9-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], which subsequently results in impaired oocyte ultrastucture \[[@b2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], oocyte maturation failure \[[@b3-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], altered tubal embryo transport to the uterus for implantation \[[@b7-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], arrested preimplantation embryonic development \[[@b4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], and extended length of gestation with altered pregnancy outcome \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\].
Recently, γ-TCT \[[@b10-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], a vitamin E derivative, has come to be regarded as a potent lipid antioxidant \[[@b11-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. The additional 3 double bonds in its side chain allow tocotrienols to be more mobile in cellular membranes, which gives them specific biological and therapeutic properties. In an oocyte ultrastructural study conducted by our group, γ-TCT was found to repair nicotine-induced ultrastructural damage of the preovulatory oocyte by retaining its shape and smooth boundary of zona pellucida with tight perivitelline space \[[@b2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. In another study, γ-TCT supplementation was found to increase the number of retrieved 2- and 4-cell stage embryos with improved pregnancy rate and pregnancy outcome in rats \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Antioxidative effects of γ-TCT have also been documented in a hypercholesterolemic study \[[@b12-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\] and in human diseases \[[@b13-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\].
The effective dosage and duration of nicotine treatment in altered *in vitro* embryo development, implantation of blastocysts and pregnancy outcome \[[@b4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]--[@b6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], as well as the optimal beneficial dosage of tocotrienol in reversing the deleterious impact of nicotine on reproductive processes \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], are not completely understood. Therefore, our study was carefully designed to optimise the dosage and duration of nicotine treatment in altered embryo development and its reversal by tocotrienol. The selective doses of nicotine used were 1.0, 3.0, or 5.0 mg/kg/day for 7 consecutive days to evaluate *in vitro* development of embryos and the level of lipid peroxidation. To optimize the beneficial effect, doses of 30, 60, or 90 mg/kg/day of γ-tocotrienol were evaluated.
Material and Methods
====================
A) Effects of various doses of nicotine on *in vitro* embryonic development
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirty-two 4--6-week-old (25--30 g) female mice (Mus musculus) were equally divided into groups and injected subcutaneously (s.c.) with either 0.9% saline or nicotine at a dose of 1.0, 3.0, or 5.0 mg/kg/day for 7 consecutive days. Twenty-four hours later, mice were superovulated by injecting (s.c.) PMSG (5 IU) and 48 hours later by intraperitoneal injection of hCG (5 IU). Animals were cohabitated overnight with fertile male mice at a 1: 1 ratio and sacrificed at 48 hours post-coitum.
### Sample collection
Blood samples were collected via cardiac puncture, centrifuged (2500 rpm, 4°C for 15 minutes) and plasma samples were frozen at --70°C until analyzed. Fallopian tubes were excised and embryos were flushed under a dissecting microscope (Leica Zoom 2000, Japan), categorized, and counted.
### Embryo culture
Normal and abnormal embryos were categorized according to the criteria set by Ertzeid and Storeng \[[@b14-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Only good quality embryos were cultured. The embryos were cultured in a 35-mm culture dish filled with 100 μl droplets of Whitten's medium (Sigma Chemical Co., USA) overlaid with mineral oil (Sigma, USA). Cultures were maintained in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO~2~ and 95% air at 37°C for 5 days. Assessment of embryonic development was made under the reverse phase (Leica IRB, Japan) and inverted microscope (Olympus 1X81 SF-3, Japan).
### Determination of MDA in plasma
Plasma samples were processed accordingly for evaluation of MDA levels using the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) method \[[@b15-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. The absorbance was measured photometrically at 532 nm and the concentrations were expressed as nanomoles MDA per gram protein (nmol/g).
### Statistical analysis
Data were analyzed using the SPSS package program (SPSS 17.0, Chicago, IL, USA). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to test the normality of data distribution. Statistical methods included paired and unpaired 2-tailed Student's *t*-test with normal distribution. All continuous variables are expressed as mean ±SEM. A *p* value of \<0.05 or \<0.001 was considered statistically significant.
B) Effects of concomitant treatment of nicotine concurrently with various doses of γ-TCT on *in vitro* embryonic development
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sixty-four 4--6-week-old (25--30 g) female mice were housed in polyurethane cages at 27°C with a 12-hour light-dark cycle. Animals were given food pellets and water *ad libitum* and divided into 8 groups of 8 animals each. Animals in groups 1 (G1) and 2 (G2) received daily subcutaneous injection of 0.9% saline or nicotine (5.0 mg/kg/day) for 7 consecutive days. Animals in groups 3, 4, and 5 were gavaged with 30 (G3), 60 (G4) or 90 (G5) mg/kg/day γ-TCT (Golden Hope) for 7 consecutive days. Animals in groups 6, 7, and 8 received concomitant treatment of nicotine (5.0 mg/kg/day) and 30 (G6), 60 (G7), or 90 (G8) mg/kg/day γ-TCT for 7 consecutive days. The following day, animals were superovulated using PMSG followed by hCG \[Intervet, Holland\], mated with fertile males, and sacrificed at 48 hours post-coitum.
Sample collection, embryo culture, determination of MDA and statistical analysis were done as described previously.
Results
=======
A) Effects of various doses of nicotine on *in vitro* embryonic development
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Figure 1](#f1-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"} shows the number of preimplantation embryos developed in mice following nicotine treatment at a dose of 1.0, 3.0, or 5.0 mg/kg/day for 7 consecutive days. The number of hatched blastocysts were decreased in the 1.0 mg/kg/day (1.63±0.18, p\<0.001) and 3.0 mg/kg/day nicotine-treated groups (0.88±0.3, p\<0.001), respectively, compared to their respective controls (3.5±0.34), while embryos in the 5.0 mg/kg/day nicotine-treated group stopped developing at the morula stage (1.75±0.77, p\<0.05). Nicotine at 5.0 mg/kg/day for 7 consecutive days was therefore considered to be the most effective dose to attenuate development of the preimplantation embryos.
B) Effects of concomitant treatment of nicotine concurrently with various doses of γ-TCT on *in vitro* embryonic development
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Figures 2](#f2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"}--[4](#f4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"} show the number of embryos developed in animals treated with nicotine (5.0 mg/kg/day) and a concurrent supplementation of γ-TCT at 30 ([Figure 2](#f2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"}), 60 ([Figure 3](#f3-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"}), and 90 ([Figure 4](#f4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"}) mg/kg/day for 7 consecutive days. In all the 3 combined treatment groups, development of the preimplantation embryos was completed at hatched blastocysts, unlike the only nicotine-treated embryos where the embryo development was found to be completely ceased at the morula stage. These results indicate that γ-TCT at all 3 trial doses could effectively reverse the deleterious impact of nicotine on *in vitro* development of embryos.
[Figure 2](#f2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"} shows embryo development between G1 and G2. In G1 (control), the number of 1--4 cells retrieved embryos was 16.33±0.4, whereas in G2 (nicotine of 5.0 mg/kg/day) the number of 1--4 cells embryos was significantly lower (7.38±3.1, p\<0.05). This decreasing trend in the number of embryos induced by nicotine as compared to its control also applied to 4--8 cells (3.0±0.7 \[treated\] *vs.* 8.67±0.9 \[control\] p\<0.05), 8--16 cells (2.0±0.6 \[treated\] *vs.* 7.17±0.9 \[control\] p\<0.05), and at the morula stage (1.75±0.6 \[treated\] *vs.* 5.83±0.8 \[control\] p\<0.05). No blastocysts were found in G2 on day 5 of *in vitro* culture. Conversely, supplementation of γ-TCT (30 mg/kg/day) along with nicotine, allowed morulae to turn into blastocysts (5.0±0.4 \[treated\] *vs.* 4.83±1.4 \[control\]), and the number of hatched blastocysts was found to be 3.0±0.4 compared to controls (4.67±0.7). A significant difference was also found in the number of 4--8 cell embryos in this γ-TCT supplemented group (13.67±0.7 \[treated\] *vs.* 8.33±1.9 \[control\]).
[Figure 3](#f3-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"} shows results of G2 and G7. In G2 (nicotine of 5.0 mg/kg/day), the number of 1--4 cell retrieved embryos, 4--8 cells, 8--16 cells, and morulae count were significantly lower than their respective controls. Moreover, preimplantation embryo development was ceased at the morula stage. No blastocysts were found in G2. On the other hand, in G7 (nicotine + 60 mg/kg/day γ-TCT), the number of morulae that turned into blastocysts was 5.25±0.6 (3.83±0.8 control) and the number of hatched blastocysts was 2.5±0.3 (2.33±0.4 control), respectively.
[Figure 4](#f4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"} shows results of G2 and G8. In G2, the number of 1--4 cell retrieved embryos, 4--8 cells, 8--16 cells, and morulae were significantly lower than their respective controls. Preimplantation embryo development ceased at the morula stage. However, in G8 (nicotine + 90 mg/kg/day g-TCT), the number of morulae that turned into blastocysts was 6.1±2.1 (4.83±0.9 control) and the number of hatched blastocysts was 3.5±1.5 (3.0±0.7 control).Various doses of nicotine and plasma levels of MDA in mice.
[Figure 5](#f5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"} shows plasma levels of MDA following different doses of nicotine treatment. Plasma MDA concentrations were found to be significantly higher in all 3 nicotine-treated groups: 1.0 mg/kg/day (326.4±20.7 nmol/g, p\<0.001), 3.0 mg/kg/day (416.9±46.0 nmol/g, p\<0.05), and 5.0 mg/kg/day (589.5±49.9 nmol/g, p\<0.05), respectively, compared to control (163.5±28.8 nmol/g). Plasma levels of MDA in the nicotine plus γ-TCT supplemented mice.Plasma MDA concentration was significantly higher in animals of G2 (589.5±49.9 nmol/g) compared to control animals of G1 (294.3±23.1 nmol/g, p\<0.001). A significant increase in plasma MDA was also recorded in animals of G4 (188.3±27.9 nmol/g) compared to its control G3 (106.1±6.9 nmol/g, p\<0.05), suggesting that concomitant administration of γ-TCT at a dose of 30 mg/kg/day concurrently with nicotine (5.0 mg/kg/day) was not enough to neutralize levels of prooxidants in plasma induced by nicotine. However, reduction of plasma MDA concentration almost back to its control level (G5) by γ-TCT of 60 mg/kg/day (G6) suggests that γ-TCT of 60 mg/kg/day could be an appropriate dosage in neutralizing nicotine-induced lipid peroxidation (MDA level). An increased dose of γ-TCT at 90 mg/kg/day (G8) concurrently with nicotine showed almost identical results as recorded between G6 and G5.
Discussion
==========
Nicotine has been selected as the toxicant for evaluation as it is known from numerous epidemiological studies that nicotine from tobacco smoking may exert a variety of adverse impact on reproductive outcomes \[[@b16-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b17-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. It seems that no systematic study has yet assessed the dose-related beneficial effects of γ-TCT over the nicotine-induced cessation of preimplantation embryonic development in mice.
In the present study, 1410 embryos were retrieved, of which 69.1% were found to be normal according to the criteria set by Ertzeid & Storeng \[[@b14-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Following nicotine of 5.0 mg/kg/day for 7 days, the percentage of retrieved normal embryo was significantly reduced to 39.5% compared to control (70.6%). However, compared to nicotine-treated retrieved normal embryos (39.5%), a significantly higher percentage (73.8%) of retrieved normal embryos was evident following concomitant supplementation of γ-TCT concurrently with nicotine. This higher percentage of normal retrieved embryos as a result of concurrent supplementation of γ-TCT with nicotine agrees to some extent with other studies \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b18-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\].
Lockman et al. \[[@b19-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\] detected almost identical levels of plasma nicotine between heavy smokers and rats treated with nicotine at a dose of 4.5 mg/kg/day. Moreover, nicotine at 5.0 mg/kg/day for 4 consecutive days reduced the number of blastocysts in rats \[[@b20-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Effects of various doses of nicotine over a period of 7 days show that the number of hatched blastocysts decreased in both 1.0 mg/kg/day (1.63±0.18, p\<0.001) and 3.0 mg/kg/day nicotine-treated groups (0.88±0.3, p\<0.001) compared to their respective control (3.5±0.34). But in the 5.0 mg/kg/day nicotine-treated animals, embryos stopped developing at the morula stage (1.75±0.77 *vs.* 3.5±0.34, p\<0.05). Significant differences in the developmental stages of 1--4, 4--8, 8--16 cells, morulae, blastocysts, and hatched blastocysts were also evident in the nicotine-treated embryos ([Figure 1](#f1-medscimonitbasicres-19-87){ref-type="fig"}). Our results of delayed embryonic cleavage confirmed the findings of other researchers \[[@b4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]--[@b6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. A previous study reported that embryos in rats developed only up to the 4-cell stage when exposed to nicotine for 30 consecutive days \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Nicotine exposure for a similar period in mice is found to prevent blastocyst formation on day 4 in *in vitro* culture \[[@b6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Delayed embryo cleavage as a result of nicotine exposure is considered in inducing complications in pregnancy because it may lead to a delayed blastocyst implantation as a result of delayed loss of zona pellucida, the growth of the inner cell mass \[[@b21-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], or prolonged gestation \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Nicotine has been found to be carried within the embryo during preimplantation embryonic development \[[@b22-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\] and possibly results in delayed blastocyst implantation and prolonged gestation.
Apart from cessation of *in vitro* embryo development, nicotine at 1.0, 3.0, or 5.0 mg/kg/day was also found to elevate plasma MDA, an indicator of oxidative stress (OS), confirmed by others \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b22-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\]. Therefore, nicotine-induced impaired *in vitro* embryo development could possibly be the result of free radical-induced OS. Embryos grew to blastocysts and hatched following concomitant supplementation of γ-TCT, a proven antioxidant \[[@b5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b23-medscimonitbasicres-19-87],[@b24-medscimonitbasicres-19-87]\], concurrently with nicotine.
Moreover, we are possibly the first to report that 60 mg/kg/day γ-TCT,(the optimum concentration) can effectively reverse nicotine-induced altered *in vitro* embryo development by suppressing the level of OS.
Conclusions
===========
A dose of 5.0 mg/kg/day nicotine for 7 consecutive days stops *in vitro* preimplantation embryo development. However, concomitant treatment of γ-TCT at an optimal dose of 60 mg/kg/day concurrently with nicotine consistently maintains *in vitro* embryo development, as evident in controls.
**Source of support:** Funding for this study was made possible by the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) No. 600-IRDC/ST/FRGS.5/3/1343 to Professor Dr Mohd Hamim Bin Rajikin
{#f1-medscimonitbasicres-19-87}
{#f2-medscimonitbasicres-19-87}
{#f3-medscimonitbasicres-19-87}
{#f4-medscimonitbasicres-19-87}
{#f5-medscimonitbasicres-19-87}
{#f6-medscimonitbasicres-19-87}
[^1]: Study Design
[^2]: Data Collection
[^3]: Statistical Analysis
[^4]: Data Interpretation
[^5]: Manuscript Preparation
[^6]: Literature Search
[^7]: Funds Collection
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Website URL
ICQ
Yahoo
Jabber
Skype
Interests
Hello,
Noob at programming here, especially HMI's. I've done some amount of Ladder logic but this is my first ever building an application with an HMI; and also my first Unitronics experience.
I'm trying to have a field on the HMI screen be a status box with variable text messages displayed. I was able to do this successfully using the Binary Text / Switch function, but I need more than two states or messages, probably 3 or 4, and the program will select the correct message depending on what step in the program the system is in and the status of some of the inputs. I'm guessing what i need to use is the
"List of texts by Pointer" box, and have looked at the help menu for that, and it more or less makes sense, I will need to write the text in the boxes with the line numbers and have a Memory Integer bit (MI) that will call up the various messages based on the value of the MI.
So how do I cause the MI to have these values? I searched on MI and not finding much there, other than a brief description of what the Memory Integer is. Was hoping to find some sample programs that I could look at the code and figure it out from there but haven't fount as yet, maybe I'm not looking in the right place.
thanks much,
Jeff
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
The segmented arch approach to space closure.
The clinical application of frictionless attraction springs using the segmented arch technique is described. Differential space closure is achieved by varying the force system between the anterior and posterior segments. A specially designed force transducer allowed accurate force and moment determination for each spring design. By duplicating predetermined spring geometries, the orthodontist can reproduce the required force system within narrow ranges. The most important considerations in the clinical use of attraction springs are the amount of distal activation, the angulation differential between the anterior and posterior teeth, and the centricity or eccentricity of the loop. Improvements in design have lead to a more efficient, hygienic, and comfortable mechanism for space closure.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
I must say I agree with him being against the US blockade – all sanctions are morally wrong and are harming ordinary people, not their anti-democratic leaders.
But the article gives us another insight into the current state of Polish communist thinking (a minority sport in Poland, but still…).
‘Questioned on Poland s inclusion in the European Union, he pointed out there are more disadvantages than advantages.
"Now we are politically dependent on that block and also economically, since we have opened our country to capitalism. There are no limits for foreign investors to acquire our land or industries," Popiuk explained.
“…limits for foreign investors…” is exactly the stance on this issue we get from Polish nationalists. And that’s always been the way with Polish communists – Red Nationalism. Maybe Popiuk really should seek out an alliance with the League of Polish Families and comrades at Radio Maryja?
The Communist Party of Poland (not to be confused with the Polish United Workers Party, which ruled in Poland from 1948 until 1989)) sounds like an old party, which existed from 1918 to 1938 when Stalin shut them down after the inevitable purges, etc. Another (illegal) Communist Party was formed by Stalinist Kazimierz Mijal in 1965. After his emigration to Albania [?] in 1966, the party was based for some time in Tirana.
The new Communist Party is actually only four years old. They describe themselves as ‘neo-communist’ – whatever that means…
Due to its very small size (actually almost non-existant membership) I imagine they regard themselves as ‘vangaardist’ waiting for the right moment to ‘go to the class’ and lead us into revolution. Or not.
But as you can see by the photos of the last Polish Communist Party Congress (December 2006), its membership appears to be rather elderly.
27 comments:
Jeez, I used to go to socialist meetings to get laid. Things don't look too good for these guys unless their all gay.
And yes, celebrate socialist Albania!
This was a poster I recall seeing all over my neighborhood in the early 1980s.
It was a poster put up by cadres of the Revolutionary Communist Party led by the legendary Bob Avakian who actually fled to Albania around that time to avoid arrest for some revolutionary activity (at least that was his story.)
I recall him having a ponytail in his heyday. But I also recall that Enver Hoxha, the head honcho in Albania in those days, didn't care none too much for hippies, so poor ol' Bob had to get the ponytail cut off.
Has anyone considered this could be a practical joke; someone wanted a free trip to Cuba so they and a few friends concocted a political party. This would explain the five sad looking guys sitting at the table since only one got to go the remainder got to cry in their beer. In keeping with communist practices some are more equal than others.
An interesting photo of Fidel and Chavez:
Is it a tender embrace for an old friend?Is it Chavez squeezing the life out of the old boy in order to advance himself?Is it a non-heterosexual moment caught on camera?
I know this could be misunderstood as a bit insensitive but on my last trip to Cuba I bought a fine bottle of Cuban rum with the intention of consuming it on Fidel’s death. I have come close to opening it but Fidel is dragging it out like the last act in some third rate play.
Beatroot said “I must say I agree with him being against the US blockade”
What’s the big deal with the blockade, selling more Cuban cigars and adding Americans to the line up at the Cuban whorehouse isn’t going to produce an affluent society. Their economy is so fucked up they haven’t got anything to sell anyway.Here is a novel idea for the geniuses that run Cuba, release all the political prisoners rotting in your jails and restore democracy, then the blockade stops. Otherwise choke to death on socialism.
Back to the rum dilemma, I need to hear opinions on this.
Since his death is now a certainty, can I just consume the rum and not be inconvenienced further by this commie prick?
The idea is that without the blockade there would be a lot more non-Cubans in Cuba which inevitably would lead toward change. In the short term, this would help shore up the regime, in the longer term it would lead to great changes. The blockade helped the regime keep the walls of ignorance high and strong. The more foreign visitors (especially ones that know the local language reasonably well) to a communist country the better in terms of change, unless you're addicted to the idea of violent revolutionary change in which case make the transition as painful and drawn out as possible (and guaranteeing some new form of authoritarian government instead of broad societal change).
Many Miami Cubans (a strange breed of which I've known a few) knew this intellectually but couldn't stand the short term gains for Castro undoing the blockade would mean.
The achievements of the cuban revolution are clear enough......check literacy and health care for openers. I refuse to get into a huge cyber argument about this......but we could as well post a photo of the US Republican convention and have some laughs. Same for the Labor Party or Tory in the UK.
Western media distorts about everything....and people buy it. American exceptionalism is rampant and the disinfo on cuba is a perfect example. The blockade has cost Cuba a lot....but is supported by the far right Miami cubans (Ive known a few too, unfortunatly). Remember who was in power before the Revolution.....Batista. There are reasons people revolt.....and to check the regime of US *pal* Batista is to understand the cuban revolution.
“…no limits for foreign investors…” is exactly the stance on this issue we get from Polish nationalists. And that’s always been the way with Polish communists – Red Nationalism."
So you'll agree with Chavez and Castro who are trying to create a wider free trade area in Latin America. Or the Chineese Communists who have transformed their economy through opening up to the world economy. Some of their state industries such as steel are now competing as some of the largest companies in the world.
China is increasingly open to foreign investment now and that has had concrete effect on people's lives there. In the last 20 years China has lifted around 15 to 20% out of abject poverty (UN figures) ...and that's lots more than any hand wringing western liberal NGO has ever done.
Societies that limit investment to the domestic only never do very well.
But Step is right about some of the successes of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba has similar GDP per head than Bolivia but infant mortality rates, life span, etc are mich much better in Cuba, due to socialized medicine. And Cuba has even survived the end of Soviet subsidies.
What happens next is up to the Cubans. But I get the feeling they will be in the news a lot this year...
No foreign investment there, either. But why be sooo scared of foreign investment. For instance, a job in a media company is a job In a media company – don’t matter who owned it. Only difference is, having a job in sleepy old Super Expres would not be as good as having a job on Fakt, cause Axel Springer know what they are doing, do it better, expand faster, more and securer jobs.
“The death watch for Fidel Castro is something that only Gabriel Garcia Marquez could get right. His novel Autumn of the Patriarch captures perfectly the moral squalor, political paralysis, and savage ennui that enshrouds a society awaiting the death of a long-term dictator.Commandante Fidel's departure from power, of course, will be solely a matter of biology, and the few pictures of him that have emerged since he took ill last year clearly show biology at work. When the end comes, change in Cuba could be as vast as any that greeted the end of the last century's great dictators. “ - Nina L. Khrushcheva (her grandfather was Nikita Khrushchev)
First Fidel promised his revolution would house, educate, feed and provide medical care for everyone. Even after setting the bar to the lowest common denominator he has failed to meet the basic needs in every area. While consumer goods are subsidized they are rationed and often in short supply or non-existent.
All Cubans are issued ration cards (unless noted otherwise this is for one month):
You still have to find a shop that stocks these items and pay for them, if you can get your hands on foreign currency there are special shops that are well stocked.
A doctor may earn $ 20 US per month, and after all his education lives on the margins forced to take a second job but a truck driver who can steal some of the gasoline allocated to his vehicle and sell it on the side lives many times better. The maid at your tourist hotel who has an opportunity to get tips in foreign currency is near the top of the pyramid.
There is a huge resentment to this state of affairs, the Cubans have developed into masters of improvisation to get by, but it’s a never ending grind. So some people resort to extraordinary measures i.e. escape.
With respect to a number of other countries in the area, if Cuba has done better for it’s people and it’s obvious to the oppressed masses in the surrounding area, then wouldn’t we expect a flood of refugees trying to get into Cuba. Shouldn’t poor Blacks in Florida try to risk the shark-infested waters to get to the worker’s paradise?
Up until recently trying to escape could get you killed by the Cuban Coast Guard. Castro ordered his henchmen to sink the tugboat "13 de marzo", causing the deaths of 41 innocent men and women, along with 12 children. After a lot of bad press, the policy of shooting up escapee was abandoned. This resulted in a the tidal wave of desperate people leaving Cuba on anything that could float, including inner-tubes and mattresses; many died trying to escape. The US Coast Guard now intercepts and returns Cubans who fail to make it to US shores.
The Cuban population in the US is now at over 1,300,000 and continues to grow.
jann57..........apparently facts matter little to you......and as I pointed out, the condition of the Cuban people is far better now than under Batista....which is what caused the Revolution. A 50 year blockade hasnt helped.....and Cuba has been under attack, in various guises, since Castro took over. Infant mortality rates are quite good compared to most of the hemisphere....and health care far better....and actually you dont see people starving under bridges like you do in the US.
An apologist indeed......far better to have the Imperialist war machine drop cluster bombs on every poor nation they can find....for that same fifty years. What are the crimes of the US and UK in these same 50 years....lets count the bodies.
Cuba produces more doctors per capita than anywhere in the world. And has better health care. Now you can point to all kinds of abuses.....and Ive never held castro to be the perfect leader.....B U T, your kind of reactionary nonsense is typical of the deluded watcher of CNN or reader of the Washington Post.
I would rather be a supporter of castro than of US foreign policy....or of the current Polish government for that matter.
A socialist paradise.....hardly....but nobody said it was. One is trying to put things in perspective....rather than rant on in ignorance.
geez said..“The crime also being the blockade” and “ I don't think it's all that wise to equate material prosperity with morality. I think JP2 said sumptin like dat, too.”
Since when does any nation have an obligation to trade with another nation? Specifically with nations that are hostile to it.
On the issue of material prosperity, any system that fails to provide it is destined to failure i.e. the fall of socialism/communism.
Now your quoting JP2 to me, wasn’t he the asshole who hid in a closet reading poetry in WW2 while decent Polish young people attended to the nazis and communist threat with gun in hand? Well at least he didn’t work an anti-aircraft gun like Ratzinger did.
Geez all you need to know about religion is this when the church is supporting the struggle of the Polish people it’s a good thing, otherwise it of little value.
Geez repeat after me ”religion is poison” ”religion is poison” ”religion is poison”
steppx said... “the Cuban people is far better now than under Batista”
With only improvements to accessing medical care and education the average Cuban has not progressed in material wealth or housing since the revolution. It also can be shown that they don’t eat as well either.
steppx said... “ask yourself who cuba has invaded lately”
Mozambique, Angola and Ethiopia
So lets cut thru the bullshit, now that Castro is about to die do you support the Cuban people having a fair and open choice on their future. That means:
- release the political prisoners- allow the formation of political parties- stop media censorship and control- internationally supervised elections
jannovak 57 said: “On the issue of material prosperity, any system that fails to provide it is destined to failure i.e. the fall of socialism/communism.”
I’m (mildly) amused by your (a) equating socialism with communism, and (b) unsubstantiated claim that they are “failed systems.” Most western-style democracies ARE socialist and the biggest “communist” country on the planet – China – is doing just fine. BTW: I suspect that your favorite source of information - Wikipedia – failed to mention that the term “communist country” is a contradiction of terms. There can be no “countries” in communist society.
I’m also curious why you’re so sure that the Cuban people (i.e. people living in Cuba – I’m purposely carving out the fanatical Miami mob from that definition) would side with your idea of what’s right for them.
jann57.Im afraid by almost any standard you can find the cuban people are better off. Batista....since it seems I have to remind you....was a dictator and a pal of the US. He was brutal and most of the land was owned by a few elite families..........hence there was a Revolution.
Some could argue cuba is among the most democratic countries around....workers decide hours and who represents them and what their neighborhoods might look and work like. They dont choose who is President (a choice the US got last time with 48% of its people voting and a choice between two millionaires.......gee, democracy is great.....and with a vast majority against more troops to the Imperial debacle in iraq....they will sit and watch more troops go to the debacle in Iraq....gee....democracy IS great)....though as Ive said, but clearly must repeat....Cuba is not perfect....only not the demonized hell folks like you want to believe in.
but the real point is that nothing happnes in an historical vacuum. Which means that its hard to know how Cuba would do without the US trying to fuck with it constantly......and if you examine, lets say, Haiti....you will see what the results of US involvement are.
And no my dim friend....Cuba didnt invade Angola or Mozambique....though they did lend troops.....rather a different story. But the nuances of geo-politics are probably a bit hard for someone used to classic comix.
Comrade Albert, It is I who is amused by your efforts to separate socialism and communism as both share the common thread of substituting private ownership of the means of production for collective ownership. The two are not totally divorceable concepts but after the last century communism has become a bit of an orphan, probably due to the body count.
Most western style democracies practice a form of modern capitalism tempered by social justice, an evolution of capitalism unique to the western world for the most part.
China is practicing a form of capitalism discarded by the western world a long time ago or rather something it evolved away from, China would be the last country to use as a reference for workers rights or any concept of social justice. China’s new label should be Wal-Mart’s Biggest Sweat Shop.
You didn’t like my view on religion, then you can F**king well start praying for my soul you superstitious ass.
So Comrade Albert do you support the Cuban peoples right to self-determination and the following path to achieve it?
steppx said... “Some could argue cuba is among the most democratic countries around”
Only if they were crack cocaine addicts and oblivious to any notion of reality.
steppx said...” He was brutal”
Certainly Batista was a brutal dictator, it just that Fidel executed far more political opponents then Batista ever did. And Fidel has jailed more political opponents then Batista ever did.
steppx said...” Cuba didnt invade Angola or Mozambique”
Nonsense yes they did, in the case of Angola and Mozambique they intervened to support the faction backed by the Soviet Union. When the Portuguese left in the case of Angola there were three competing factions, a civil war broke out between MPLA, UNITA and FNLA, exacerbated by foreign intervention. That would be the Cubans. In Ethiopia from 1975-1978, Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Red Terror and massive relocation project led to the death of 1,500,000 Ethiopians. This is the leader the Cubans went in to support. In December 2006, he was convicted by an Ethiopian court of genocide.
So stop reading old copies of Pravda it will make your geo-political prospective a little more informed.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Gaussian blur not uniform
I have been trying to implement a simple Gaussian blur algorithm, for my image editing program. However, I have been having some trouble making this work, and I think the problem lies in the below snippet:
for( int j = 0; j < pow( kernel_size, 2 ); j++ )
{
int idx = ( i + kx + ( ky * img.width ));
//Try and overload this whenever possible
valueR += ( img.p_pixelArray[ idx ].r * kernel[ j ] );
valueG += ( img.p_pixelArray[ idx ].g * kernel[ j ] );
valueB += ( img.p_pixelArray[ idx ].b * kernel[ j ] );
if( kx == kernel_limit )
{
kx = -kernel_limit;
ky++;
}
else
{
kx++;
}
}
kx = -kernel_limit;
ky = -kernel_limit;
A brief explanation of the code above: kernel size is the size of the kernel (or matrix) generated by the Gaussian blur formula. kx and ky are variables to be used for iterating over the kernel. i is the parent loop, that nests this one, and goes over every pixel in the image. Each value variable simply holds a float R, G, or B value, and is used afterwards to obtain the final result. The if-else is used to increase kx and ky. idx is used to find the correct pixel. kernel limit is a variable set to
(*kernel size* - 1) / 2
So I can have kx going from -1 ( with a 3x3 kernel ) to +1, and the same thing with ky. I think the problem lies with the line
int idx = ( i + kx + ( ky * img.width ));
But I am not sure. The image I get is:
As can be seen, the color is blurred in a diagonal direction, and looks more like some kind of motion blur than Gaussian blur. If someone could help out, I would be very grateful.
EDIT:
The way I fill the kernel is as follows:
for( int i = 0; i < pow( kernel_size, 2 ); i++ )
{
// This. Is. Lisp.
kernel[i] = (( 1 / ( 2 * pi * pow( sigma, 2 ))) * pow (e, ( -((( pow( kx, 2 ) + pow( ky, 2 )) / 2 * pow( sigma, 2 ))))));
if(( kx + 1 ) == kernel_size )
{
kx = 0;
ky++;
}
else
{
kx++;
}
}
A:
Few problems:
Your Gaussian misses brackets (even though you already have plenty..) around 2 * pow( sigma, 2 ). Now you multiply by variance instead of divide.
But what your problem is, is that your gaussian is centered at kx = ky = 0, as you let it run from 0 to kernel_size, instead of from -kernel_limit to kernel_limit. This results in the diagonal blurring. Something like the following should work better
kx = -kernel_limit;
ky = -kernel_limit;
int kernel_size_sq = kernel_size * kernel_size;
for( int i = 0; i < kernel_size_sq; i++ )
{
double sigma_sq = sigma * sigma;
double kx_sq = kx * kx;
double ky_sq = ky * ky;
kernel[i] = 1.0 / ( 2 * pi * sigma_sq) * exp(-(kx_sq + ky_sq) / (2 * sigma_sq));
if(kx == kernel_limit )
{
kx = -kernel_limit;
ky++;
}
else
{
kx++;
}
}
Also note how I got rid of your lisp-ness and some improvements: use some intermediate variables for clarity (compiler will optimize them away if anyway you ask it to); simple multiplication is faster than pow(x, 2); pow(e, x) == exp(x).
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Winzenz steps down as assistant city manager
JANESVILLE--Jay Winzenz has declined to resume his previous duties as Janesville's assistant city manager.
City Manager Mark Freitag on Tuesday said Winzenz informed him last week that he had made the decision for “personal and professional reasons.”
Winzenz, acting city manager until Freitag started Dec. 2, will return to being director of administrative services. He performed those duties in addition to serving as assistant city manager before he stepped in as acting manager.
“It was a voluntary decision on his part,” Freitag said.
"I support his decision," Freitag said. "I told him I would leave the assistant city manager's job open and would give him some time to essentially come to a decision."
Winzenz was named assistant city manager in 2009 by former City Manager Eric Levitt. Winzenz assumed those duties in addition to those of director of administrative services. In that job, Winzenz oversees the offices of human resources, city attorney, accounting, city clerk/treasurer and assessor.
When Levitt left for Simi Valley, Calif., in May, Winzenz stepped in as acting city manager until a new manager could be hired.
Winzenz then named Patty Lynch, comptroller, as acting director of administrative services.
Winzenz also stepped in as acting city manager after former City Manager Steve Sheiffer retired and before Levitt was hired.
At that time, Winzenz did not apply for the job of city manager. This time, he did, but the council hired Freitag.
Winzenz's pay was reduced when he moved from acting city manager back to assistant city manager, Freitag said.
No decision has been made about further reducing that pay now that Winzenz is no longer assistant city manager.
Freitag said he will designate a department head to serve as acting city manager in his absence, and that field of candidates could include Winzenz.
Winzenz on Tuesday agreed his decision was both personal and professional but did not elaborate. He said he would use the next few months to decide whether to make the change permanent.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
House Call: Ready, Set, Curl!
The longer you curl the more concerned you’ll be about hitting the broom. As in, “I would have totally made that shot if I hadn’t been a mile wide of the broom!” or “I couldn’t hit the broom tonight to save my life!”
Hitting the broom begins with a good set up. If you get into the hack and you aren’t lined up properly with your target (the broom) the odds of you hitting that target when you slide out are incredibly slim.
If you make several easy steps a part of your set up prior to sliding out you will increase your chances of being right up the stick significantly.
Step 1 – Clean your rock as soon as the opposition is out of the hack. Once your rock is clean stand up and wait for instructions from your skip. Make sure you NEVER line up when you’re sitting in the hack.
Step 2 – Once the shot is called step into the hack from behind. Think about placing the ball of your foot mid-way up the hill of the hack. You don’t want to bury it in the bottom of the hack and you don’t want it so high up you’re going to fall off the back. Somewhere in the middle will give you a nice solid push.
Step 3 – Line your middle toe up with the skips broom. Think minute adjustments. Even if the skips broom is on the outside of the twelve-foot your hack foot should only be turned slightly.
Step 4 – Once your foot is lined up properly squat down in the hack ensuring your knees, hips, shoulders and nose are all aligned with your hack foot. If you sneeze or the skip moves their broom don’t just wiggle around while squatting until you think you’re lined up, stand up and realign. Trying to realign while sitting in the hack is impossible as you cannot see where your foot is pointing.
It is easy work these steps into your set up and the kudos from your skip will make the change worthwhile!
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Concave distal end of ulna metaphysis alone is not a sign of rickets.
Statements have been made in the literature and in legal testimony that misrepresent the radiographic finding of concave distal end of the ulnar metaphysis. To demonstrate that a concave distal end of the ossified ulna in infancy can be normal. Eighty distal wrists of randomly selected infants in the first year of life with radiographic evidence that ruled out rickets were reviewed. In 16 of the cases (20%), mild or moderate concavity of the distal end of the ulna was seen. An intact metaphyseal collar of distal radius or ulna confirmed the absence of radiographic rickets. The finding of 20% of concave distal ulnas in the first year of life confirms the widely acknowledged statements that concave distal end of the ulna alone is not indicative of rickets. Statements to the contrary are not justified.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
What the Bill Would Do: The bill would require big tech companies to release the blueprints for repairs so consumers can choose who, when and where to repair their devices. Small repair shops could buy parts and tools necessary for repairs. Similar bills have reformed the auto industry. In 2012, Massachusetts passed a landmark bill that required auto companies to release similar information about repairs and open up the sale of parts. Less than two years later, getting a car fixed at any repair shop, affiliated with the manufacturer or not, was possible in all states. But no state legislature has successfully addressed the monopoly on tech repairs.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
How to unit test factory in python?
When unit testing class one should test only against public interface of its collaborators. In most cases, this is easily achieved replacing collaborators with fake objects - Mocks. When using dependency injection properly, this should be easy most times.
However, things get complicated when trying to test factory class. Let us see example
Module wheel
class Wheel:
"""Cars wheel"""
def __init__(self, radius):
"""Create wheel with given radius"""
self._radius = radius #This is private property
Module engine
class Engine:
"""Cars engine"""
def __init(self, power):
"""Create engine with power in kWh"""
self._power = power #This is private property
Module car
class Car:
"""Car with four wheels and one engine"""
def __init__(self, engine, wheels):
"""Create car with given engine and list of wheels"""
self._engine = engine
self._wheels = wheels
Now let us have CarFactory
from wheel import Wheel
from engine import Engine
from car import Car
class CarFactory:
"""Factory that creates wheels, engine and put them into car"""
def create_car():
"""Creates new car"""
wheels = [Wheel(50), Wheel(50), Wheel(60), Wheel(60)]
engine = Engine(500)
return Car(engine, wheels)
Now I want to write an unit test for the CarFactory. I want to test, the factory creates objects correctly. However, I should not test the private properties of objects, because they can be changed in future and that would break my tests. Imagine, Wheel._radius replaced by Wheel._diameter or Engine._power replaced by Engine._horsepower.
So how to test the factory?
A:
Fortunately in python testing factories is easy thanks to monkey_patching. You can replace not only instances of objects, but also whole classes. Let us see example
import unittest
import carfactory
from mock import Mock
def constructorMock(name):
"""Create fake constructor that returns Mock object when invoked"""
instance = Mock()
instance._name_of_parent_class = name
constructor = Mock(return_value=instance)
return constructor
class CarFactoryTest(unittest.TestCase):
def setUp():
"""Replace classes Wheel, Engine and Car with mock objects"""
carfactory.Wheel = constructorMock("Wheel")
carfactory.Engine = constructorMock("Engine")
carfactory.Car = constructorMock("Car")
def test_factory_creates_car():
"""Create car and check it has correct properties"""
factory = carfactory.CarFactory()
car_created = factory.create_car()
# Check the wheels are created with correct radii
carfactory.Wheel.assert_called_with(radius=50)
carfactory.Wheel.assert_called_with(radius=50)
carfactory.Wheel.assert_called_with(radius=60)
carfactory.Wheel.assert_called_with(radius=60)
# Check the engine is created with correct power
carfactory.Engine.assert_called_once_with(power=500)
# Check the car is created with correct engine and wheels
wheel = carfactory.Wheel.return_value
engine = carfactory.Engine.return_value
carfactory.Car.assert_called_once_with(engine, [wheel, wheel, wheel, wheel])
# Check the returned value is the car created
self.assertEqual(car_created._name_of_parent_class, "Car")
So we replace the classes and their constructors with Mock, that returns our fake instance. That enable us to check, the constructor was called with correct parametres and so we do not need to rely on real classes. We are really able in python to use not only fake instances, but also fake classes.
Also, I have to mention, the code above is not ideal one. For example, fake constructor should really create new Mock for each request, so we can check the car is called with correct wheels (correct order for example). This could be done, but the code would be longer and I wanted to keep the example as simple as possible.
In the example I have used Mock library for python http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/mock/
But it is not necessary.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Typo Products, the start-up being sued by BlackBerry over an iPhone keyboard add-on, has come out swinging against a demand that its product be taken off sale in the U.S.
The company, which has garnered attention in part because it’s backed by TV and radio personality Ryan Seacrest, submitted a 26-page argument to a California court late Wednesday against BlackBerry’s demand for a preliminary injunction preventing sales of its keyboard.
BlackBerry’s request, made in January when it launched its lawsuit, is a common one in such cases.
For it to succeed, BlackBerry has to convince the court that a number of conditions have been met: that it would probably win the case, that it would suffer “irreparable injury,” that such injury would outweigh the damage to Typo from the injunction, and that it would be in the public interest.
Typo, not surprisingly, argued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that BlackBerry’s complaint doesn’t satisfy any of those conditions.
The company said BlackBerry’s patent claims are invalid, that it won’t suffer serious harm because its products aren’t selling that well anyway, and that it has focused on the enterprise market while Typo is targeting consumers.
“BlackBerry seeks a monopoly on keyboards for any device. Regretfully, however, small keyboards with nearly identical layouts as the one ‘claimed’ by BlackBerry have been around since the mid-1980s,” Typo said in its filing.
BlackBerry’s original complaint didn’t dispute the ability of competitors to make products with keyboards but rather the numerous similarities it alleged there are between the “iconic design” of its keyboard and the Typo keyboard.
“No one looking to buy a BlackBerry phone, because of an alleged ‘resemblance,’ would buy a case with a physical keyboard instead. Typo keyboards are sold on Typo’s website, cost $99.00, and are for people who already own an iPhone. BlackBerry phones are sold on its own website, cost $549.00, and require activation from a cell phone carrier. No consumer will be confused,” said Typo.
The filing also revealed a little about Typo’s current business.
It said it had invested $1.4 million in the development of the keyboard and had so far sold 4,000 of the devices. Its maximum monthly production is currently at 10,000 keyboards.
BlackBerry could not immediately be reached for comment.
To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
10 Cal.App.2d 478 (1935)
CLARA LOCKE, Appellant,
v.
LOS ANGELES RAILWAY CORPORATION (a Corporation) et al., Respondents.
Civ. No. 9758.
California Court of Appeals. Second Appellate District, Division One.
December 5, 1935.
William R. Law for Appellant. *479
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Penn Cummings for Respondents.
Roth, J., pro tem.
[1] At 8 o'clock in the evening of May 2, 1932, plaintiff and appellant alighted at the intersection of Eagle Rock Boulevard and Avenue 33 from a northbound street car operated by defendant corporation. At that point and for a considerable distance to the north and south, a street car proceeds on a right of way owned by said defendant. A cement sidewalk crosses the right of way from the east to the west. Having alighted from the street car, appellant proceeded to a point on said sidewalk across the easterly northbound track to the westerly northbound track, paused and looked to the north. The night was clear. Appellant, according to her testimony, was 62 years of age, and her faculties of sight and hearing were good. At a point on the westerly northbound track, plaintiff said she looked and she could see 700 or 800 feet to the north. From this point she took "about three steps" to the west, looked again to the north and did not see a car. She was asked: "When did you first become aware that there was a street car coming from the north." She replied: "As I had my right foot across this rail, here, and my left foot, here, in the middle of the track." The point referred to by appellant was a point between the westerly tracks. She testified that when she was at this latter point, she looked to the north and the street car was 250 feet to her north. She then testified: "I didn't have my hand up, though; and I couldn't get across; it was coming too fast; and I stepped back; I took three steps back; took a step with my left foot first and my right foot next and then my left again, and the street car struck me." Plaintiff further testified that the interior lights and the headlight of the street car were burning; that she would walk a mile in ten minutes, although she was not walking at that rate on the occasion in question. She admitted, however, that she was "moving along briskly". There was no evidence that there were any obstructions of any kind between her line of vision and a point 700 or 800 feet to the north, when she first looked before crossing the right of way, or at any other time as she was crossing the right of way. The car was proceeding at approximately 35 miles per hour, coasting from the north to *480 the south on a grade which is present at that point; it made little or no noise and sounded no gong or bell.
The foregoing recital of facts is taken from the testimony of appellant and that of other witnesses who testified for her. The court granted a motion for nonsuit, and from the judgment of nonsuit, this appeal is taken.
Appellant was undoubtedly a trifle optimistic when she testified that she normally walked at the rate of a mile in ten minutes, but irrespective of the pace maintained by appellant in crossing the right of way it is difficult to understand why the approaching street car was not observed by her in ample time to prevent the accident. She admitted that her faculties of sight and hearing were good and the uncontroverted evidence demonstrates that she had an unobstructed view of 700 to 800 feet to the north, and that she could see that far.
[2] It is settled that when the only conclusion which can be drawn from admitted facts is one of negligence, the question of negligence is no longer one of fact, but becomes one of law. (Griffin v. San Pedro etc. R. R. Co., 170 Cal. 772, 774, 775 [151 P. 282, L.R.A. 1916A, 842].) Irrespective of any negligence of respondent, and irrespective of what may have been the continuing duty of respondent to a passenger to permit such passenger "a reasonable opportunity of leaving the carrier's premises" (Miller v. Pacific Electric Ry., 169 Cal. 107, 110 [145 P. 1023])--it is clear from the foregoing facts that if appellant had looked to the north when she was at the point where, according to her testimony, she did look, she would have had a clear view of the approaching street car. It seems clear to us that the trial court properly concluded that appellant was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. (Jones v. Southern Pac. Co., 34 Cal.App. 629 [168 P. 586]; Finn v. Los Angeles Ry. Co., 119 Cal.App. 513 [6 PaCal.2d 548]; Riney v. Pacific Electric Ry. Co., 45 Cal.App. 145 [187 P. 50]; New York etc. Co. v. United Railroads of San Francisco, 191 Cal. 96 [215 P. 72]; Martz v. Pacific Electric Ry. Co., 31 Cal.App. 592 [161 P. 16].)
The judgment is affirmed.
York, Acting P. J., and Doran, J., concurred.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Tag Archives: changing room
Naked as the day you were born is the only true day you were naked as the day you were born. Before long, however, it’s clear we’ve got to cover up: first for warmth and to stop our untrained selves from defecating where we stand; and later, because as much as our egos don’t want to hear it, the rest of the world isn’t particularly interested in dealing with an unwarranted state of clotheslessness.
If there’s nothing actually wrong with the human form, and if it’s as beautiful as artists and Gok Wan insist, how come we get so bothered when even the random, non-sexual parts of it are exposed?
In an awkward episode Nick and Steev discuss the awkwardness of being born, tread a careful line while talking awkwardly about breasts, and look at a few other situations where states of nudity outside of the home are awkward at best.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
How to Dance With Glow Sticks at a Rave
A colourful and characteristic part of the rave music scene and culture, glow-stick dancing can be a great way to get into the spirit of a rave party. The dance can be as simple as waving your arms about while holding the glow-sticks, or as difficult as creating complicated designs and patterns with the glow-sticks. There is no set method to it, as it is mostly interpretive and freehand, and depends on whatever is most fun for the dancer.
Things Required:
- A pair of glow-sticks
– String
– Music to dance t0
Others are Reading
Instructions
1
Before you begin dancing with glow-sticks, make sure the lights are off, the music is on, and the party is in full swing. Take a minute to get into the zone, and familiarise yourself with the beat of the song that is currently playing.
2
Then proceed to bend your glow-sticks, to get the chemicals flowing, and wait until they begin to glow. Hold a glow-stick in each hand. To start, begin waving your arms with the beat of the music.
Image courtesy: fantazia.org.uk
3
As you get into it, start waving your arms in a figure eight pattern, and watch as the light from the glow-sticks forms the patterns you make. To make a circle, hold your arms outstretched, and spin around in a circle.
4
Another fun way to dance with glow sticks is to hold them as if you were directing traffic. Hold one up straight like a torch, and wave the other one about, or spin one in circles over your head, and wave the other in front of your face, like a windshield wiper.
Image courtesy: dbresearchlc.com
5
Once you start getting more comfortable with it, you can take it to a new level by tying a string to the end of the glow-stick – most come with a small hole for a string at the bottom, but if yours doesn’t, don’t try to tie a string around the entire glow-stick – it will slip right out and most probably hit someone. Make sure the knot is tight and secure.
6
After the string has been tied on, you can start spinning the glow-stick in circles while holding the end of the string – do this in time to the beat of the music. Switch from one hand to another as you keep the glow-stick spinning. You can do the same steps with two glow-sticks at a time for added impact. Another great step is to wrap the string around the length of your forearm, and reel the stick in as you would a yo-yo.
Image courtesy: tumblr.com
7
Glow-stick dancing can be even more fun if you do it with a partner or as a group. Grab a friend with glow-sticks, and you can both spin your glow-sticks in unison, and even stand with your backs to each other as you spin them. In addition, you can also gather lots of people, and make a glow-stick train.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
90 Degree Bend 110mm Single Socket
Description
Sometimes your underground drainage pipework needs routing around a bend - so that the task does not drive you likewise we stock a range of competitively priced, high quality plastic drainage pipes including single and double socket bends.
This range of drainage pipe work will give you another angle, making the job of laying out your underground drainage that much easier.
About Us
UK Septic Tanks and Drain Supplies are trading names of The Drainage Company Ltd.
We pride ourselves on delivering good customer service and quality products.
Because we are a family run business rather than a franchise, we can maintain competitive pricing on all our products – we are one of the largest septic tank suppliers in the UK.
Head Office:
20-22 Wenlock Road
London
N1 7GU
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Georgetown, De. – The Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit is investigating a fatal motorcycle crash that occurred earlier today west of Georgetown.
The preliminary investigation has determined the incident occurred around 11:06 a.m. Thursday, April 20, 2017, as Howard A. Scheweitzer, 62 of Laurel, was operating a 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle northbound on East Trap Pond Road (CR 62) approaching the intersection at Piney Grove Road. A 2004 Ford Explorer operated by Yajira Quintana-Tinoco, 31, of Seaford, was traveling eastbound on Piney Grove Rd (CR 329), and stopped at a posted stop sign at the intersection of East Trap Pond Road. Yajira Quintana-Tinoco failed to remain stopped at the stop sign and entered the intersection directly into the path of the motorcycle. Scheweitzer was unable to avoid the collision, and the front of the motorcycle struck the right front of the Ford Explorer within the intersection.
Scheweitzer, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, was ejected from the motorcycle upon impact and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Yajira Quintana-Tinoco, as well as two juvenile passengers in her vehicle, were uninjured.
This crash remains under investigation by the Delaware State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit. Impairment on the part of both parties is not being considered as a factor in this crash.
The intersection of East Trap Pond Road and Piney Grove Road was closed for approximately 2.5 hours as the crash was investigated and cleared.
If you or someone you know is a victim or witness of crime or have lost a loved one to a sudden death and are in need of assistance, the Delaware State Police Victim Services Unit/Delaware Victim Center is available to offer you support and resources 24 hours a day through a toll-free hotline
Congressional Democrats and Republicans will be given the opportunity to bake out a “Joint Session” of Congress on Thursday, as Americans across the nation celebrate the unofficial weed-smoking holiday known as 4/20.
Members of DCMJ, a pro-cannabis activist group, plans to camp out near Capitol Hill to puff-puff-pass out at least 1,000 free marijuana joints to members of Congress, congressional staffers, interns and credentialed members of the press. The group offers to give out two joints per person, as long as the tokers are older than 21.
Since state law allows D.C. residents to possess, grow and give away marijuana, the group will most likely be allowed to carry out the pot-smoking event without obstruction.
An old geezer, who had been a retired farmer for a long time, became very bored and decided to open a medical clinic. He put a sign up outside that said: Dr. Geezer’s clinic. “Get your treatment for $500, if not cured get back $1,000.”
Doctor “Young,” who was positive that this old geezer didn’t know anything about medicine, thought this would be a great opportunity to get an easy $1,000.
So he went to Dr. Geezer’s clinic
This is what happened.
Dr. Young:“Dr. Geezer, I have lost all taste in my mouth. Can you please help me?”
Dr. Young gets annoyed and leaves in a haste. He’s angry now, and spends the next few days trying to figure out a way to recover his money. He returns to Dr. Geezer’s office once he thinks of a clever plan…
But language is a "living thing," says lexicographer Kory Stamper, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster — and it's constantly shifting in use and meaning.
"A lot of times people assume that English as we speak it is something that was curated maybe by some dudes in frilly shirts back in the 1700s," Stamper explains. "But in fact, a language is ... always influenced by the people who come in and speak it or come in and conquer it."
Stamper's new book, Word by Word, describes the painstaking process of keeping the dictionary up to date. Five years ago, for instance, Merriam-Webster added the term f-bomb to its pages — an addition that reflected, Stamper says, the term's widespread, sustained and meaningful use in society.
"People assume that ... there's boundaries set around [the English language], and that all the good stuff is on the inside and everything on the outside is bad or not worth using," she says. "But it's all worth using, and all of it is required to make the language flourish."
Secretary Price sends letter to governors: “Through a sustained focus on people, patients, and partnerships, I am confident that together we can turn the tide on this public health crisis."
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D. today announced that HHS will soon provide $485 million in grants to help states and territories combat opioid addiction. The funding, which is the first of two rounds provided for in the 21stCentury Cures Act, will be provided through the State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grants administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The funding will be issued to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, four U.S. territories, and the free associated states of Palau and Micronesia. Funding will support a comprehensive array of prevention, treatment, and recovery services depending on the needs of recipients. States and territories were awarded funds based on rates of overdose deaths and unmet need for opioid addiction treatment.
The U.S. Justice Department is sending a message to state and local governments: Failure to comply with federal laws could have big consequences.
This year, most of the conversation has focused on whether sanctuary cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities will be able to keep grant money for their police departments. But veterans of the Justice Department said that's only a piece of what could be at stake.
A little-noticed portion of a memo Attorney General Jeff Sessions signed on March 31 directed his deputies to review local and state compliance with "all federal laws."
"I think it's cause for concern," said Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor who now works with newly elected district attorneys and state attorneys. "With federal money moving forward, there could be the potential for federal strings to be attached."
Westside Historical Society is proud to announce the return of the popular series of talks by local authors on books they have written about Delmarva! The first of the 2017 Series will be held on April 21, starting at 5pm with a chance to meet and greet the author, at Laytons Chance Winery near Vienna.
This initial gathering promises to be a special one, with the featured author being Dr. Clara Small, retired History Prof from Salisbury University and now Chair of Social Sciences at UMES. Dr. Small is well known locally and regionally for her groundbreaking research on the role played by local African-American men as combatants in the Civil War. Her first book, Men of Color: To Arms! Manumitted Slaves and Free Blacks from the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland Who Served in the Civil War, primarily with Worcester and Somerset County enlisted men. Continuing the line of research, her newest work, “hot off the presses” investigates those men from Dorchester County and is entitled They Wore Blue and Their Hearts Were Loyal, the United States Colored Troops of Dorchester County, Maryland: Slaves and Free Blacks who Served in the Civil War. This will be Dr Small’s first public discussion of it. In addition, a third work not yet released is entitled Compass Points: Profiles and Biographies of African Americans from the Delmarva Peninsula, Vol. I and she promises to reveal some of the finds from that one as well.
This first talk in Westside’s book talk series will start with a chance to meet and greet Dr. Small from 5 pm to about 5:45, followed by her talk and then questions and answers. She promises to bring copies of her books (the ones now available) for sale! Refreshments will be available. Registration is not required, but for more information you can phone Westside Historical Society at 410-726-8047, or email [email protected] or phone Layton’s Chance Vineyards and Winery at (410) 228-1205, and for directions to the Winery go to their web site at www.laytonschance.com .
Like it or not, the fact is that we’ve crossed through the mirror into a world where people are paid lots of money to mention a product, wear an article of clothing, or sip some ab-tightening tea… not because they are famous but because they get paid lots of money to mention products they got for free, wear comped clothing, and drink dubious tea — a well-dressed, flat-tummied, ouroboros shown off in impeccably framed and filtered Instagram shots. You might find it repellant, but it’s legal, so long as all of that cash and compensation is adequately disclosed — a message that a number of “influencers” and their handlers have either ignored or not received.
SALISBURY, MD---When it comes to electricity, Salisbury University soon will have it made in the shade — literally.
On the eve of Earth Day, the University announced plans for a new solar parking lot. Solar canopies covering SU’s Parking Lot H, on College Avenue, will collect energy from the sun to help power adjacent academic buildings while providing shade for vehicles using the lot.
“The panels will generate approximately 765,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually,” said Wayne Shelton, SU director of campus sustainability and environmental safety. “Comparatively, that quantity represents 51 percent of the electricity used by Holloway Hall, 34 percent of the consumption in Fulton Hall or 32 percent of Conway Hall.”
Standard Solar, the contractor installing the system, will own, operate and maintain it for 20 years, after which ownership will revert to SU. The project also will include an educational display listing performance data and related information.
Applications for mortgages jump 1.3% as borrowing costs ease a tad, making homes more affordable and decision to refinance easier.
NEW YORK — A dip in mortgage rates gave Americans a good reason to take out home-related loans last week, as applications for mortgages jumped 1.3%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The jump in seasonally adjusted mortgage applications for the week ended August 3 came as the interest rate on 30-year fixed mortgages fell to 4.73%, from a 2013 high of 4.80% a week ago, the MBA said.
However, much of the gains came from the refinance index, which jumped 2% from the previous week. Applications for the purchase index actually dropped 0.4%. The refinance index's share of total applications climbed to 61%, up from 60% in the prior week.
America's chief federal banking regulator admits it failed to act on numerous "red flags" at Wells Fargo that could have stopped the fake account scandal years earlier.
One particularly alarming red flag that went unheeded: In January 2010, the regulator was aware of "700 cases of whistleblower complaints" about Wells Fargo's sales tactics.
An internal review published on Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found that the regulator didn't live up to its responsibilities. The report found that oversight ofWells Fargo (WFC) was "untimely and ineffective" and federal examiners overseeing the bank "missed" several opportunities to uncover the problems that led to the creation of millions of fake accounts
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have improved to 50 percent according to a new Rasmussen poll.
This is the first time the president’s overall approval rating has been back in the 50s in nearly a month. Just after his inauguration, Trump’s job approval peaked at 59% and remained in the 50s every day until early March. It’s gone as low as 42% since then.
Trump’s ratings have improved despite multiple reports of staff infighting in the White House and after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump also approved a missile attack in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and the military dropping the “Mother of All Bombs” on Islamic State terrorists in Afghanistan.
The socialist leader of Venezuela announced in a speech to regime loyalists his plan to arm hundreds of thousands of supporters after a years-long campaign to confiscate civilian-owned guns.
"A gun for every militiaman!" Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said to uniformed militia members outside the presidential palace, Fox News reported on Tuesday. The Bolivarian militias, created by Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, already number in the hundreds of thousands and are being used to supplement the regime's armed forces. Maduro is boosting the number of armed supporters in hopes of keeping control over the country from what he labels "imperialist aggression."
The arming of Maduro's supporters comes five years after Venezuela's socialist regime outlawed the commercial sale and civilian ownership of firearms. Only the military, police, and groups like security companies can buy guns and only directly from one state-run arms company under the law passed in 2012, according to the BBC. The country recently doubled down on its gun ban through a combination of gun buybacks and confiscations in the summer of 2016.
For 21st Century Fox, the network’s parent company, payouts related to sexual harassment allegations at Fox News now total more than $85 million. The vast majority of that — up to $65 million in exit packages — is being paid to the men who were ousted from the network because of the harassment allegations.
Mr. O’Reilly, 67, was forced out of the network on Wednesday following the disclosure of a series of sexual harassment allegations against him and an internal investigation that unearthed more women with complaints about his behavior.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Servicestoday announced a redesign to the Permanent Resident Card (also known as a Green Card) and the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) as part of the Next Generation Secure Identification Document Project. USCIS will begin issuing the new cards on May 1, 2017.
These redesigns use enhanced graphics and fraud-resistant security features to create cards that are highly secure and more tamper-resistant than the ones currently in use.
The new card designs demonstrate USCIS’ commitment to continue taking a proactive approach against the threat of document tampering and fraud. They are also part of an ongoing effort between USCIS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enhance document security and deter counterfeiting and fraud.
The Redesigned Cards
The new Green Cards and EADs will:
Display the individual’s photos on both sides;
Show a unique graphic image and color palette:
Green Cards will have an image of the Statue of Liberty and a predominately green palette;
EAD cards will have an image of a bald eagle and a predominately red palette;
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the high-profile chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, won't seek re-election in 2018.
"After long consultation with my family and prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018," Chaffetz said in a statement on Facebook.
Chaffetz's role as the leader of the House Oversight Committee put him in the spotlight as he led investigations into Hillary Clinton's private email server and many aspects of former President Barack Obama's administration.
Chaffetz has also drawn flack for not being as animated to investigate President Trump's business connections and how they might impact his presidency. In his statement, Chaffetz ruled out running for any political office in 2018. There have been rumblings about potential Republican challengers for Sen. Orrin Hatch's seat in the U.S. Senate. Hatch seems intent on running for re-election in 2018, but rumors have seen several high-profile names, such as Mitt Romney, floated for the seat.
Joe, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you of the tragic motorcycle accident this morning in Georgetown De. That claimed the life of a long time Ocean City firefighter/paramedic Alan Schweitzer. Please keep his family, friends and fellow brothers and sisters of the fire service in your thoughts and prayers as we deal with this difficult loss.
BERLIN – Town officials kicked off the annual budget process with a work session to discuss the projected $8 million general fund budget for the coming year.
The Berlin Council met Monday to take a preliminary look at the proposed $8,060,970 general fund budget for FY2018. As proposed the budget is 10 percent lower than the current year’s spending plan.
“What this budget process seeks to do is simply an ongoing commitment to provide the financial tools for the town to take care of our immediate needs while also planning for the future,” Mayor Gee Williams said.
According to Williams, the decrease in the proposed general fund budget relates to last year’s purchase of what is now known as Berlin Falls Park.
Wednesday, Glenn Beck tweeted out a screenshot of an email from the Bonner Group. The Bonner Group is a leftist fundraising Super PAC for Hillary Clinton under the employ of George Soros’ Media Matters.
The email reads:
“For years Bill O’Reilly has been one of the worst purveyors of misinformation on Fox News. A serial misinformer, pushing many of the most extreme, sexist, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic conservative theories on TV . . . Thanks to Media Matters, O’Reilly and Fox News are being held accountable.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, an avowed enemy of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders seeking to end the Obama administration Net Worth Sweep, has built a personal fortune of approximately $50 million since being elected to the Senate in 2006.
But Corker has been anything but forthcoming in accurately disclosing the true amount of his wealth, or making it clear to the public the methods he used to accumulate it.
Consider the many different estimates of Corker’s wealth in the public record since he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
If you want a vehicle that can make it to 200,000 miles, what should you buy? Probably not a sedan. A new study finds that large SUVs are the likeliest to keep going to that mileage marker and beyond.
Research from iSeeCars.com found that the Ford Expedition and Toyota Sequoia are four times as likely and the Chevrolet Suburban 3.5 times as likely as the average vehicle to be still on the road at 200,000 miles. The study looked at the 13 million used cars sold last year ranging from 1981 models to 2017.
Overall, 1.3 percent of average vehicles made it to 200,000, while the percentage for the Ford Expedition was 5.7, with the Toyota Sequoia at 5.6 and the Chevrolet Suburban at 4.8.
“Supersized SUVs are often workhorses for families,” said Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars.com. “They typically transport eight people and usually have significant towing capacity for families who boat or camp.”
OCEAN CITY — A little over a week after voting to eliminate or at least redirect the $5,000 dedicated as prize money for the first white marlin of the season, the city’s elected officials voted to restore the funding and vowed to work with the fishing community to better market the annual milestone.
Two weeks ago, the Mayor and Council voted to eliminate the $5,000 prize citing a perceived lack of importance and interest in the annual milestone. The fishing community reacted with what can best be described as outrage in the council’s decision to eliminate the prize in the White Marlin Capital of the World.
Various marinas and other businesses rallied to piece together a private sector prize going beyond the city’s annual $5,000 within a day of the decision. It’s important to note the Ocean City Marlin Club already provides a $5,000 match if the boat landing the season’s first white marlin is a club member.
Owners began increasing political contributions to Democrats when legal troubles piled up (Updated)
David Garcia, a Democratic candidate for governor in Arizona, accepted campaign contributions from the owner of a website that is tied to underage trafficking and prostitution.
Michael G. Lacey, who in 2012 sold his newspaper holdings and spun off the classified ad website Backpage.com into its own entity, has given $162,000 in contributions to a number of Democratic politicians at the state and federal levels since legal problems against the site began to mount, the Arizona Republic reported.
The publication missed one Democratic politician in the state who received funds from Lacey as he began to ramp up his political contributions: David Garcia, who is currently challenging Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
When Garcia ran for state superintendent of public instruction in 2014, Lacey gave his campaign$2,000 in donations. Lacey did not contribute to any other state-level candidate that year other than Garcia. Rather, he donated to a Democratic group in Sedona, Arizona and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.
OCEAN PINES – Officials in Ocean Pines have decided to remove a proposed family night function from the community’s adults-only swimming pool this summer after actions taken by the acting general manager to change pool operations without the knowledge of the board created uproar among some residents.
In a special meeting last week to hear and address residents’ concerns, the Ocean Pines Association (OPA) Board of Directors voted to remove Sunday Family Funday from the Oasis pool, an event which was scheduled from 2-6 p.m. Sunday evenings throughout the summer season.
Realization about changes in the pool schedule came after the association released its spring and summer Activity Guide earlier this month. Not only would the association be opening its adults-only pool to families once a week, but it would also offer an adults-only swim those same evenings at the Swim and Racquet Club pool.
The Environmental Protection Agency has been riddled with employee misconduct, including workers who drink, smoke marijuana, and watch porn on the job.
Inspector general reports over the past few years detailing employee misbehavior could serve as ammunition for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who is seeking to eliminate 25 percent of the 15,000 employees at the agency.
Only 6.5 percent of EPA employees are "essential," according to the government's own calculations when it faced a shutdown in 2013. At the time, just 1,069 employees were deemed necessary to continue working during the 16 days the government closed.
Americans will spend $5.1 trillion on federal, state, and local taxes in 2017
This year, taxpayers will spend 113 days working to pay for the nation's tax burden, according to a report from the Tax Foundation.
Tax Freedom Day is April 23, 113 days into the year, and falls 5 days after taxes are collected on April 18. Tax Freedom Day would fall roughly two weeks later on May 7 if federal borrowing or future taxes were included.
"Tax Freedom Day takes all federal, state, and local taxes—individual as well as payroll, sales and excise, corporate and property taxes—and divides them by the nation's income," the report says.
Americans will spend upward of $5.1 trillion on taxes, which includes $3.5 trillion in federal taxes and $1.6 trillion in state and local taxes, according to the report.
"This year, Americans will work the longest—46 days—to pay federal, state, and local individual income taxes," the report states. "Payroll taxes will take 26 days to pay, followed by sales and excise taxes (15 days), corporate income taxes (10 days), and property taxes (10 days). The remaining six days are spent paying estate and inheritance taxes, customs duties, and other taxes."
An analysis by a pro-free-market think tank estimates that at least 1,000 federal workers paid with taxpayer dollars exclusively worked for labor organizations rather than performing duties at their government jobs.
Taxpayers spent $162.5 million on federal employees performing union activities in 2014, according to the Office of Personnel Management's most recent data. The Competitive Enterprise Institute used official budget documents and Freedom of Information Act requests to validate how many federal employees worked under such conditions.
"It is likely that thousands of federal employees spend 100 percent of their time performing union activity instead of the public service they were hired to do," the CEI report published Tuesday says (emphasis in the original).
On May 19th & 20th, Main St Gym, along with Pohanka of Salisbury, will host the 2017 Junior Olympic Regional Championships at the Main St. Gym. Tickets are $20 for 1 day and $35 for two day passes. VIP table are also available in advance by calling 410-430-6687.
Last Saturday three Main St Gym boxers advanced to this regional tournament by competing in Baltimore at the Upton Boxing Center. Kobe Moore won on a walkover in the 165lb division for 15 &16 year olds, Jordan Brown of Delmar won a hard fought battle and will advance in the 125lb 13&14 year olds division and Erick Acosta stepped up to show he was ready to move on in the 119lb 13 &14 year old division.
In the non- tournament bouts of Saturday nights card, Salisbury’s Harlem Beteck emerged from the ring as a winner with Jonathan Stevens and Gavin Brown losing close decisions.
“I am so proud of all these young guys,” said Coach Hal Chernoff. "We took 10 kids that were ring ready to fight but only 5 were matched. Over the years Main St. has earned respect for having well trained kids that could compete on any level, but now we are impressing other programs with the number of kids ready to compete”, Chernoff added . “As the numbers grow in the gym, our goal to make it a good experience for the kids so they want to stay, improve and compete”.
Like any successful program it takes a team to get the job done and Chernoff claims to have anexcellent coaching staff under him in coaches Ryan Watson and Tyrone Hargrove. “This week I will be traveling to NY to work the corner of Shawn Porter in the Porter /Berto fight, on that same day, Coaches, Watson and Hargrove will take, Thomas Mottinger and James McMurdo to the Regional Golden Gloves Championship in Fort Washington MD.” said Coach Chernoff. Mottinger fights in the open class heavyweight division and McMurdo in the novice super heavyweight division. A win for Mottinger will send him to the National Golden Gloves in Louisiana . Then on May 19th Chernoff and his staff will host the JO Regionals, here in Salisbury with the hopes that Kobe Moore, Jordan Brown and Erick Acosta can advance to the Nationals Junior Olympics in Charleston W.Va..
OCEAN CITY — A downtown Ocean City watersports rental company and its owner charged last year with numerous violations following the death of a nine-year-old boy who fell from a rented pontoon boat pleaded guilty this week and paid $320 in fines.
Following an investigation into a tragic incident last August when a boy fell from the bow of a rented pontoon boat and was fatally struck by the vessel’s propeller, Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) applied for charges in District Court in Worcester County against OC Watersports LLC and owner Tyler Barnes, who operated the watercraft rental operation near the base of the Route 50 Bridge at Talbot Street. The NRP’s application for charges was reviewed by a Worcester County District Court commissioner, who determined probable cause existed for the five charges.
Shortly before 3 p.m. last Aug. 17, the U.S. Coast Guard and NRP officers responded to a reported accident involving a rented pontoon boat in the Sinepuxent Bay behind Ocean City. The nine-year-old victim, who was riding on the vessel’s bow, fell overboard and was struck by the boat’s propeller and was seriously injured. The child later succumbed to injuries sustained from the propeller strike.
Terrorists inside America plotting attacks 'each and every single day'Federal authorities have open investigations into radical Islamic terrorists in all 50 states, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which is warning that the threat of terrorism in the United States has reached an all time high with radicalized individuals in the country plotting to strike "each and every single day."
The FBI has "open terrorist investigations in all 50 states," according to DHS Secretary John Kelly, who disclosed on Tuesday that there have been at least 37 "ISIS-linked plots to attack our country" since 2013, a number that shows no signs of diminishing.
Kelly, in his first wide-ranging public address on the threat of terrorism in America since taking office, warned that America's borders remain wide-open and that there is evidence terror-linked individuals are exploiting these national security weaknesses and entering the United States.
"We don’t know their intentions," Kelly said during an address at George Washington University. "We don’t know why they’re here or why they’re coming. We are completely blind to what they’re capable of."
Once hedge fund darlings, almost no one is more perfectly aligned to get obliterated by falling used car prices than America's auto rental companies, Hertz and Avis. As Bloomberg notes today, on a combined basis, Hertz and Avis dump about 400,000 vehicles per year into the used car market and operate fleets that are multiple times larger.
And with used car prices plunging, bondholders are starting to get slightly anxious about the collateral impact of writing down billions of dollars worth of capital assets.
Debt issued by Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Avis Budget Group Inc., which had traded at or above par in recent years, tumbled to new lows earlier this month amid signs that used-vehicle prices are dropping twice as much as expected. That’s bad news for companies that collectively have to dispose of about 400,000 vehicles a year, and especially for Hertz, whose junk-rated debt is teetering close to a downgrade.
Hertz and Avis typically buy the cars outright from manufacturers or get them on a contract with a buyback agreement. The latter, called program cars, cost more because manufacturers assume the resale price risk. Vehicles that Avis and Hertz buy outright are called risk cars because rental companies make their own assumptions about what the cars will be worth when it’s time to sell. Combined with closely held Enterprise Holdings Inc., the three companies control more than 95 percent of the U.S. rental fleet, according to Manheim.
Program cars made up only 20 percent of Hertz’s U.S. fleet last year, according to a company filing, less than half the 44 percent for Avis’s total fleet. Hertz will try to buy more of those this year, Chief Financial Officer Tom Kennedy told investors during a February earnings call.
Approximately 24,000 drug convictions in Massachusetts that were tainted by a former state drug lab chemist who pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and falsifying tests have been dismissed.
'That is a victory for regular people, for people who've been tarnished by these drug convictions,' said Carl Williams, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, according to CNN.
Dookhan worked testing drug samples submitted by law enforcement agencies from 2003 until 2012.
The vast majority of 24,000 drug cases potentially tainted by former state chemist Annie Dookhan will be dismissed by mid-April, according to The Boston Globe. This makes it the single largest dismissal of criminal convictions in U.S. history, according to the ACLU.
It’s been three months since Donald Trump was inaugurated, and many Democrats and Leftmedia political analysts are still looking for reasons for why he actually won. How could America’s electorate choose Donald Trump, a man with no political experience, over Hillary Clinton, a woman — a woman! — who’d been around the levers of power her entire adult life?
According to a Washington Post “Monkey Cage” blog, written by Ohio State Professor Thomas Wood, the biggest motivator for Trump voters was, you guessed it, racism. Seriously, this was Wood’s conclusion after conducting “research” on the Annual National Election Study (ANES).
Wood’s analysis took three popular narratives or motivators to determine people’s reasons to vote for Trump and compared them with previous elections. The three motivators were being low income, desiring authoritarianism, and racism. To test these motivators against the ANES data, Wood’s used white voters as his sample population and on the issue of racism he used a “symbolic racism scale.”
Without belaboring the details, the result of Wood’s study supposedly reveals that racial attitudes made a bigger difference in electing Trump than authoritarianism or being low income..More here
James Comey, the man who refused to bring charges against Hillary Clinton despite a mountain of concrete evidence that she, and several members of her staff, knowingly violated several federal laws, apparently used the largely discredited "Trump Dossier" to help secure a FISA warrant to secretly monitor Trump's former campaign aide, Carter Page, according to CNN.
Among other things, the dossier alleged that Page met senior Russian officials as an emissary of the Trump campaign, and discussed quid-pro-quo deals relating to sanctions, business opportunities and Russia's interference in the election. Page has denied meeting the officials named in the dossier and says he never cut any political deals with the Kremlin. Per CNN:
The FBI last year used a dossier of allegations of Russian ties to Donald Trump's campaign as part of the justification to win approval to secretly monitor a Trump associate, according to US officials briefed on the investigation.
The dossier has also been cited by FBI Director James Comey in some of his briefings to members of Congress in recent weeks, as one of the sources of information the bureau has used to bolster its investigation, according to US officials briefed on the probe.
This includes approval from the secret court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor the communications of Carter Page, two of the officials said. Last year, Page was identified by the Trump campaign as an adviser on national security.
The Left is morally and fiscally bankrupt, devoid of coherent solutions, and corrupted by its embrace of the Corporatocracy.
History often surprises us with unexpected ironies. For the past century, the slide to fascism could be found on the Right (conservative, populist, nationalist political parties).
But now it's the Left that's descending into fascism, and few seem to even notice this remarkable development. By Left I mean socialist-leaning, progressive, internationalist/globalist political parties.
What is fascism? There is no one tidy definition, but it has three essential elements:
1) State and corporate elites govern society and the economy as one unified class.
2) This status quo (i.e. The Establishment) seeks to impose a conformity of values and opinion that support the dominant narratives of the status quo via the mass (corporate) media and the state-controlled educational system.
3) Dissent from any quarter is suppressed via mass-media ridicule, the judicial crushing and silencing of whistleblowers, and all the other powers of the central state: rendition, extra-legal imprisonment, political gulags (in our era, disguised as drug-war gulags), character assassination, murder by drone, impoverishing dissenters via firings and blacklists, and on and on.
Charges: Terroristic Threatening & Endangering the Welfare of a child.
Wescott is a 27 year old male that was last known to reside in Lewes DE. Anyone with information on his whereabouts can message us here or contact us at (302) 337-8302. Your tips will remain anonymous.
Going into a hospital? It’s getting riskier because of drug-resistant infections — the kind almost no drug can cure. Despite one federal government “action plan” after another, the germs are winning. Government authorities are clueless about how many infections there are or how many patients are dying.
Alarming new research shows one of the deadliest bugs, nicknamed CRE, is actually striking three times more patients than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us. One lesson from the war against AIDS: level with the public about the enormity of a problem if you want to start defeating it.
Yet government authorities are doing the opposite, helping hospitals conceal superbug outbreaks from the public and deliberately leaving infections off death certificates.
While one other "social media" source got it 100% wrong and in fact pulled their fake news article, we got it right. However, typical of the Salisbury Police Department, (under strict instructions from the Mayor) refused to tell the public what actually happened and where. The SPD is right, nothing happened in the Doverdale Park area, BUT IT DID HAPPEN where we said it did.It's all a matter of covering up crime in Salisbury.
Bad news. Innocent Syrians are not the only ones who are facing the possibility of chemical weapon attacks. Just this past sunday, our own, found themselves under attack from the same chemical weapons terrorizing others in Iraq.
Humanity’s enemy, the Islamic State was somehow able to launch a chemical weapons attack against Iraqi, U.s. and Australian troops stationed in the area on Sunday.
As reported so far, there were no U.S. or Australia troops that suffered any severe injuries from the mustard agent, but it wasn’t the same for Iraqi soldiers. There were 25 Iraqi units that required emergency treatment after the attack hit.
Western economies are “recovering”. How do we know this? We are told this, over and over and over again by our governments. Then this assertion is repeated thousands of times more by the dutiful parrots of the Corporate media.
The problem is that in the real world there is not a shred of evidence to support this assertion. In the U.S.; ridiculous official lies were created claiming the creation of 15 million new jobs. In reality, there are three millionless Americans with jobs today than at the official end of the “recession”.
These imaginary jobs are invented by assorted statistical frauds, with the primary deceit being so-called “seasonal adjustments”. To be legitimate, all seasonal adjustments must to net to zero at the end of each year. Instead, in the U.S.A., the biggest job creator in the nation every year is the calendar.
Beyond the grandiose but absurd claims of new jobs in the U.S., there have been few signs of economic health across the Corrupt West. Despite this, these traitorous regimes continue the pretense that their horrific mismanagement of our economies is making things better rather than worse.
A long lost 16th century civilization has been unearthed in rural Kansas — all thanks to a plucky teen who helped archaeologists confirm the incredible discovery.
The metropolis — where up to 20,000 Wichita Indians once lived — was discovered in Arkansas City, in the south-central part of the state, when a high school boy found a cannon ball that tipped off the experts that their long-held suspicions about the existence of Etzanoa were correct, the Kansas City Star reported.
The city, whose name means “The Great Settlement,” is believed to be the second-largest Native American city in the US and was the site of a battle between Spanish explorers and Indian warriors in 1601.
“The Spaniards were amazed by the size of Etzanoa,” according to Donald Blakeslee, a 73-year-old Wichita State University archaeologist, who announced the discovery.
“They counted 2,000 houses that could hold 10 people each. They said it would take two or three days to walk through it all,” said Blakeslee, adding that the patch of land spans thousands of acres.
Two Maryland women have been charged with a hate crime in connection with the burning of a Donald Trump presidential campaign sign, according to fire and police officials.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office said Monday that a second arrest was made in connection with the April 14 incident on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The office has identified the suspect as Joy M. Shuford, 19, of Owings Mills, Md.
Shuford surrendered to authorities one day after the incident and faces multiple charges including second-degree arson, malicious destruction of property and the commission of a hate crime.
The second suspect has been identified as D'Asia R. Perry, 19, of Baltimore. Perry was found on the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus and taken into custody. She faces 14 charges in connection with the incident including arson and commission of a hate crime, according to police.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
The CBO earlier this week estimated the draft Republican repeal bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $772 billion between 2017 and 2026. | Getty CBO: Medicaid spending falls 35 percent in 20 years under Senate health bill
The federal government would spend 35 percent less on Medicaid in two decades if the Senate Obamacare repeal bill becomes law, according to a CBO analysis requested by Democrats critical of the legislation.
The drop-off stems from stricter limits Republicans want to enact beginning in 2025 to control the entitlement's growth. Under the Senate bill, federal Medicaid outlays would be 26 percent less in 2026 compared to current law. The gap widens to 35 percent in 2036.
The CBO earlier this week estimated the draft Republican repeal bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $772 billion between 2017 and 2026. But some Senate Democrats asked for a separate analysis, contending the 10-year estimate doesn’t fully capture the effects of the legislation, because stricter spending limits would take effect toward the end of that window. The latest projection doesn't contain dollar figures for future cuts. The CBO hedged its estimates, saying there's considerable uncertainty predicting spending beyond the coming decade.
“This analysis makes clear that the massive cuts to Medicaid are only going to get worse,” Sen. Ron Wyden, ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, said in a statement today. “These cuts will leave states with unfathomable choices like whether sick children get essential treatment or pregnant women get prenatal care or older Americans can receive adequate nursing home care."
The Senate bill would end open-ended Medicaid payments to states and put the program on a budget starting in 2020. Spending would grow in line with medical inflation for the first few years. But Senate Republicans want to further constrain spending growth starting in 2025, when payments would grow at a rate tied to regular inflation.
POLITICO Pulse newsletter Get the latest on the health care fight, every weekday morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The bill’s Medicaid provisions have been a major sticking point in Republican efforts to assemble 50 votes to advance the legislation. Moderates from Medicaid expansion states, including Rob Portman of Ohio, have opposed pegging overall Medicaid spending growth to regular inflation as the Senate bill includes. Conservatives say it’s necessary to put the program on a sustainable budget trajectory.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Analysis
Is the Raqqa Civilian Council Fit for Purpose?
Haid Haid, October 2017
After the seizure of Raqqa, questions about the effectiveness of the SDF’s governance model loom.
Following the full capture of Raqqa, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seems to have started the final phase of formalizing the de-facto governance model it has designed for the governorate. The Raqqa Civilian Council (RCC) has been, for months, slowly handling the areas seized from ISIS. But apart from its broad goals, not much is publicly known about the council’s capacity or plans for the post-ISIS Raqqa. Likewise, it is not clear how much support it will receive from the international community to rebuild the governorate. The answers to these questions are not only central to successfully stabilizing Raqqa, but also to ensure the sustainability of its successes against ISIS.
Succeeding a preparatory meeting attended by 100 delegates, including representatives from Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen, the Syrian Democratic Council, the political representative of the SDF, announced the formulation of the RCC on 18 April. The RCC consists of two co-presidents (an Arab and a Kurd, one of which is female), three deputies (a Turkman, an Arab and a Kurd, one of which is female) and 14 technical committees to cover all areas of governance. The majority of the RCC consists of Arabs, in line with Raqqa's demography, but also includes Kurds and other ethnic groups.
The council does not have a clear structure, which is desperately needed to run post-war Raqqa. Under the RCC, there should be similarly structured councils at lower levels (city, town, neighbourhood) to share the governance burden. But according to different RCC members, most of these councils have not been established yet. The reasons vary from the rapid military gains against ISIS and the security challenges that come with that to the lack of manpower and resources needed for such efforts. Additionally, some lower-level councils (namely the Tabqa council) seem to have been established by the Syrian Democratic Council directly, instead of the RCC.
As a result, the RCC does not have much authority over the Tabqa council. The relationship between the two entities is limited to coordination more than anything else. This will likely increase the challenges facing the RCC with regards to having the structure and authority needed to establish a centrally coordinated governing model at the governorate level.
The traditional division between the legislative and the executive authorities does not seem to apply to the RCC. The council is, theoretically, in charge of issuing laws and regulations as needed. It is also the main body in charge of monitoring the implementation of these laws. While local sources are talking about ongoing efforts to separate these authorities, this current situation further limits the RCC’s chances of having a clear division of tasks or avoiding abusing the level of power it enjoys. Furthermore, the RCC committees still do not have official rules and regulations to standardize their work. Consequently, the practices of some committees might not be accepted by others, which limits the RCC’s ability to coordinate and monitor their work.
What’s more, the RCC still does not have the needed resources to rebuild the city. The leaked videos from inside Raqqa shows that the defeat of ISIS came at the expense of destroying a big part of the city. Although the exact extent of the damage remains unclear, it seems that most of the buildings, especially the civilian facilities, have been either flattened or partially knocked. Nonetheless, a number of RCC members indicated that the council has not received any substantial external funds in order to be able to provide basic needs in the areas that have been captured from ISIS. Such needs have significantly increased after the capture of Raqqa city. But there are still no strong indications that the international community will do much to help in the near future.
This does not come as a surprise; the US special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Brett McGurk, frequently emphasized that the United States is only committed to the stabilization of Raqqa areas – i.e. establishing basic security and providing essential services – not to funding any long-term reconstruction. Some European diplomats have also expressed a similar position in conversations with the author, while others even refused to support any early recovery efforts. The town of Kobani, which was liberated from ISIS almost three years ago, is still struggling to recover due to lack of support from the West. Therefore, the situation in the city of Raqqa, which is bigger and more problematic, will likely be worse.
The expanded Kurdish influence over the RCC is sensitive to locals – although their exact percentage remains unclear – who might challenge the council’s authority. Locals who reject the RCC view it as a Kurdish tool to expand Kurdish authority over the Arab-majority governorate of Raqqa. ‘The Kurds have created the council to control Raqqa and integrate it in their Self-Administration project. The percentage of Arabs in the council will not change anything as the Kurds are the ones who are unofficially running the show,’ said Yasir Abbas, a businessman from Raqqa based in Turkey. This view is supported by a report published by the International Crisis Group that states that SDF efforts to include Arabs in the Kurdish-led ‘Democratic Self-Administration’ model have been superficial and do not amount to a meaningful share in governance. Although this resentment may not escalate to direct confrontations with the RCC, it will still likely limit its legitimacy and popularity.
Handling the aforementioned challenges is central to the success of the recently established Raqqa Civilian Council in governing Raqqa. But the essential element to stabilizing the area is the council’s ability to allow locals to meaningfully develop and run their city separately from the YPG-PYD’s Self-Administration and reflect the city’s social composition. Doing so could assure sceptical Syrians, and others, that the SDF’s capture of territory no longer means the arrival of single-party rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Haid Haid is a Consulting Research Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House and Syrian columnistwho focuses on security policies, conflict resolution, Kurdish and Islamist movements.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Hornets Battle Back to Beat the Rockets. How U?
The first three quarters of the game were predictable. Sloppy play for the first half followed by a complete collapse in the 3rd quarter. Overall it was pretty bad. Both the Hornets and Rockets shot under 37% at the break and the score was a whopping 34-36. And then the second half started and the Rockets started shooting lights out to take a 69-59 lead after 3 quarters.
Then the 4th quarter started and Roger Mason Jr. went all freakazoid bananas.
Mason Jr. went 5 of 5 from the field in the quarter with 3 made threes. It could have been more as his foot was on the line on at least one other attempt. Not only that but he grabbed 5 boards, had a steal and a block as well. What might have been equally important as his scoring, though, was his defense on Harden. He slowed Harden down enough and held him to only 3 points on 1 of 4 shooting in the final period. It allowed the Hornets to hold the Rockets to a meager 10 points in the quarter while scoring 29 themselves in an improbably sparked 88-79 win.
Seriously, Roger FREAKING Mason Jr. sparked the comeback. Without him the Hornets lose. I’m not lying.
Observations
-If you were to tell me the Hornets would win by 9 in a game where Anderson and Gordon combined for 5 points, I would have bet you lots of money and lost. Neither player had his shot going tonight whatsoever. For a shooter like Anderson these nights happen.
-What worries me slightly was the Hornets didn’t really run sets for Anderson like they normally do. Monty used him as a pick man in the pick and roll, but that’s doesn’t take advantage of his skill set. Overall, there were less pick and rolls tonight, more isolations, and a whole lot of nothing. I was somewhat disappointed with Monty tonight.
-Rivers’ offensive game is bad, yes. But on defense you can definitely see him improving. He played adequate–not good but not bad–defense on Harden tonight. It’s a tough assignment for a rookie and he was going to struggle at times. But overall he held his own. Most importantly, Rivers show a strong ability to fight through screens on defense. This is something the Hornets guards have lacked this season and it prevents mismatches occurring on the pick and roll.
-Aminu played…I’m not exactly sure how to finish that. He shows these flashes at times which make you think he can be good. And then he goes and plays terribly by turning the ball over and getting lost on defense. Then the next few possessions have him crashing the boards and stripping the ball. Honestly, I’d rather have him be consistently bad rather than streaky because at least it wouldn’t get my hopes up.
-Who has worse hands? Aminu or Lopez?
-I’ve been hard on Vasquez at times, but without him the Hornets offense has the potential to look like an absolute mess. His 4 turnovers are not what you want to see, but his line of 17 points and 11 assists is. He’s a boom or bust player but the booms can look so great at times. There was a period in the first half where Vasquez broke out some very flashy passing. It was awesome.
-The Hornets rebounded 35.5% of their misses tonight which looks fantastic. Then you realize then finished 35 of 84 on the night. That’s a lot of misses. The Hornets need to start manufacturing more attempts at the rim. They currently rank 24th in makes at the rim per game.
The Hornets have now completed the Texas Toast Trifecta sweep and look to make it 4 in a row Friday night in New Orleans.
anyone else miss when chuck use to give his end-of-the-game pep talks? It really got the crowd going. I did like how everyone stood up with 20 seconds to go but i wish everyone would be rowdy from the 2 min mark in. worst part about the rockets game was i didnt get to do the cheer that is on the PA when ryno scores. OOOOoooOOOOOoooOOOoo
Well,Well,Well!!! I must say I am a little takin back by what I have been seeing late from the Hornets...The hornets are winning games now that they would have lost earlier in the season, just EG being in the line-up has everyone playing better!!! If Aminu can get a jump shot he can be good at SF,but he rebounding and defense is very good lately!!!
Well, Aminu could be consistently good, too. I'd be fine with that.
What would you have liked me to say in the recap instead? I'm all for constructive criticism. I'm not a fan of just praising things/players. I know Jason Smith played incredibly well. I assume most of the readers do as well. We can say that all we want but so what? I'd rather look for some deeper insight into the game. Feel free to let me know here or email me at nolajake86 at gmail.com.
Yes and no. I see where you're coming from but you could say we should do that even in losses. I'm not trying to recap the game in an Associated Press kind of way. There are multiple other places to get that. I want to point out somethings I found interested and go a little more in depth than the recap you'll read in a newspaper. It's why I don't use keys to the game in my previews. Ultimately they don't matter since I'm not the coach. I'd rather point out 3 things which will be interesting to keep an eye on--which might lead you to watching the game in a different light. Other writers here do it differently. That's cool; we just have different approaches. The great thing about NBA coverage is there are so many different types of it. You can get a well rounded approach by reading it all, or just pick the parts you like. Anyway is fine.
As for Aminu, even though he had 10 rebounds, I think he had a poor game. I don't really like individual +/- but it's worth noting Aminu was -10 (I think, I don't have the box score in front of me) which was the worst on the team by far.
Of those 10 rebounds, 4 were offensive. That sounds great, but then you see he only had 4 points. Usually you see a player grab an offensive board and then try and put it up for an easy make. It's why players have much higher point per play averages on offensive rebounds than elsewhere. But those 4 rebounds produced a total of 4 points and no trips to the line (again, I think). Those rebounds are great, yes, but if he can do anything with them it's a wash. Yes, he did contribute, but I don't think it impacted the Hornets in a positive way.
I follow that logic but after a win, shouldn't we at least accentuate the positives? If you never watched a game and you only read these articles and comments, you'd think that Aminu is not contributing anything but TO's and cherry picked rebounds. But I have no issues with the article other than what's stated above. I was just answering the comment. He/She made it seem as though Aminu didn't do anything of any worth in the game.
I would love for comments to add to the coverage rather than have writers try to take hours and hours to cover every detail, leaving nothing to talk about.
There's a fine line between starting a discussion with some, but not all, good points, and doing a half-baked job.
So, if the article is missing the positive . . . point it out clearly, intelligently, and interestingly. The world will thank you.
I was at the game and...
Aminu is terrible. His shot is pathetic (He airballed a wide open long two), and he gets in the lane and turns the ball over 50% of the time.
The game was really hard to watch until the fourth when Mason Jr. turned into Reggie Miller.
Jason Smith was incredible tonight, which made Davis' minutes limited. He just made some great plays on defense and his shot was going in.
Maybe Aminu has been working out with Rivers. Seriously though, if all you gathered from that game is Aminu's air ball and TO's, you should re-watch the game. Aminu gets every rebound (which gets discredited in this article) and he played very good defense. I don't understand how a young player in Aminu doesn't get the opportunity to learn and get better under Monty (in the eyes of the fans) but Rivers has been given years to learn. From the eye test, Aminu contributes to the team in areas of need ie. rebounding and defense. Once we get a pg, he'll fill another need which is fast break points. On a different note, I really think Eric Gordon should be our future PG. he's a small SG so we should let him slide over to PG and get a SG in free agency or the draft.
Eric Gordon should be our future PG.
I thought that too, but a recent post mentioned that when Monty tried it but EG just stood around after his first pass. The experiment only lasted a couple of minutes.
48 Minutes Of Hell seems to be high on young SF James Anderson, who was recently waived. Apparently he played well when Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson were injured. Maybe the Bees could bring him in for a try-out.
Too confusing. Need all the players to have different last names, and I don't want to lose Ryan. Calling him James would bring too many flashbacks of Mike...
Seriously, I would like to see a Hornets247 analysis of the recently waived players (stat pack, NBA skills and weaknesses). Way to lazy to look all that up myself. As for Aminu at that position, I'd rather have a performance like the Houston game from him with major peaks and valleys that a typical Lance/Darius/Xavier performance without a single peak. Aminu's defense and rebounding were crucial to keeping in the first 3 quarters. If we can keep him uninvolved in the last 10 seconds of our shot clock and forbid jump shots greater than 3 feet he is a strong net positive.
I'm impressed with the activity level on defense over the last 3 games. Earlier in the season we were not active, and it made us a horrible defense. Now we are moving our feet, getting low, helping out somewhat, and keeping hands active without too much reaching. That is cutting down on foul calls and forcing turnovers. Same people (except for Gordon), but a different level of intensity. As noted, the fans have responded. Keep it up boys!
You might have forgetten to mention the outstanding job Jason Smith did tonight! The guy was the heart of our defense, fought hard all night long, was out there in the final minutes, blocked shots, assisted, hustled... This win is as much his as it is Mason's.
Liked the game Vasquez had tonight, but don't know, Lin isn't a real test... Wanted him to push the pace more often, like he did at times tonight! Davis, Aminu and Gordon are great in transition!
GO HORNETS!!!
Seriously like this streak. Their level of play wasn't as good tonight as it was against the spurs, but a win is a win. Lopez, Smith, and Mason were on. A lot has been said about the talent level of Vasquez, but he has shown constant improvement night in and night out. He used to overlook AD in the paint, but he is finding him a lot more as of late. Every single game he makes an impact. His three game has improved, his drives to the basket and banking it off the glass, and his turnovers are getting smaller as time goes on. Anderson and Gordon have had off nights, but Vasquez has made an impact in every single game. He really needs to work on his defense and get a post gamr because of his size, but I have very few doubts that those areas won't be addressed. He has the drive, and he will continue to get better. I think he is one of the most improved players in the league. This was an ugly game until the fourth. I wish Ryno, the Commish, and Skynet would have had good games. It would have been a blowout. Even when Gordon's shot isn't falling, his defense and his courr vision make me thank Dell and company for matching the contract. I'm ready for Miller to come back from D-league and also ready to see what Dell has up his sleeve trade-wise. Sorry, random comment, just haven't posted for a while and I needed to vent. Go Pelcs!
The fact that we were able to pull off this win while EJ and Ryno had 5 combined is extremely impressive, but it actually gets me more excited going forward. I mean, I don't think nights like this will happen very often, especially for both guys simultaneously. This streak, however small, feels soooo nice! Hopefully this little run can turn into a big run.
One more little thing that didn't really matter a whole lot but bothered the hell out of me. Early on Anthony Davis grabbed a rebound then Harden fouled him trying to steal it back. The refs called the foul but they evidently didn't count it toward's Harden's foul total. After that, Harden picked up two offensive fouls. He would've had to sit in the first half due to foul trouble, and again in the third quarter when he picked up his 3rd (should've been 4th). But annnyyyyyway...
Awesome win!
What an exciting game. Actually most of the game was hard to watch, especially the 3rd quarter, but man, Roger Mason had his NBA Jam On Fire shot going tonight. I would like to see him coming off the bench ahead of Rivers, and not just because of tonight. Yeah sure, Rivers is improving on defense but doesn't really have much else going for him right now. Mason however is a vet who is a proven long ball shooter.
I didn't think they would pull this one out with Anderson and Gordon just not having it offensively tonight. But it is very encouraging to see that Gordon can have an off night and the team can still manage to pull out a win.
Also, great energy in the Arena tonight, crowd was really rocking.
Thoughts:
1) -8 in Q3 is in no way shape or form a "complete collapse".
2) Harden being the only Rocket in double figures should worry Houston.
3) With consistently bad shooting, sooner or later, opponents will stop fearing EG. Then we'll be right back where we used to be.
4) All of our bench was "+", but only EG of the starters, and that was just +2.
5) Rock on Jason Smith!!
6) What happened to AD?
Im not sure opponents necessarily fear EG, since they give him his jumper, and tonight was a night of whistle swallowing for the refs or eg easily has 10 + pts off free throws and who knows what that does to his confidence... Agree with you on everything else.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Evoked potentials: three-dimensional display.
Procedures are described for displaying large numbers of evoked potentials. A photographic superposition of average evoked responses, with the concurrent modulation of the brightness of each trace, yields a display having the appearance of a three-dimensional surface formed from hundreds of average responses.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Amelioration of DSS-induced murine colitis by VSL#3 supplementation is primarily associated with changes in ileal microbiota composition.
Inflammatory bowel diseases encompass gastrointestinal illnesses typified by chronic inflammation, loss of epithelial integrity and gastrointestinal microbiota dysbiosis. In an effort to counteract these characteristic perturbations, we used stem cells and/or a probiotic therapy in a murine model of Dextran Sodium Sulfate induced colitis to examine both their efficacy in ameliorating disease and impact on niche-specific microbial communities of the lower GI tract. Colitis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by administering 3% DSS in drinking water for 10 days prior to administering one of three treatment plans: daily probiotic (VSL#3) supplementation for 3 days, a single tail vein injection of 1x10 (6) murine mesenchymal stem cells, or both. Ileal, cecal and colonic sections were collected for microbiota and histological analyses. Microbiota profiling revealed distinct bacterial community compositions in the ileum, cecum and colon of control untreated animals, all of which were predicted in silico to be enriched for a number of discrete KEGG pathways, indicating compositional and functional niche specificity in healthy animals. DSS-treatment perturbed community composition in all three niches with ileal communities exhibiting the greatest change relative to control animals. Each treatment group exhibited treatment-specific alterations in microbiota composition in the lower GI tract, though disease scores were only improved in VSL#3-treated animals. The ileal microbiota were most profoundly altered in composition in this group of animals and characterized by significant Enterobacteriaceae enrichment compared with colitic mice (P<0.05).
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Cytotoxic and nitric oxide production-inhibitory activities of limonoids and other compounds from the leaves and bark of Melia azedarach.
Nine limonoids, 1-9, one apocarotenoid, 11, one alkaloid, 12, and one steroid, 13, from the leaf extract; and one triterpenoid, 10, five steroids, 14-18, and two flavonoids, 19 and 20, from the bark extract of Melia azedarach L. (Chinaberry tree; Meliaceae) were isolated. Among these compounds, three compounds, 4-6, were new, and their structures were established as 3-deacetyl-28-oxosalannolactone, 3-deacetyl-28-oxosalanninolide, and 3-deacetyl-17-defurano-17,28-dioxosalannin, respectively, on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses and comparison with literature data. All of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against leukemia (HL60), lung (A549), stomach (AZ521), and breast (SK-BR-3) cancer cell lines. 3-Deacetyl-4'-demethyl-28-oxosalannin (3) against HL60 and AZ521 cells, and methyl kulonate (10) against HL60 cells exhibited potent cytotoxicities with IC50 values in the range of 2.8-5.8 μM. In addition, upon evaluation of compounds 1-13 against production of nitric oxide (NO) in mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), seven, i.e., trichilinin B (1), 4, ohchinin (7), 23-hydroxyohchininolide (8), 21-hydroxyisoohchininolide (9), 10, and methyl indole 3-carboxylate (12), inhibited production of NO with IC50 values in the range of 4.6-87.3 μM with no, or almost no, toxicity to the cells (IC50 93.2-100 μM). Western blot analysis revealed that compound 7 reduced the expression levels of the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and COX-2 proteins in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, compounds 5, 6, 13, and 18-20 exhibited potent inhibitory effects (IC50 299-381 molar ratio/32 pmol TPA) against Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in Raji cell line.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Make Showering and Bathing Easy for Senior Citizens
The fundamental purpose of bathing is to maintain health and physical well being of one’s body. But while most younger, able-bodied adults don’t think twice about bathing, the task becomes more difficult, more time consuming and more dangerous for older people with disabilities, or older adults that become limited in their ability to perform the activities of daily living, such as grooming and hygiene, as they age. It’s at this stage that senior citizens are in need of some assisted living provisions, and a great place to start is by addressing their need for a walk-in tub or walk-in shower.
In 1983 the Gallup organization surveyed 1,500 non-institutionalized people over the age of 55. Those polled responded that “Using shower or tub” was one of the sixteen problematic areas identified for maintaining activities of daily living. The National Center for Health Statistics also reported that about 10 percent of all people over the age of 65 have difficulty bathing, and about 6 percent required help when taking a bath or shower.
NewBath Alabama is sensitive to these challenges faced by senior citizens and offers a full compliment of Walk-in Tubs, Wheelchair Accessible Showers & safety grab bars to improve bathroom safety. If you or a loved one have avoided the comfort of a bath simply because it’s too hard to get in and out, NewBath’s Walk-In Tub or Tub-to-Shower conversion offers the perfect solution for you: Simply walk in, sit down, relax, and enjoy a warm, comfortable, and therapeutic bath or shower that relieves aches and pains. NewBath Walk-in Tubs and Showers are made of the highest quality materials available today, and are certified by ETA, IAPMO, and CSA, which are required by most states.
NewBath also now offers the new American Standard walk-in tub series that is specifically designed to solve the bathing problems faced by senior citizens. The American Standard tub features an easy access door system, built in grab bar, textured bottom, large 20″ contoured door, and a low 3″ threshold.
There’s no reason at all in this day and age that an activity as simple as daily bathing or showering should present a challenge to anyone. Contact NewBath Alabama today for more information.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Max Read
Many people now, at this point, have forwarded us the email they received from online dating service OK Cupid (screen-shotted) above, which was sent out with the subject "do you want to die alone?" which would probably just barely fall on the side of "cute" if it weren't accompanied by a graphic of an asteroid emblazoned with President Obama's face hitting the earth, in the process ripping to shreds what appears to be a rather large copy of the U.S. constitution. Hmm.
(In all likelihood, we're guessing, OK Cupid is not suggesting that an enormous Obama meteor will kill us all tomorrow, and whoever sent out the email just grabbed the first "apocalypse" graphic he or she could find, settling on this one without noticing that it, uh, isn't really appropriate for an OK Cupid email.)
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
Code highlighting broken in PhpStorm/WebStorm with React HOC's and decorators
Background
When writing a Higher-order component in react that contains a decorator my highlighting is broken in PhpStorm/WebStorm.
Example Code
export default function HOC(WrappedComponent) {
return (
@connect(
state => ({
data: state.data
})
)
class extends Component {/** react component **/}
)
}
The Error
This piece of code compiles perfectly in my react application but causes a whole bunch of errors in my IDE.
If I remove the decorator the errors go away. But if I use decorators on other components there is no problem with the highlighting. Meaning that it is not a global issue with decorators.
The first error flagged is
) expected, line 19 (where line 19 is the end of the decorator)
This means its that the return statement does not understand the grouping of the decorator and the component correctly.
Question
Is there a way to fix this issue easily, maybe a library. Or should I change the way I write these HOCs?
A:
A Problem with the IDE
As stated above this code compiles and runs, there for there is some kind of issue with the IDE and how it detects something that returns decorators.
The Workaround
There was a work around that I used to fix the code highlighting. By Allowing the decorator to be applied to the class before the return and adding an arbitrary name the highlighting returns.
Example
export default function HOC(WrappedComponent) {
@connect(
state => ({
data: state.data
})
)
class HOC extends Component {/** react component **/}
return HOC;
}
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Being an intern for an interstellar space station might seem to be a dream come true – except if you’re with Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets. Interning for a research scientist collecting aliens is all fun and games until said aliens start killing everyone in the ship. If you’re up for a thriller puzzle game for the Nintendo Switch, this might be the game for you.
Watch Chad and Rhenn play Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets, the new puzzle game from BeautiFun Games, on the Nintendo Switch.
They play chapter one, and they talk about how the art, the story thus far, and the controls. Watch as they guide Professor Lupo’s unfortunate intern through an exploding space lab while horrible creatures abound.
Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets: Not Remotely Horrible
In summary? We really liked it.
The art is nice, animation is good, and the voice acting seemed alright.
It made you scratch your noggin a lot, which is the whole point of a puzzle game.
The monster designs are great, with varying levels of cute and horrifying.
Check out this terrifying vore-bunny… thing.
The Story in itself is interesting
We’ve only played through the first chapter, so there’s not much to spoil even if we share minor details.
You’re an intern in the Aurora Space Station. You work for Professor Lupo who has an amazing selection of alien pets. Day in and day out, you were responsible for taking care of said pets. Except, well, for today – because something attacked the space station, releasing all the aliens in the process. We learn very early on that aliens and humans don’t mix and, well, you (the intern) have to run for your life.
Fairly simple, right? I think the game plays on this simplicity in order to introduce more quirky “twists” to the space horror genre. The puzzle aspect in the game seem a perfect addition to the story’s mild mystery element.
If anything, the game doesn’t try to produce an amazing story. It’s got a cool and simple premise, quirky mechanics, and a willing intern to boot. If you’re gonna play Professor Lupo, we’re going to ask you to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the thrilling puzzles.
Art design is quirky
Professor Lupo’s art is very spot on for a puzzle game. Its graphics don’t complicate, and its animations are very straightforward. You can easily make out elements integral to the game, and the game is easy on the eyes. It’s definitely asking you to relax and focus on the puzzles.
And the art style remains playful throughout the game. Which is interesting, because the aliens chasing us remain quite thrilling and scary. I guess it goes to show you don’t necessarily need to rely on realistic and gory graphics to make a suitable horror experience.
Gameplay is okay for a puzzle game
The way the monsters interact with the environment and other monsters is interesting as well. The game makes it easy for us to learn what all parts of the map can do.
There’s always a tutorial level that teaches us what to do for a specific mechanic. And afterwards, the game brings us to another level that requires us to apply said mechanic. This is a simple and effective way to embed mechanics to players’ heads.
Unfortunately, we found the motion controls largely unnecessary. Although you could get used to them, especially if you want to apply them in the game.
You can even see, in the video, that we struggled with the pointer, as gyro-based motion controls for docked play on the Switch aren’t as accurate as the infra-red sensors found on the Wii.
A Thrilling Puzzle Experience
At the core of it all, Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets is a great puzzle game. It contains some challenging puzzles for mystery-crackers out there. Plus, it’s got great monster, puzzle, and level design.
It’s in no way your stereotypical “alien satellite gone off-the-rails” kind of game. And once we’ve begun thinking of the game as such, the title is quick to remind us of how wrong we are. Its quirky art design, thrilling mechanics, and head-scratching puzzles are tied together by its story, all wrapped up in Douglas Adams-esque humor.
You can get Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets on Steam and on the Nintendo eShop.
—
DISCLOSURE: What’s A Geek! was provided a review copy of Professor Lupo and his Horrible Pets, but it has in no way affected our opinion of the game. Nobody outside of What’s A Geek! has seen our video or review prior to publication.
Share this:
Tweet
Share Your Thoughts!
comments
Ade Magnaye
Check out his blog at Ade is a bassist who blogs way too much about Doctor Who and Batman.Check out his blog at Noisy Noisy Man and follow him on Twitter: @AdeMagnaye
Rhenn Taguiam Rhenn Taguiam is a frustrated journalist with a knack for comic books and video games. He likes pizza and pasta, and has an uncontrollable urge to gush over anything Super Sentai, Star Trek or X-Men. He is currently on his way to get his Master's Degree - unless he creates his own video game or graphic novel first.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Creator of Doom and Chief Technology Officer at Oculus VR John Carmack didn't necessarily expect it to be Facebook, but said that Oculus had to partner with someone.
Carmack commented on a post to Anamanaguchi member Peter Berkman’s blog, which criticized Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR. Berkman said he’s worried about Facebook collecting data, creating an “information monopoly,” and the notion that today “companies exist and operate only to be acquired.”
In his response, Carmack said that there is a case for being an independent company like Valve and trying to build a new virtual reality ecosystem like Steam from the ground up. “This is probably what most of the passionate fans wanted to see,” he said. “The difference is that, for years, the industry thought Valve was nuts, and they had the field to themselves. Valve deserves all their success for having the vision and perseverance to see it through to the current state.”
VR, Carmack argues, won’t be like that. “The experience is too obviously powerful, and it makes converts on contact,” he said. “The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who.”
He added that he didn’t expect it to be this soon, that he didn’t expect it to be Facebook, and that he could think of other, more obvious companies, but that he believes Facebook sees the “Big Picture.”
“I wasn't personally involved in any of the negotiations,” he said. “I spent an afternoon talking technology with Mark Zuckerberg, and the next week I find out that he bought Oculus.”
In 2000, Carmack founded Armadillo Aerospace, a space tourism startup. On Twitter, Carmack also said that the Facebook deal probably means he’ll give aerospace another shot, but not for several years. “I have divided my focus too much in the past,” he said.
To catch up with the biggest news of the week, make sure you read everything you need to know about Facebook buying Oculus for $2 billion.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
INTRODUCTION
============
Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an acute inflammatory disease of the pancreas and is considered the most common pancreatic disease.^[@R1]^ Gallstones and alcohol consumption are the most frequent etiologies of AP in adults.^[@R2],[@R3]^ A previous longitudinal population-based study has addressed the incidence trends following the first attack of AP.^[@R4]^ The incidence of AP has been reported to be markedly increasing, probably due to the increase in the incidence of gallstone disease and obesity in the population.^[@R5],[@R6]^
AP can contribute to a systemic inflammatory response syndrome with significant morbidity and mortality. Although the case-fatality rate of AP has decreased over the decades,^[@R4],[@R7]^ AP can contribute to endocrine and exocrine insufficiencies^[@R1],[@R8]--[@R10]^ in survivors as a result of the key role of the pancreas in both glucose metabolism and nutritional digestion.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common noncommunicable diseases in the world and it poses a heavy burden to society in the form of associated disabilities and healthcare costs. DM secondary to pancreatic diseases is classified as pancreatogenic diabetes or type 3c DM.^[@R11]^ In contrast to type 1 and type 2 DM, detailed clinical data on type 3c DM is scarce. Further, the time course of DM and exocrine insufficiency remains unclear.
Moreover, AP may contribute to pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI), a condition characterized by a deficiency of the exocrine pancreatic enzymes resulting in maldigestion or malabsorption. The diagnosis of PEI is largely based on clinical symptoms,^[@R12]^ although some patients may present mild signs and symptoms similar to those observed in other gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Chronic pancreatitis is the most common cause of PEI, as a result of the pancreatic exocrine cell injuries.^[@R13]^ Management of PEI is mostly based on both pancreatic enzyme replacement and lifestyle modifications.
The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence rates, time course, and relative risks of both endocrine and exocrine insufficiencies after the first episode of AP with biliary or alcohol-associated causes based on a Taiwan national population-based study.
METHODS
=======
Database
--------
The National Health Insurance System in Taiwan is compulsory and covers about 23 million citizens (more than 99% of the population, except prisoners). The Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was released for research purposes by the National Health Research Institute.^[@R14]^ Information in the inpatient database included date of birth, sex, encrypted patient identification numbers, dates of admission and discharge, levels of medical institutions, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes of diagnoses (up to 5) and procedures (up to 5), order codes, and associated medical costs. We used the encrypted identification of the residents to link 5 data files, which included inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy claims data, the registry of the Catastrophic Illnesses Patient Database (CIPD), and demographic information. All data files were linked with scrambled identifications to ensure patient privacy. The study was approved by the Ethics Review Board of the National Taiwan University Hospital (201405043W).
Definitions and Patients
------------------------
Patients after first-attack AP from the NHIRD between 2000 and 2011 were included in the study. AP was defined by ICD-9-CM code 577.0 in the first position of the 5-inpatient diagnoses. The admission date of AP was defined as the AP index date. Further, severity criteria of AP were defined according to the modified Atlanta classification scheme,^[@R15]^ if patients met any of the following criteria: the presence of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, organ dysfunction or failure, major gastrointestinal bleeding, or accompanied complications.^[@R16],[@R17]^ To ensure at least 1 year of follow-up, patients who presented first-attack AP in 2011 (n = 582) were excluded from the study. Moreover, cases who had AP in 2000 (n = 1568) were excluded to confirm the first-attack event as correctly as possible. Patients with follow-up of less than 6 months (n = 477), those who received pancreatic surgery (n = 23), and those \<20 years (n = 35) were further excluded. In addition, patients were excluded if they were diagnosed with DM (ICD-9-CM code 250.x) before first AP index date (n = 23). The diagnostic accuracy of cancer was confirmed by both specific admission *ICD-9* codes, and inclusion in the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patient Database, a subpart of the NHIRD.
Covariates
----------
Etiology was defined as biliary diseases (ICD-9-CM code 574) or alcohol-related diseases (ICD-9-CM codes 291.0, 291.4, 291.81, 303, 305.0, 571.2, or 790.3)^[@R18]^ according to the associated diagnostic codes of admission for AP. To assess comorbidity, we collected data on the diagnoses made before AP first-attack index date for each patient: dyslipidemia (ICD-9-CM codes 272.0, 272.1, and 272.2), ischemic heart disease (ICD-9-CM codes 410--414), liver cirrhosis (ICD-9-CM codes 571.5), hypertension (ICD-9-CM code 401--405), and peptic ulcer diseases (ICD-9-CM code 531--535).^[@R19]^ The Charlson comorbidity index is a weighted summary measure of clinically important diseases that has been adapted for use with ICD-9-CM coded administrative databases.^[@R20],[@R21]^
Outcomes
--------
In this study, there were 2 primary outcomes: exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies. Exocrine insufficiency was defined as the use of exogenous exocrine pancreatic enzymes in patients after first attack of AP. Endocrine insufficiency was defined as new diagnosis of DM after a first attack of AP. DM was defined if patients had at least 1 admission diagnosis or 2 or more outpatient clinic visits within a year with a diabetic diagnostic code (ICD-9-CM code 250). This definition of diabetes was evaluated and validated in the Taiwan NHIRD with a high level of sensitivity and a positive predictive value (93.2% and 92.3%, respectively).^[@R22]^
Statistics
----------
Normality of study variables was assessed with Kolmogorov--Smirnov normality test. Continuous variables with normal distribution are expressed as mean ± standard deviation; discrete ones are presented as count or percentage. Continuous variables with nonnormal distribution are presented as median and interquartile range. In the univariate analysis, we used the Mann--Whitney *U* test (for continuous variables) or the *χ*^2^ test (for discrete ones) to compare differences between groups. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate independent effect of factors on newly diagnosed DM or pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after first-attack AP. Factors with *P* \< 0.05 on univariate analysis were included in the regression model. Data were analyzed with SPSS for Windows, version 17.0. (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). A 2-tailed *P* value of \<0.001 was considered to be significant.
RESULTS
=======
Incidence of Newly Diagnosed DM After First-Attack AP
-----------------------------------------------------
Among the 12,284 patients with first-attack AP, 618 patients (5.0%) were newly diagnosed with DM. Results of the univariate comparison between patients, with and without newly diagnosed DM, are shown in Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. Alcohol-associated AP (*P *\< 0.001), more readmissions for acute pancreatitis (*P *\< 0.001), male sex (*P *\< 0.001), and younger age (*P *= 0.003) presented a higher proportion of newly diagnosed DM after AP. The Cox logistic regression model was used to evaluate the factors associated with newly diagnosed DM (Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). Our Cox logistic regression model identified alcohol-associated AP (odds ratio, 1.894; 95% CI, 1.520--2.268; *P* \< 0.001) and ≥2 readmissions for AP (odds ratio, 1.937; 95% CI, 1.483--2.391; *P* \< 0.001) to be significantly associated with newly diagnosed DM after AP.
######
Comparison of Clinicodemographic Characteristics Between DM Cases and Non-DM Cases After Initial Acute Pancreatitis, Uni-Variable Analysis
######
Comparison of Clinicodemographic Characteristics Between DM Cases and Non-DM Cases After Initial Acute Pancreatitis, Multivariable Analysis
Incidence of Pancreatic Exocrine Insufficiency After First-Attack AP
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Of the 12,284 first-attack AP patients, 5617 patients (45.7%) presented pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. Results of the univariate comparison between patients with and without pancreatic exocrine insufficiency are shown in Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}. Alcohol-associated AP (*P *\< 0.001), male sex (*P *= 0.020), younger age (*P *= 0.018), middle socio-economic status (*P *\< 0.001), peptic ulcer disease (*P *\< 0.001), and dyslipidemia (*P* = 0.024) presented a significantly increased proportion of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after AP. The Cox logistic regression model was used to evaluate the factors associated with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (Table [4](#T4){ref-type="table"}). Our Cox logistic regression model showed that only alcohol-associated AP (odds ratio, 1.215; 95% CI, 1.133--1.297; *P* \< 0.001) was significantly associated with pancreatic exocrine insufficiency after AP.
######
Comparison of Clinicodemographic Characteristics Between PEI Cases and Non-PEI Cases After Initial Acute Pancreatitis, Uni-Variable Analysis
######
Comparison of Clinicodemographic Characteristics Between PEI Cases and Non-PEI Cases After Initial Acute Pancreatitis, Uni-Variable Analysis, Multivariable Analysis
Incidence of Both Exocrine and Endocrine Insufficiency After First-Attack AP
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In our study, 370 (3.0%) patients presented with exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies after AP. Results of the univariate comparison between patients with and without exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies are shown in Table [5](#T5){ref-type="table"}. Alcohol-associated AP (*P *\< 0.001), more readmissions for acute pancreatitis (*P *\< 0.001), male sex (*P *\< 0.001), and younger age (*P *\< 0.001) showed a significantly higher proportion of both exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies after AP. The Cox logistic regression model was used to evaluate the factors associated with exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies (Table [6](#T6){ref-type="table"}). The Cox logistic regression model identified alcohol-associated AP (odds ratio, 1.804; 95% CI, 1.345--2.263; *P* \< 0.001) and ≥2 readmissions for AP (odds ratio, 3.190; 95% CI, 2.317--4.063; *P* \< 0.001) as significantly associated with both exocrine and endocrine insufficiencies after AP.
######
Comparison of Clinicodemographic Characteristics Between Both DM and PEI Cases and Others After Initial Acute Pancreatitis, Uni-Variable Analysis
######
Comparison of Clinicodemographic Characteristics Between Both DM and PEI Cases and Others After Initial Acute Pancreatitis, Multi-Variable Analysis
The events (DM, exocrine insufficiency, and both) after initial AP are shown in Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}.
{#F1}
DISCUSSION
==========
In this study, alcohol-associated AP led to increased levels of exocrine or endocrine insufficiencies when compared with a biliary cause. The mechanism of alcohol-induced AP is multifactorial, including direct toxic effects of both alcohol and its metabolites on the pancreas.^[@R23]^ Other studies demonstrate that alcohol exerts its toxic effects on acinar cells and small pancreatic ducts, which become progressively occluded by pancreatic secretions and the formation of protein plugs.^[@R24]^ As condition worsens, alcohol and its metabolites damage the acinar cells, which may promote premature intracellular digestive enzyme activation, predisposing the gland to autodigestive injury.^[@R23],[@R25]^ In addition, pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are activated by alcohol, its metabolites, cytokines, and oxidative stress to convert into a myofibroblast-like phenotype, which will be responsible for the ongoing inflammation and fibrosis of the pancreas.^[@R23]^
In our study, AP recurrence is associated with endocrine insufficiency. This finding is similar to a previous study that shows that AP recurrence is one of the most important factors determining the occurrence and the late consequences.^[@R26]^ Most recurrences occur within a few years after the first AP.^[@R27]^ Several factors (sustained alcohol consumption, young age at first episode, persistent pseudocysts, or smoking) affect the risk of disease recurrence in patients with alcohol-associated AP,^[@R26]^ being sustained alcohol consumption the most important issue. Abstinence from alcohol after the first AP may protect against recurrent disease, although few patients were able to achieve it.^[@R28]^ A previous randomized controlled trial showed that the recurrence of acute alcohol-associated pancreatitis can be reduced by implementing multiple intervention program.^[@R29]^
DM secondary to pancreatic diseases is classified as pancreatogenic diabetes.^[@R11]^ The prevalence of pancreatogenic DM among all patients with DM has been estimated to be approximately 5--10%.^[@R30]^ The prevalence varied from 7% to 37%, depending on the classification of impaired glucose metabolism, etiology of pancreatic diseases, or duration of follow-up.^[@R26],[@R31]^ Of interest, nearly half of the necrotizing pancreatitis patients undergoing necrosectomy, who had pancreatic exocrine insufficiency during follow-up, also developed impaired glucose metabolism.^[@R32]^ To our knowledge, nutrient maldigestion induced by exocrine insufficiency results in impaired incretin secretion and decreased insulin release from β-cells.^[@R33]^ Patients with both pancreatogenic DM and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency should take adequate supplements of exocrine pancreatic enzymes, which may not only prevent a deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins but also reverse the impaired glucose metabolism due to decreased release of incretin.^[@R34]^ In our study, 224 cases (3.9%; interval between exocrine insufficiency and DM; mean ± SD: 1068 ± 862 days) developed DM among the 5617 patients with exocrine insufficiency during follow-up after initial AP (6 cases presented with simultaneous endocrine and exocrine insufficiencies). On the other hand, 140 patients (22.7%; interval between DM and exocrine insufficiency; mean ± SD: 632 ± 602 days) presented with exocrine insufficiency among the 618 patients with DM during follow-up after initial AP. Glucose metabolism or exocrine function tests should be performed whenever endocrine or exocrine insufficiency is suspected.
Theoretically, severe AP causes a more severe pancreatic injury when compared with mild AP, which may just contribute to exocrine or endocrine insufficiency. From our findings, severity of AP does not correlate with occurrence of exocrine or endocrine insufficiencies. Previous reports also addressed that severity of AP is not associated with glucose intolerance or exocrine insufficiency risk.^[@R31]^
Our study is notable for its large sample size and its nationally representative characteristics. However, our study also has several limitations that need to be considered. First, the NHIRD does not include detailed results from laboratory data on glucose metabolism. Second, coding error or misdiagnosis is inevitable in a database. To decrease coding error in our study, the diagnostic accuracy of DM coding was confirmed by both admission and outpatient *ICD-9* codes and hyperglycemia-lowering medication in pharmacy databases. Third, every inpatient had no more than 5 diagnoses, which means that a diagnosis of DM or exocrine insufficiency could have been missed. However, this nationwide database provides long-term medical records for every patient. DM is a major medical disease, and some may take hypoglycemia medication. Moreover, the definition of exocrine insufficiency is the use of exocrine pancreatic enzyme supplementation on the basis of a pharmaceutical database. Therefore, the underestimated DM or exocrine insufficiency diagnosis may be minimal in our study. Last, the most sensitive method for the detection of PEI requires not only stimulation of pancreatic cerulean and secretin, but also collection of gastric and duodenal juice with duodenal tube insertion, which is a relatively invasive procedure in clinical practice.^[@R35]^ The diagnosis of PEI in clinical services is usually performed based on the patient\'s symptoms, response to exocrine pancreatic enzymes supplementation, or laboratory tests for stool (fecal elastase 1 or pancreolauryl tests).^[@R26]^ Nonetheless, some mild PEI may be ignored according to these criteria.
In summary, this population-based cohort retrospective study showed that rather than a biliary cause, alcohol-associated AP contributed to a higher proportion to exocrine or endocrine insufficiencies. In addition, recurrent AP also led to endocrine insufficiency.
Abbreviations: AP = acute pancreatitis, CIPD = Catastrophic Illnesses Patient Database, DM = diabetes mellitus, GI = gastrointestinal, ICD-9-CM = International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, ICU = intensive care unit, NHIRD = National Health Insurance Research Database, PEI = pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, PSCs = pancreatic stellate cells.
This article is not based on a previous communication to a society or meeting. This study is based on the data from the Collaboration Center of Health Information Application (CCHIA), Ministry of Health and Welfare, which had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
T.-W.H. and J.-M.W. contributed equally to this work.
The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
[Fusion expression of porcine IFN-gamma and Cysticercus cellulosae antigen cC1 in Escherichia coli cells].
To construct an expression vector, including a chimeric cDNA of porcine IFN-gamma and Cysticercus cellulosae antigen cC1. DNA fragments of porcine IFN-gamma and cC1 including linkers were generated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The recombinant vector pJLA-PRcC1 was constructed by inserting a chimeric cDNA of porcine IFN-gamma and Cysticercus cellulosae antigen cC1, and transformed to E. coli XL-Blue. The recombinant vector was identified by restriction analysis. An inserted fragment about 1.5 kb could be found. After induction, a 52 kDa new protein band appeared in SDS-PAGE. The fusion expression of porcine IFN-gamma and cC1 antigen in Escherichia coli cells is successful.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Your Anti-Aging Diet
By: Nicci Micco, M.S.
Eat more of these 7 antioxidant-rich foods to help you live longer.
There are many variables involved in how long you live, but by following a healthy lifestyle, staying active and eating a nutrient-packed diet, you can help slow the aging process and perhaps even stave off age-related diseases, including osteoporosis, diabetes and heart disease. Start right now by including more of these antioxidant-rich foods to your diet. Here’s to your good health!
1. Olive Oil
Four decades ago, researchers from the Seven Countries Study concluded that the monounsaturated fats in olive oil were largely responsible for the low rates of heart disease and cancer on the Greek island of Crete. Now we know that olive oil also contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that may help prevent age-related diseases.
2. Yogurt
In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have more centenarians per capita than any other country. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of their long lives was yogurt, a food ubiquitous in their diets. While the age-defying powers of yogurt never have been proven directly, yogurt is rich in calcium, which helps stave off osteoporosis and contains “good bacteria” that help maintain gut health and diminish the incidence of age-related intestinal illness.
3. Fish
Thirty years ago, researchers began to study why the native Inuits of Alaska were remarkably free of heart disease. The reason, scientists now think, is the extraordinary amount of fish they consume. Fish is an abundant source of omega-3 fats, which help prevent cholesterol buildup in arteries and protect against abnormal heart rhythms.
4. Chocolate
The Kuna people of the San Blas islands, off the coast of Panama, have a rate of heart disease that is nine times less than that of mainland Panamanians. The reason? The Kuna drink plenty of a beverage made with generous proportions of cocoa, which is unusually rich in flavanols that help preserve the healthy function of blood vessels. Maintaining youthful blood vessels lowers risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney disease and dementia.
5. Nuts
Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that those who eat nuts gain, on average, an extra two and a half years. Nuts are rich sources of unsaturated fats, so they offer benefits similar to those associated with olive oil. They’re also concentrated sources of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, including antioxidants.
6. Wine
Drinking alcohol in moderation protects against heart disease, diabetes and age-related memory loss. Any kind of alcoholic beverage seems to provide such benefits, but red wine has been the focus of much of the research. Red wine contains resveratrol, a compound that likely contributes to its benefits—and, according to animal studies, may activate genes that slow cellular aging.
7. Blueberries
In a landmark study published in 1999, researchers at Tufts University’s Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging fed rats blueberry extract for a period of time that in “rat lives” is equivalent to 10 human years. These rats outperformed rats fed regular chow on tests of balance and coordination when they reached old age. Compounds in blueberries (and other berries) mitigate inflammation and oxidative damage, which are associated with age-related deficits in memory and motor function.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Effectiveness and efficiency of controlling Campylobacter on broiler chicken meat.
Campylobacter bacteria are an important cause of foodborne infections. We estimated the potential costs and benefits of a large number of possible interventions to decrease human exposure to Campylobacter by consumption of chicken meat, which accounts for 20-40% of all cases of human campylobacteriosis in the Netherlands. For this purpose, a farm-to-fork risk assessment model was combined with economic analysis and epidemiological data. Reduction of contamination at broiler farms could be efficient in theory. However, it is unclear which hygienic measures need to be taken and the costs can be very high. The experimental treatment of colonized broiler flocks with bacteriophages has proven to be effective and could also be cost efficient, if confirmed in practice. Since a major decrease of infections at the broiler farm is not expected in the short term, additional measures in the processing plant were also considered. At this moment, guaranteed Campylobacter-free chicken meat at the retail level is not realistic. The most promising interventions in the processing plant are limiting fecal leakage during processing and separation of contaminated and noncontaminated flocks (scheduling), followed by decontamination of the contaminated flock. New (faster and more sensitive) test methods to detect Campylobacter colonization in broilers flocks are a prerequisite for successful scheduling scenarios. Other methods to decrease the contamination of meat of colonized flocks such as freezing and heat treatment are more expensive and/or less effective than chemical decontamination.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Rater reliability and rater effects of the Safe Driving Behavior Measure.
We used Safe Driving Behavior Measure (SDBM) to determine rater reliability and rater effects (erratic responses, severity, leniency) in three rater groups: 80 older drivers (mean age = 73.26, standard deviation = 5.30), 80 family members or caregivers (age range = 20-85 yr), and two driving evaluators. Rater agreement was significant only between the evaluators and the family members or caregivers. Participants rated driving ability without erratic effects. We observed an overall rater effect only between the evaluator and family members or caregivers, with the evaluators being the more severe rater group. Training family members or caregivers to rate driving behaviors more consistently with the evaluator's ratings may enhance the SDBM's usability and provide a role for occupational therapists to interpret proxy reports as an entry point for logical and efficient driving safety interventions.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
A cross-linguistic investigation of the acquisition of the pragmatics of indefinite and definite reference in two-year-olds.
The acquisition of reference involves both morphosyntax and pragmatics. This study investigates whether Dutch, English and French two- to three-year-old children differentiate in their use of determiners between non-specific/specific reference, newness/givenness in discourse and mutual/no mutual knowledge between interlocutors. A brief analysis of the input shows a clear association between form and function, although there are some language differences in this respect. As soon as determiner use can be statistically analyzed, the children show a relatively adult-like pattern of association for the distinctions of non-specific/specific and newness/givenness. The distinction between mutual/no mutual knowledge appears later. Reference involving no mutual knowledge is scarcely evidenced in the input and barely used by the children at this age. The development of associations is clearly related to the rate of determiner development, the French being quickest, then the English, then the Dutch.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Flex-Cheat is thirty lines of CSS, exposed as six classes, which can be mixed and matched to produce pretty much any HTML element layout using the magic of flexboxes.
In a recent post on HackerNews, a lot of commentators lamented the difficulty of laying out HTML elements using CSS. I used to find laying elements out in HTML using CSS quite annoying and tedious too — until flexbox came along, and made life a lot easier, at least when it comes to layouts.
For the past few years, I’ve used the same six custom classes and their associated CSS style declarations, as a layout helper for my applications. By mixing and matching these classes, I’ve been able to generate pretty much any layout I’ve wanted to, with minimal pain.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Atomic Blonde may not have topped the box office in its opening weekend , but the film's debut did overtake one of the movies the Charlize Theron action film has been most compared to — John Wick.
Loading
Loading
Directed by David Leitch, one half of the directing duo behind John Wick, Atomic Blonde took in an estimated $18.6 million in its debut, while John Wick only pulled in about $14.4 million when it opened in 2014. (Even adjusted for inflation, John Wick wouldn't crack the $15 million-mark for its opening weekend.) With only three days to compare, Atomic Blonde took in approximately $1.5 million more per day of its opening than John Wick did.Of course, the comparison isn't exact — Atomic Blonde opened in 715 more theaters than the original John Wick did, which amounts to about a 27 percent increase in the number of theaters. The first Keanu Reeves-starring action film, which opened in second place at the box office in 2014, would go on to gross about $43 million domestically and about $89 million worldwide. Atomic Blonde opened fourth at the domestic box office and has made an estimated $24.5 million worldwide so far. Numbers via Box Office Mojo Other factors such as release window — John Wick opened in October whereas Atomic Blonde debuted at the end of July — as well as competition may have contributed to the results as well. Wick opened opposite Ouija, with Fury and Gone Girl the holdovers at the box office, whereas Atomic Blonde faced off with reigning box office champ Dunkirk and newcomer The Emoji Movie.John Wick: Chapter 2 went on to build on the success of its original, however, and opened to $30.4 million earlier this year — and did so in less theaters than Atomic Blonde opened in.For more on Atomic Blonde, check out IGN's review of the film and check out what director David Leitch had to say about how video games influence his work
Jonathon Dornbush is an Associate Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
The invention relates to wheel drives for motor vehicles, and more particularly to improvements in front wheel drives for automobiles and analogous conveyances. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in front wheel drives of the type wherein the output element of the engine drives a continuously variable speed transmission hereinafter called gearing or infinitely variable gearing) which, in turn, drives the front wheels by way of a differential.
A front wheel drive of the above outlined character is disclosed in European Pat. No. 0 035 806. The engine extends transversely of the direction of forward movement of the vehicle, i.e., the engine is substantially parallel with the axle for the rear wheels. The axes of the rotary input and output members of the infinitely variable gearing (which is an endless belt transmission) are parallel to the axis of the output element of the engine. The effective diameters of the input and output members are variable to thereby change the ratio of the endless belt transmission. The secondary member of the belt transmission is coaxial with the differential. The just described front wheel drive is advantageous in many types of motor vehicles, especially in relatively small vehicles. The reason is that the engine for use in a relatively small vehicle is sufficiently short so that it can be installed transversely of the direction of forward movement. However, such front wheel drives cannot be used in full-sized motor vehicles because the engine is too long and/or because the space requirements of the transmission which is to be used with a transversely mounted engine are excessive.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
How can I enable core dump?
I've edited /etc/security/limits.conf and change the first line to
#<domain> #<type> #<item> #<value>
* soft core unlimited
but the vmware.log of VMware Workstation still says:
No core dump taken. The core dump size limit is zero.
Is there any other setting I should modify? Thanks.
I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 64 bit, 2.6.38-generic.
A:
I am guessing that you are running the crashing process as root. If that is the case, change the domain from '*' to 'root'. The limit.conf lines that contain the wildcard (a.k.a. '*') does not affect the 'root' account.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Eken Riba
Eken Riba is a former Minister of State for Law, Justice & Cooperation of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. He was elected to Basar Constituency in the year 1999-2004. He is also the first person to become a Lawyer from the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
He is currently one of 4 State Information Commissioners for the Government of Arunachal Pradesh since January 2014.
He is also a recipient of the prestigious Bharat Excellence Award.
Though a Law graduate, most of his life has been in public field comprising General Secretary of his school,General Secretary of Students Union, Political Secretary and Minister of State spanning over half a decade.
His first steps into public field was in 1966 when he was elected to the post of General Secretary for his School at Aalo when he was in class 10. The following year he was re-elected.
Though a bright student all his life, he failed class 12 examination in 1969 due to over engagement into public field. He reappeared the following year and passed the examination.
In 1971 he was elected for the post of General Secretary of NEFA Students Union. He was also chosen as the General Secretary for Jawaharlal Nehru College at Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. In 1973 the NEFA Students Union ceased to exist and hence he was its last General Secretary. In 1973 he became the President of his college. He passed from JN College in 1973 with B.A. (hons).
In 1974-75 he became the first President of the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union or AAPSU.
From 1975-77 he studied at Delhi University (DU) Jubilee Hall and passed out in llb in Law.
He practiced Law at Delhi for several months after which he went to Guwahati High Court to practice the same.
He first propagated for the regional political party of Arunachal Pradesh, the People's Party of Arunachal or PPA. Later he joined the national party of India, the Congress Party.
In 1999 he was elected to Basar Constituency and became the Minister of State for Law,Justice & Cooperation in the Government of Arunachal Pradesh. In 2009 he was appointed an Advisor to the Chief Minister of Arunachal, the late Dorjee Khandu.
Since January 2014, he is one of 4 State Information Commissioners for the Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
References
Category:Living people
Category:Arunachal Pradesh politicians
Category:Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Chemical Modification in the Design of Immobilized Enzyme Biocatalysts: Drawbacks and Opportunities.
Chemical modification of enzymes and immobilization used to be considered as separate ways to improve enzyme properties. This review shows how the coupled use of both tools may greatly improve the final biocatalyst performance. Chemical modification of a previously immobilized enzyme is far simpler and easier to control than the modification of the free enzyme. Moreover, if protein modification is performed to improve its immobilization (enriching the enzyme in reactive groups), the final features of the immobilized enzyme may be greatly improved. Chemical modification may be directed to improve enzyme stability, but also to improve selectivity, specificity, activity, and even cell penetrability. Coupling of immobilization and chemical modification with site-directed mutagenesis is a powerful instrument to obtain fully controlled modification. Some new ideas such as photoreceptive enzyme modifiers that change their physical properties under UV exposition are discussed.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Note: This article was first published on September 5, 2017 and is being republished in the light of Vijay Mallya’s statement that he met finance minister Arun Jaitley before leaving India, and Jaitley’s confirmation of this meeting, which he said was fleeting.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often boasted about his ‘zero tolerance’ for corruption and his chief aide, BJP president Amit Shah, has claimed that no scams have happened on his saheb Modi’s watch.
But do billionaire absconders like Vijay Mallya, arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and former IPL chief Lalit Modi get “special handling”? And are the facts at par with the crackdown on corruption jumla?
Consider the following cases.
In December of last year, Bhandari, following in the footsteps of Mallya, managed to slip out of the country and is believed to be in London where Mallya is also based.
Authoritative sources confirmed that Mallya was tipped off about his imminent arrest by the ruling party, since after showing up in parliament in the Zero Hour, he left the country accompanied by his partner and masses of designer luggage in March last year. A senior Enforcement Directorate (ED) official described Mallya’s slipping away as “an assisted escape.”
On March 1, 2016, Mallya – who held a diplomatic passport by virtue of being a member of parliament – whizzed through immigration with ease and boarded the London-bound Jet Airways flight 9W-122 from New Delhi. He flew first class and had booked the entire cabin for himself and his companion. Mallya was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2010 as an independent candidate from Karnataka with the help of the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular).
He showed up at the release of a book by socialite Suhel Seth titled Mantras for Success: India’s Greatest CEOs Tell You How to Win on June 16, 2016, in London’s South Asia Centre of the London School of Economics, and tried to accost Navtej Sarna, the then high commissioner of India to the UK, causing him huge embarrassment.
Sarna left the event after spotting Seth. After I wrote on the subject, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, was forced to issue a clarification that Sarna had left the venue after seeing Mallya. Attempts were made to pretend that Mallaya had “gate crashed” the event “uninvited”. This came to naught and did not spare the government any blushes as it was angrily denied by Mallya himself who said on Twitter that he had gone to the event because he was “invited”.
A similar situation unfolded with Bhandari, who is considered the best networked arms dealer in the country had a host of top-level connections, including those with a senior editor of one of Delhi’s largest newspapers. The Income Tax authorities discovered that the editor, known to be exceptionally close to the current establishment in the BJP, had exchanged 500 calls with Bhandari when the Augusta deal was being negotiated.
Interestingly, despite requests from the Income Tax (IT) department, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Intelligence Bureau, which asked Delhi police to register a case under Sections 3 and 5 of the Officials Secrets Act after classified papers of the defence ministry were found during a raid at Bhandari’s residence in April 2016, the case doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Bhandari was allegedly linked to Robert Vadra – the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi – after IT sleuths found an email trail linking the two. Vadra, via his lawyers, has denied these claims. The ED attached Rs 21 crores of Bhandari’s assets in June this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, however, the government does not have answers to Bhandari whereabouts and its plans to bring him back. The circumstances under which he fled are themselves circumstances with sources telling the New Indian Express in December 2016:
Sources said Bhandari was always a step ahead of law enforcement agencies owing to his deep bureaucratic and political network and he must have been tipped off about his imminent arrest. “The cops wanted him. The enforcement agencies, including I-T department and Enforcement Directorate were probing into his companies allegedly involved in round-tripping of slush funds. But, despite multi-agencies’ eyes on him, Bhandari proved to be well advised and fled without leaving any trace,” the sources said.
According to a senior official, “Bhandari is the key link to the biggest political players in India. We need to be serious to ensure his return as he was a cross-party player. So far, the government has only allowed us to touch the tip of the iceberg.”
Despite the editor being outed publicly with his phone records, the newspaper has taken no action against him. Both Bhandari and Mallya seemed to be privy to planned official action against them as Mallya had got to know that senior counsel Dushyant Dave on February 28, 2016, had advised the State Bank of India (SBI) to ask the courts to retrain Mallya from leaving.
Curiously, the SBI took its time to act but Mallya did not. The CBI also told the Supreme Court that it had “downgraded” its lookout notice against Mallya from him being stopped at airports to immigration authorities “merely informing the CBI of the fact that he had taken a flight.”
The original lookout notice for Mallya was issued on October 16, 2015. This was surprisingly amended a month later on November 24, 2015. Why it was modified remains a mystery to this day.
The NDA government is clearly very kind to billionaire absconders. Earlier, in June 2015, it became known that Swaraj had helped procure IPL czar Lalit’s travel papers after his passport was cancelled. She said that she had helped him on “humanitarian grounds”.
Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan chief minister, had given a “witness statement” in favour of her friend Lalit. Currently the ED is investigating 16 cases against him and has issued show cause notices in 15 cases.
So while the billionaires continue to abscond, the status of the cases against them is the same as their status – lost in transit.
Swati Chaturvedi is a senior journalist and author based in Delhi. She tweets at @bainjal.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
The university will provide another update on Tuesday, Oct. 8
VPD is investigating and the campus will be closed Monday and Tuesday
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – After a fire on campus that police are saying may have been deliberately set, Emily Carr University will remain closed until Wednesday.
“This unplanned closure is due to a small fire that took place early Saturday morning. The fire was fully extinguished, and thankfully, no one was hurt,” says a statement from the school. “The Vancouver Police Department is investigating the incident and believes the fire may have been deliberately set by a person who broke into the university early Saturday morning.”
Campus will remain closed Monday and Tuesday. We hope classes will resume Wednesday once safe conditions have been reestablished. Learn more. https://t.co/mDpmBADKal — Emily Carr University of Art + Design (@EmilyCarrU) October 7, 2019
The fire broke out around 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning.
The statement says there is some damage from the fire and sprinklers, but the staff is grateful it’s not more extensive.
“Fortunately, very few personal effects or artworks were affected. Much progress has been made in the cleanup, although work still remains to ensure it is safe for people to return.”
Another update will be provided on Tuesday evening.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Higuaín stakes his claim as Merseyside rivals star
Team: Liverpool FC A club once revered for playing a fearless brand of winning football rolled back the years on Saturday to dismantle Arsenal FC 5-1. "The performance level was absolutely out of this world," enthused Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, whose side powered four unanswered goals past the visitors inside 20 breathless opening minutes. The Reds then dug deep four days later, twice rallying from behind to edge Fulham FC 3-2 in London courtesy of Steven Gerrard's added-time penalty. The result took them within four points of Premier League leaders Chelsea FC, with talk of a first league title since 1990 gathering volume on Merseyside.
Player: Gonzalo Higuaín (SSC Napoli)Over 20 years after Diego Maradona departed Naples, there is a new kid on the block – another prodigiously gifted Argentinian international with a penchant for scoring goals. Higuaín may have some way to go before achieving cult status, but did his chances no harm this week. After registering twice against AC Milan in Serie A, the 26-year-old poacher struck again in front of the onlooking Maradona as Napoli swept aside AS Roma and took their place in the Coppa Italia final. "I want to do what Maradona did: first win the World Cup and then the Scudetto. He made Napoli go crazy," said Higuaín. "If I could do this it would be the ultimate dream. I want to stay in Naples for a long time – I'm going to be a king here."
Goal: Marcelo Diaz (FC Basel 1983)Basel supporters still reeling from the loss of Egypt maestro Mohamed Salah to Chelsea were temporarily appeased when Díaz found the net in belligerent fashion during last weekend's top-of-the-table clash in Switzerland. Trailing nearest rivals BSC Young Boys 2-1 at home, the Super League pacesetters were in need of a fillip and the Chile midfielder provided it – collecting possession and cracking a half-volley into the top corner from 30 metres. Fabian Frei completed the turnaround eight minutes later as Basel strode five points clear at the summit.
Number: 10In a week when UEFA.com unearthed examples of outfield players going in goal, Club Atlético de Madrid's Gabi found himself between the sticks for the remaining ten minutes of his side's 2-0 Liga reverse at UD Almería. With Atlético having lost Daniel Aranzubia to a red card and used all three substitutes, the Spain midfielder stepped up to the mark only to be swiftly beaten from the spot by Almería attacker Verza.
A touch of class"The fans are the heart of football," was famously proclaimed by Manchester United FC great Sir Matt Busby and a maxim Everton FC followed to the letter on Wednesday night. After Malaysian supporter Ric Wee's 30-year dream to watch his team play at Goodison Park – against Crystal Palace FC – was dashed by foul weather, Everton got wind of his travails via social media. They responded by treating him to an evening of hospitality, including meeting manager Roberto Martínez and defender Leighton Baines. Wee returned to the club the next day for a tour of the stadium given by former Toffees striker Graeme Sharp. "Today Everton proved again it is the people's club, taking extra effort to connect with the fans. [I] salute the people running the club," Wee tweeted.
Goalscoring goalkeeperHaving lost ten of their previous 11 Spanish third-tier matches, La Roda CF went into last Sunday's game against fellow strugglers Arroyo CP needing a lift. Thanks to goalkeeper Víctor Bocanegra, they got just that. Aiming for La Roda's strikers, Bocanegra thumped a long ball into the prevailing wind and looked on in delight as it bounced over the opposing keeper and into the net. Forward Matias Saad added a second to secure three points for the Albacete-based side. "My team-mates have been calling me 'Pichichi' [top scorer] in training ever since," Bocanegra joked. "We haven't been clinical in front of goal lately so I hope my effort will help the team come out of our bad run."
Fair play, Apostolos MantziosWith last Monday's Greek Super League contest between OFI Crete FC and Panthrakikos FC delicately poised at 0-0, the hosts were reduced to nine men 18 minutes in, with Marco Zoro and Georgios Makris both receiving treatment. Rather than pressing home their numerical advantage, however, Panthrakikos boss Mantzios ordered his players to retain possession until Zoro and Makris had recovered. As fate would have it, the 44-year-old's honourable act went unrewarded as Crete went on to claim a 1-0 win.
Travelling in style Following your team up and down the country can be a laborious and often unfulfilling jaunt. As a result, one could hardly blame SC Bastia fans for adding a touch of chic to their away day when they travelled by ferry to Olympique de Marseille for last Saturday's Ligue 1 fixture. Once on board, a carnival atmosphere ensued with a sea of red flares illuminating the boat. A more subdued mood may have accompanied the return leg, though, after the Corsican club succumbed 3-0.
The UEFA word, the UEFA logo and all marks related to UEFA competitions, are protected by trade marks and/or copyright of UEFA. No use for commercial purposes may be made of such trade marks. Use of UEFA.com signifies your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Having a ball, the king and queen of the jungle: Charles and Camilla sport animal masks at party for conservation charity
Both Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall sported animal masks at a ball they threw in support of conservation charity the Elephant Family, with guests including models Cara Delevingne and Jerry Hall.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Q:
LINQ won't insert all records in que (possible overwriting of records?)
here's my following code (that used to work). It's supposed to add multiple records (I guess objects in LINQ case) to the context object, then submit to the DB. Issue is, only one record is making it to the DB now, when several used to get inserted.
using (DeviceExerciseDataDataContext context = new DeviceExerciseDataDataContext())
{
foreach(UpdateData tgudData in data.UpdateData)
{
tgd.FK = 1;
tgd.Time = tgudData.TimeStamp;
tgd.Calories = Convert.ToInt32(tgudData.Calories);
tgd.HeartRate = tgudData.AvgHr;
tgd.BenchAngle = tgudData.Angle;
tgd.WorkoutTarget = 0;
tgd.Reps = tgudData.Reps;
context.Datas.InsertOnSubmit(tgd);
}
context.SubmitChanges();
}
Now, I tried putting the context.SubmitChanges() into the foreach block, and this is the error it gave.
Cannot insert explicit value for
identity column in table
'tablename' when IDENTITY_INSERT is
set to OFF.
Mind you, I'm not inserting into the primary key column, and the PK column is set to auto increment, and is identity.
Any ideas for me, as to why my code isn't inserting multiple records anymore?
A:
You only use a single class instance for tgd, hence only one record is created - you are just overwriting the properties of the existing tgd instance repeatedly. Instead you have to new up tgd inside the loop, i.e:
foreach(UpdateData tgudData in data.UpdateData)
{
tgd = new WhateverTgdIs();
tgd.FK = 1;
tgd.Time = tgudData.TimeStamp;
tgd.Calories = Convert.ToInt32(tgudData.Calories);
tgd.HeartRate = tgudData.AvgHr;
tgd.BenchAngle = tgudData.Angle;
tgd.WorkoutTarget = 0;
tgd.Reps = tgudData.Reps;
context.Datas.InsertOnSubmit(tgd);
}
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
0
42
1 2 3 4 5
4.
4 .
.5
. 5
3.14159
3 . 14 15 9
3E8
3 E 8
2.0e-7
2 . 0 e - 7
.28e+12
. 2 8 e + 1 2
----------------------------------------------------
[
["number", "0"],
["number", "42"],
["number", "1 2 3 4 5"],
["number", "4."],
["number", "4 ."],
["number", ".5"],
["number", ". 5"],
["number", "3.14159"],
["number", "3 . 14 15 9"],
["number", "3E8"],
["number", "3 E 8"],
["number", "2.0e-7"],
["number", "2 . 0 e - 7"],
["number", ".28e+12"],
["number", ". 2 8 e + 1 2"]
]
----------------------------------------------------
Checks for numbers. Also checks that whitespaces are ignored.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Chipotle to Reopen Virginia Restaurant Following Customers' Illness
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG - Get Report) will reopen the store it voluntarily closed in Sterling, VA earlier this week following multiple reports of customer illnesses which are expected to have been caused by norovirus.
"It is unfortunate that anyone became ill after visiting our restaurant, and when we learned of this issue, we took aggressive action to correct the problem and protect our customers," Chipotle Chief Executive Officer Steve Ells said in a statement. "While the restaurant was closed, multiple teams performed complete sanitization of all surfaces."
Chipotle shares were down 0.9% to $371.71 in late morning trading Wednesday.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
"In the flash of a fallIt gave rise a lonely chargeThat turned into a sparkThat in turn gave rise to thoughtThought turned into scrawlScribbling into its own form,Form became a lawThat would crumble into dust
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Trending Topics
Depending on the Spirit
September 02, 2008
Some time ago I read an article (which, alas, I can no longer find) that described a time that a crew from the BBC went in search of the Loch Ness Monster. I thought of this yesterday while watching the movie The Water Horse with the kids. The corporation hired a team of experts to sweep Loch Ness from end to end, back and forth for several days using some of the world’s most sophisticated sonar equipment. After a complete, thorough search they concluded that there is no evidence to indicate that a monster lives in the Loch. I doubt any of them were surprised.
Being thorough folks, the crew decided to push a little further and to try to describe how it is that the myth of the Loch Ness Monster persists despite a complete lack of hard evidence to support her (his?) existence. To do this, they performed a devious little experiment. They rigged up a system which allowed them to raise an object from under the water far out into the Loch. They would then interview the inevitable crowd of tourists standing by the shore to ask them what they had seen. They elected to use a section of fencing as the decoy, deliberately choosing an object that looks absolutely nothing like an ancient aquatic creature. They waited until a busload of tourists had arrived on the shores of the Loch; once the bus was unloaded they raised the fence a few feet out of the water. There was great excitement on the shore and sure enough, when they interviewed people after the fact, the majority of them described seeing something that looked just like the traditional depiction of the Loch Ness Monster—long neck, rounded head, and so on.
The people who led this study concluded that this was a type of pareidolia. According to the Skeptics Dictionary, pareidolia is “a type of illusion or misperception involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as something clear and distinct.” Other examples of this phenomenon are the stuff of the “weird news” pages—seeing the face of Mother Teresa in a cinnamon bun, the face of a man on the moon or the shape of an animal in the clouds. In the case of the people gathered at Loch Ness, they saw something vague and yet were able to describe it in detail. The detail was fabricated by their minds based on what they already imagined the Loch Ness Monster to look like. They were fooled by their own minds which superimposed what they wanted to see over what they truly did see.
Certainly the people who saw a section of fence being raised from the water did not expect to see a fence—they expected to see a monster. Many of them had traveled from across the country or across the world for the very purpose of visiting Loch Ness. Everybody who stands on the shores of the Loch hopes to catch a glimpse of Nessie, even if most are skeptical about her existence. So when this object came up from the water their minds allowed them to see what they wanted to see. Had they been expecting to see a school bus emerging from the water I have little doubt that their minds would have allowed them to believe that is what rose from the depths.
What we see in this rather extreme example is the value of objectivity. Had the people visiting Loch Ness been objective they would have seen nothing but a section of wet fencing material. They would have seen the reality in all its simplicity. They would have guarded against allowing their minds to play tricks on them.
This story, silly though it may be, made me ask myself how often I approach the Bible with the wrong attitude. How often do I approach it with my own agenda in mind? Homosexuals approach the Bible determined to find proof that their lifestyle is not only acceptable but condoned by Scripture. So when they read that John was the apostle that Jesus loved, they see support for their lifestyle. When they read about the deep love between Jonathan and David they project their own homosexuality on these men and allow this to give license to their own immorality. Often people on both sides of various debates misuse Scripture in this way. When it comes to the issue of women in positions of leadership within the local church, proponents of both sides have been known to eschew objectivity, approaching the Scriptures determined to prove their point. When we approach the Bible determined to prove what we already believe we will more often than not find enough proof to satisfy ourselves, even if we are taking passages far beyond their real meaning. We’ll see that section of fencing and know that it’s Nessie.
The lesson to me is that I need to approach the Bible humbly, as objectively as I can, always asking God to reveal His truth to me through His Word. I need to lay aside my presuppositions and biases so, if necessary, I can allow God to change and shape and mold me. I have to be utterly dependent on Him. I need to allow the Spirit to show me what a given passage really means, not merely force it into saying what I want it to say. Yes, the story of Elijah and the “still small voice” has much to teach me, but I cannot use it as proof that God will speak to me in silent prayer. Sure, God has a place for visionaries in the church, but I can’t use Proverbs 29:18 to prove this. And yes, Jesus Christ is present where two or more are gathered in His name, but I have no right to tear this from its context and its grounding in the local assembly. There are so many ways in which Christians push their own agenda on Scripture.
John Calvin once warned against treating the Bible like a ball that we bounce around at will. The Bible is the very Word of God and its teachings can only be rightly learned by impartial and objective study of the text. And that means being impartial and objective even about the parts we may not like, for often God’s ways are at odds with our far-too-human agendas. We rely on the Spirit not just to teach us the meaning of Scripture, but to protect us from our own arrogance and our own inability to interpret it wisely and properly. We have no right and no ability to approach Scripture without expressing our dependence on Him.
About Tim Challies
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, and am a co-founder of Cruciform Press.
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
What’s Happening to the 2013 Halloween Season? Where’s All the Scares??
Okay, faithful readers. I need you all to chime and check in on this phenomena we’re experiencing this year. Around my house we’re not feeling what’s going on because I have the house overly decorated with scary shit and there’s always a horror film playing. But in the theaters there’s a distinct lack of horror films being released this Halloween season. What the hell is going on? And it’s not just a lack of theatrical releases. There’s a noticeable void of horror films and horror-themed films playing on cable as well. Last weekend I was surfing through our pay channels and the scariest thing on any of them (I get five pay channels free of charge due to U-Verse really screwing up our installation) was THE CABLE GUY with Jim Carey. If you’ve seen it you know how horrifying it is!!
The upcoming October 18, 2013 release of CARRIE is the only national theatrical release on the normally crowded season schedule. And what about the greatly timed pre-Halloween October 25, 2013 weekend? There’s NO HORROR RELEASES SCHEDULED for that weekend. What the fuck??
We’re still going to get some horror releases this month, but most of them will be limited releases and video-on-demand horror films. NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR opens this Friday in a very limited theatrical release and VOD platform; ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, a film made in 2006, is getting a very limited theatrical release on October 11, 2013; HAUNTER, starring Abigail Breslin, is getting a very limited released on October 18, 2013; and also on October 18, 2013 we’ll be getting BIG ASS SPIDERS, by Mike Mendez. Sure BIG ASS SPIDERS sounds fun, but it also sounds like a movie that would be right at home airing on the SyFy channel.
So why do you think we’re seeing a void in horror releases in the 2013 Halloween season? I have my thoughts but I wanna hear from you.
7 Responses to What’s Happening to the 2013 Halloween Season? Where’s All the Scares??
the last several years the number of horror movies being release at theaters or on Cable has been dwindling, luckily I have a huge collection start from the 30s up to today, so just I continuously change DVD’s LOL. at the moment Circus of blood is on, which will be followed by The haunting.
AMC is to busy trying to build up excitement for the walking dead to show movies, good luck a year between seasons gives me plenty of time to lose interest. TCM will show a few on Fridays, and Scy FY has been showing quite a few lately tonight how ever is Ghost hunters, gag.
Lots of great insight, JoKelly!! To Hollywood, horror films are profitable BUT they need to be made cheap & they have to be watered down & at the most, PG13. It’s sad.
I’m with ya on AMCs THE WALKING DEAD. I completely lost interest in it after season 2. It got waaaaay too soap opery for me. The premier ep of AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN was fantastic & I’m eager to see where it goes. They’re definitely pushing the envelop with that show.
And for the record, I hate every single ghost hunting show out there on every single channel. They are all obvious staged bullshit & it’s annoying to see people taking those shows for real!!!
I guess Carrie is gonna do very well! I think it’s not so much that people don’t want to see horrormovies anymore but that the studios don’t want to make them. Somewhere along the line they got the idea that only PG-13 movies sell. By the way, i have decorated too! I have this deal with my local abortion clinic that i get all year’s dead fetuses to hang everywhere on the outside of my house (I put LED’s in them!) In return i have to make an effort to impregnate as many women as i can! What a deal!!!
I don’t know if it’s so much that studios don’t wanna make horror films. Horror films generate A LOT of revenue. Correction; horror movies made on tight budgets make lots of money. The PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise, THE CONJURING, the INSIDIOUS franchise … these films financially perform A M A Z I N Gly!!
Mmm… Are those movies you mention horrormovies…? Aren’t they really PG-13 thrillers disguised as R-rated horrormovies? Maybe people nowadays are too much a bunch of pussies to see a real horrormovie, but like to pretend they do?
| null |
minipile
|
NaturalLanguage
|
mit
| null |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.