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0.999995 | The sequel to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' sees the plot centered on Eric (Chris Hemsworth) and how he came to be a Huntsman alongside Sara (Jessica Chastain), under the watchful and coldhearted eyes of Freya (Emily Blunt, the Ice Queen.
Opening years before Snow White, the tale begins with Freya's heartbreak over a lover and the loss of her daughter, awakening her magical power. Translating her pain into power, Freya raises an army as her children and decrees that love is forbidden, only to discover that her top Huntsman, Eric and Sara, are in love.
Vanquished from her kingdom, the tale then moves to the present future, where Ravenna has been defeated. But when news of the mirror going missing surfaces, Eric is tasked with finding it and bringing it to a sanctuary, but he's not the only one looking for it.
Admittedly, the aesthetics and cast were the big draw for me. In my review of the previous movie, it was Charlize Theron who stole the show and I was very much looking forward to the same treatment of the actor, and I was not disappointed. From the opening sequence to the final credits, Theron's Ravenna is a delight to watch, oozing with evil, in the most beautiful way.
Banking on such visuals (and perhaps the success of Disney's Frozen), the sequel introduces another queen, Ravenna's sister, Freya, who becomes the Ice Queen. Throughout the film, Freya models numerous icy garments but presents a softer side, one that has hardened through heartbreak, and a frosty touch.
In between these two always-elegantly-dressed [witches], we have the central characters, Eric and Sara who's sole costume change is their birthday suit when they take a romantic dip in a hot spring. Whilst their love story is believable, it is cliched, and their adventure journey to recover the mirror I couldn't care less for.
The action sequences were exciting, though at times excessively unbelievable and over the top. The ending was predictable in true Hollywood fashion.
'The Huntsman: Winter's War' is yet again a visual feast for the eyes, only ruined by cliched resolutions and some excessive CGI/action sequences. The darker take on the story is much preferred in my opinion and given the open ending, would like to see this approach if they decide to make another one.
Given that Ravenna and Freya were perhaps the most interesting characters of the film, I say, for the next one, why not cut out the Huntman entirely? They didn't seem to mind with Snow White. | 2019-04-19T12:23:28 | http://www.edgeoftheplank.com/2016/04/the-huntsman-winters-war-film-review.html |
0.999349 | Can I open any site I want to in SharePoint Designer 2010?
You will see this when you attempt to edit a web file (html, asp, etc) in SharePoint Designer 2010 that does not have a site already setup.
This is the error I received when creating a blank site, after being prompted to specify the location (URL) of the new Web site.
No. I'm afraid not anymore. SharePoint Designer 2007 allowed you to build and maintain a non-SharePoint site. In the 2010 version of SharePoint Designer you no longer have that option. In fact, SharePoint Designer 2010 will only connect to a SharePoint Server 2010 server. You can find this information and more on the SharePoint Designer Team Blog site.
When FrontPage was originally discontinued, Microsoft did this to spread out the products they offer (among other things). In doing this they created SharePoint Designer and Express Web. So, if you are developing with SharePoint you use SharePoint Designer. If you are doing just general disk based web-sites, you switch over to Expression Web. Microsoft is so nice to give you a pretty much basic path to take, as shown in the image below.
Expression Web could be considered the true replacement of what FrontPage was originally designed to do. While SharePoint Designer is built toward a specific purpose (working with SharePoint sites). The one caveat to all this is that SharePoint Designer is free. I can understand this due to the amount of money a organization will spend on implementing SharePoint. Microsoft Expression Web will cause you to reach for the wallet. Although not as expensive as some of the Microsoft Products out, it still costs money. I used Expression when it was first released for a few things and it was a good tool for web development.
So what is next...If you want to play/design/develop with SharePoint Designer 2010 you will have to find a source that allows you to connect to a SharePoint 2010 Site. Due to the hardware/software requirements of SharePoint Server 2010 it will require a 64-bit environment (host) for both SharePoint and the backend datbase.
VMWare Server is free and does support 64-bit guest, if you are running a 64-bit host.
The caveat to the Window OS: it is not free. You can download a 180 day trial, although a better option maybe to invest in a MSDN subscription or TechNet Subscription that will give you access to download software for testing and development purposes. | 2019-04-23T18:00:48 | https://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/3750/sharepoint-designer-2010-limitations/ |
0.999277 | Given a device interface path retrieved from SetupDiGetDeviceInterfaceDetail for a disk volume I would like to use FSCTL_DISMOUNT_VOLUME. But this fsctl requires CreateFile use a filename in \\.\X: form. So is there a way to get the corresponding drive letter from a DevicePath or some other way to achieve this?
Use FindFirstVolume and similar APIs instead.
> Given a device interface path retrieved from SetupDiGetDeviceInterfaceDetail for a disk volume I would like to use FSCTL_DISMOUNT_VOLUME. But this fsctl requires CreateFile use a filename in \\.\X: form. So is there a way to get the corresponding drive letter from a DevicePath or some other way to achieve this?
There are benefits in this product to working off the set of volumes from the setup api's compared to changing over to FindFirstVolume so this is not a comfortable change. Can you think of a way to make the requested mapping?
You could try asking the mountmgr using IOCTL_MOUNTMGR_QUERY_POINTS. | 2019-04-21T20:34:31 | https://community.osr.com/discussion/198225/devicepath-drive-letter |
0.999874 | You've been asked to create a print display advertisement for your client. Here are some tips on understanding ad sizes.
If you are told the size of the ad is 150mm x 45mm, how will you know if this is a portrait (tall) or landscape (wide) ad?
The "official" graphics industry standard is to specify width by height (width x height / WxH). Layout programmes (such as InDesign and Illustrator) also specify width by height. However, these days, there seems to be no "standard" when receiving dimensions from clients, designers, suppliers and publications. Therefore, if the measurements aren't clear, it is safe to assume you need to ask for clarification. A simple question could save you a whole lot of unnecessary design time!
Magazines and many newspapers will specify their ads based on the amount of coverage the ad will take up on the page. These are standard, fixed sizes and shapes, rather than variable columns and centimetre depths.
Example: One newspaper may have Compact, Square Compact and Broadsheet page options. Each page is divided into modules. A Compact page may measure 8 x 8 modules, a Square Compact page may measure 6 x 6 modules and a Broadsheet page may measure 12 x 12 modules.
As an Account Manager, all you need to know is what type of modular ad you are placing; is it 4-colour or spot colour; the exact size; and how the paper or magazine wants the ad to be supplied to them. If it is not already crystal clear, you will need to clarify whether these ads are horizontal or vertical (just being told "quarter page" is not helpful to you!).
You can buy display advertising by either the 'modular" system (as above) or by the 'column centimetre'.
If you are working with a newspaper that sells their advertising space by the column centimetre, and you are told the ad is 6x12, it is tempting to think this may refer to 6cm x 12cm or be a 6 x 12 module...but beware!
The first number usually refers to the WIDTH, specifying the number of columns (in this example it is 6 columns wide), and the second number usually refers to the DEPTH (in this case 12 cm deep). I do say "usually", but - as always - you should double check if you are unsure.
Watch out for column widths! Every newspaper publication will have a slightly different column width size. You will need the specifications for each newspaper you are advertising in. Also be aware that there is a difference (within a single newspaper) between the column width sizes of the main section of a newspaper and the classifieds section. Be sure you know where the ad will be placed before you start creating the artwork.
If your ad is booked under ROP, it means that the ad can be placed anywhere in the newspaper at the discretion of the editor (though this doesn't - usually - include the classifieds section). If you wish to be specific about where the display ad will be placed, you will need to let the publication know, and you will probably pay a premium for the request.
A 'solus ad' is a single ad that does not appear near other ads within a newspaper or magazine. An example of this is the only display ad on the front page of the newspaper (or the front page of a section of the newspaper). The ad could be located anywhere on the page. It can vary in size between publications, so you will need to clarify the size before beginning the creative.
The first page is the most expensive real estate in the newspaper, and your client will pay a premium for this ad space. Sometimes you may be able to secure a solus ad at "distress rates" (when the publisher needs to fill a space and is offering advertising at a discounted rate).
This is an advertisement in the form of an article. The article is usually written by you or your client in a way that looks like the editorial of the newspaper or magazine. It usually carries the words "Advertorial" or "Advertisement" at the top so the reader clearly understands this is not the opinion of the publication itself. You can include images and text, and you will have to work closely with the publication to ensure the advertorial is visually appealing and acceptable to all parties. Some publications allow you to supply the layout, other publications will insist they prepare the layout themselves. Check with the publication for sizes and specifications. | 2019-04-24T02:43:12 | https://am-insider.com/blogs/tips-and-tricks/12595985-display-adverting-understanding-sizes |
0.999609 | What did he go there to do? How long did he stay there? How were the children? Did he see them, did he play with them? From that moment on, the witness statements differ. According to Gerald, he stayed in the apartment for 30 minutes; according to Kate, on the other hand, no more than 30 seconds. This difference of opinion is important enough to be taken into consideration. It's not the only one. David Payne allegedly went to the McCanns' apartment to find out if Madeleine's mother needed anything, if he could help her to take the children to the play area. He relates having seen Madeleine and the twins; the image apparently evoked for him that of three immaculate angels. Let's note that at 7pm, the last person to see Maddie - apart from her parents - is David Payne.
There is a whole other version of that late afternoon, that of Fiona Payne. According to her, Gerry was not playing tennis but was in the apartment with Kate and the children. Apparently, she accompanied her husband when he went to the McCanns' apartment. Who is telling the truth? The photos taken on the terrace of the Paraiso prove that Fiona, her friends and their children left the restaurant 15 minutes after the men's departure - one of them David. What do these easily discernible contradictions signify?
Little by little, Kate starts to get annoyed: she thinks it's up to the police to ask these questions; besides, there should be more of them looking for her daughter; she insists that it was a couple who abducted her...Y.M. assumes that the McCanns distrust her. So, she shows them the official documents issued by the police and the English government certifying her professional qualifications. The friend of the family examines the papers and confirms their authenticity. In spite of this, Madeleine's parents don't seem to be very appreciative of this offer of collaboration. Y.M. tries to take Kate aside to speak to her quietly and ask her for more information about this couple who allegedly abducted her child. But she refuses, reacts aggressively and refuses to be separated from her two companions. Y.M. worries about the extreme state of agitation that Kate is in and notes that the latter has still not been examined by a doctor when she really needs to be.
The couple's spokesman, the friend who has been present throughout the encounter, ends up telling Y.M. that the McCanns want her to leave. Before leaving the scene, she advises them not to trust the media and to remain silent. Y.M. has the feeling that she has already met this man, his face seems familiar to her. Was he, perhaps, mixed up in one way or another in a case she had dealt with in the context of her work? She will later learn that he is David Payne, organiser of the trips, the same person whose sleazy attitude had been reported by S.G. and K.G. There is nothing incriminating in his past and, as we were able to verify, he has no criminal record. What we are sure of is that he has been a close friend of Madeleine's father since university. | 2019-04-23T04:34:51 | https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/t1709-chapter-10-rethinking-the-facts |
0.999999 | ONE OF two brothers accused of murdering a father-to-be has admitted plunging a kitchen knife into the victim's side.
Sidney Cooper and Charlie Cooper are on trial for killing Courtney Jones, who died after an incident in Salisbury Road, Totton.
Mr Jones, known as Timmy, is alleged to have been stabbed after getting into a fight with Charlie Cooper over drugs.
Giving evidence at Winchester Crown Court Sidney Cooper said he went to his brother's aid but was acting in self defence when he twice stabbed Mr Jones in his left side.
The defendant said he was visiting a friend on the evening of August 25 last year when he heard a commotion outside.
He told the jury: "I heard someone shouting - my brother was calling to me.
"I went outside and saw my brother and Timmy in a fight, They were both struggling on the floor and my brother was asking me for help.
"Timmy had a kitchen knife and Charlie was in a bit of a situation. I was frightened that my brother was going to get stabbed.
"I tried to get the knife off Timmy and eventually I did."
Asked what happened next he said: "Timmy was trying to grab the knife off me. I was scared that if he got the knife he would use it on me.
"I must have inflicted the wounds at that time. I didn't intend to kill him. I didn't intend to cause Timmy any harm at all.
"I was in a panic at that stage. I realised what I had done."
The defendant was taken ill shortly afterwards and was admitted to Southampton General Hospital, where he spent four or five days in an induced coma. After being discharged he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Cooper told the court he felt "extremely bad" that Mr Jones had died.
Cross-examined by prosecutor Adam Feest QC the defendant was repeatedly asked why he gave police a prepared statement in which he denied stabbing or assaulting Mr Jones.
In the statement he said he and his brother were confronted by Mr Jones, who was brandishing a knife.
The statement added: "He came towards us. I managed to pull my brother away. The only physical force I used was to break up the fight and protect my brother."
Giving evidence Cooper said: "I had just come out of an induced coma. My memory was a bit muddled."
Referring to the statement he gave police he added: "I'm not saying I was making it up. My memory was not too good. I had just come out of an induced coma and was on a lot of medication."
Cooper was asked a series of questions about what happened on the day but on numerous occasions replied: "I can't recall sir."
He added: "I don't want to give answers that are going to be wrong.
"I can remember getting into a scuffle and taking the knife off him (Mr Jones), but I can't remember much after that. I can't remember what happened in the police station."
Mr Feest said Cooper and his brother had set out to steal a bag of illegal drugs that Mr Jones was carrying.
He told the defendant: "That's why you cut the bag away from a dying man. You and your brothers were the aggressors. You set out to rob Mr Jones.
"You know full well what happened that day. You're just not prepared to say.
"You deliberately stabbed him, intending at the very least to cause him very serious harm."
The defendant replied: "No sir. I didn't mean to stab him. It was not a deliberate action, it was just a reaction.
"I was in fear of being attacked. I knew Timmy to be a nasty person."
Sidney Cooper, 26, of no fixed address, and Charlie Cooper, 19, of Ashby Road, Totton, both deny murdering Mr Jones, 26, of Deerlands Avenue, Sheffield. | 2019-04-20T05:11:55 | https://www.newforestpost.co.uk/news/17502814.sidney-cooper-acting-in-self-defence-when-he-stabbed-courtney-jones/ |
0.998295 | What is a rep? Exercise science is finding new answers for this basic question. For many lifts, guys tend to do standard reps: one second up, one down, racing through sets. But by making certain phases agonizingly slow, you may force your muscles to work harder. The next time you bench or squat, raise the bar explosively and take four seconds to lower it. Now that’s a rep.
Tempo training, or the strategic slowing of certain phases of an exercise, may force you to concentrate on the muscle being worked. A study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that focusing on a specific muscle group in use when doing resistance training may increase those muscles’ activity. The white coats can’t say tempo training builds more muscle than fast lifting, but it does have benefits, says trainer Pat Davidson, Ph.D. It’s how he turned the Springfield College Ironsports team into a national power.
That said, tempo training isn’t meant to be used with all exercises, says Mike T. Nelson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., owner of Extreme Human Performance. If you’re doing highly technical lifts, such as a heavy deadlift, slowing down a phase could lead to injury. Same goes for explosive moves, such as Olympic lifts, jumps, and throws, which are designed for speed.
But if you’re ready to try it with other moves, here’s how.
A note on tempo: If your program says “front squat: 3×5; 3-2-0,” that means you do 3 sets of 5 reps (3×5) of front squats. The first digit (in this case, 3) indicates the duration of the lift’s lowering phase in seconds, so you’d take 3 seconds to reach the bottom of the squat. The middle number (2) tells you how long you should hold the bottom portion of the lift. The final number (0) indicates how long the final lifting phase should take, so a zero means you should quickly power back to the start.
In this phase, you’ll fortify the weakest sections of your lifts. You’re spending extra time on the negative portion of each rep before powering out from the bottom.
In these weeks you’ll build more control and the ability to power out of lifts. On each rep, you’re holding at the bottom for 6 seconds, eliminating all momentum.
By now, you’ll have more plates on the bar and should do controlled but explosive reps, spurring muscle growth. The tempo work should now yield benefits.
When it’s slowed down, the front squat rocks your lower body and core. And it’s safe: You can drop the bar if the long reps become too much.
The dumbbell skull crusher strengthens your triceps, the largest muscle in your arm. This will improve your pushing power on all the exercises you do. | 2019-04-23T06:47:02 | https://www.peakphysicaltherapy.net/education/want-to-gain-muscle-fast-try-slowing-down/ |
0.997452 | The most important factor to consider when cleaning your pocket squares is the material.
• Cotton pocket squares can be ironed, stored easily, are durable and can be cleaned in the laundry machines. However, cotton pocket squares can crease easily and if washed incorrectly, could shrink.
• Polyester pocket squares, like cotton pocket squares, are durable and can be cleaned in laundry machines. Furthermore, polyester pocket squares are lightweight, dry fast and are crease resistant. However, polyester pocket squares stains are hard to get out.
• Silk pocket squares are the most common type of pocket square. They're smooth, they can be stored easily and are usually thin (you won't have a bulging jacket pocket). However, silk pocket squares are easily damaged when they get wet, crease easily and can't be cleaned with laundry machines.
• Wool pocket squares are best worn in the colder months. They can add a different type of texture to your suit jacket that can elevate your dapper look. However, wool pocket squares can be more expensive like silk. Also because wool pocket square are thicker, they can create a bulkier jacket pocket. Lastly, wool pocket squares are easily exposed to clothing moth.
• Linen pocket squares can be stored easily, they also can add a different texture to your suit jacket that can elevate your dapper look and also can be cleaned in the washer but they shouldn't be put in the dryer. However, linen pocket squares can crease easily and if cleaned incorrectly in the washer, could be damaged.
• Cotton pocket squares are the easiest types of pockets square to clean because they can be cleaned in the laundry machines. Wash your pocket squares at 100°F, insert them into dryer after and run on low to medium heat.
• Polyester pocket squares, like cotton pocket squares, can be cleaned in the laundry machines as well. Wash on the permanent press cycle (which is specifically designed to wash synthetic and delicate fibers) and insert them into dryer after and run on low to medium heat (drying your pocket squares in the dryer could lead to shrinkage). Another alternative to drying the pocket squares could be air drying, which lowers the risk of shrinkage.
• Silk pocket squares are tricky to clean. For the best result, you should take them to the dry cleaners. If you do want to clean them yourself, hand wash your pocket square with cold to lukewarm water with a little bit of soap. To dry them, roll them up with a towel and gently press down on the towel to drain the water. Then hang the pocket square up to completely dry off.
2. Untie your tie in the reverse order in which you tied it to begin with (that's a mouth full).
• This method is not the fastest way to remove a tie nor the most intuitive but it is the most effective at preserving your tie for the long term.
1. Hang your ties up or roll them.
• The best way to smooth out wrinklies, is to have no wrinkles at all. Hanging up your tie or rolling them helps just do that.
• Using a steamer works best to relax the more aggressive wrinkles in your tie.
Not all stains are created (or removed) the same. Based off the context of the stain, you must act accordingly.
1. Oil based stains - Use talcum powder or cornstarch. Use immediately.
2. Water based stains - Use seltzer water or club soda.
3. Other stains - Use cleaning agents such as stain removal products.
4. To the cleaners - As a last resort, you could take your tie to the dry cleaners.
You may contact us at any of our communication outlets below.
© 2019 Art of The Gentleman. | 2019-04-22T06:31:00 | https://www.artofthegent.com/pages/pocket-square |
0.999982 | Why is it important to understand neoliberal feminism as a form of feminism, rather than merely a co-optation or colonisation of feminism by neoliberalism?
CR: While some scholars have insisted that neoliberal feminism should not be considered feminist in any way, I would argue that dismissing neoliberal feminism as ‘faux feminism’ or as an inauthentic feminism is problematic for a number of reasons. First, it assumes that we know or hold the ‘truth’ of feminism and that the category ‘feminism’ can be demarcated once and for all. I, for one, do not want to police the boundaries of feminism. I think that this is politically misguided.
I also think it important to highlight that when we insist on securing clear boundaries for feminism, this often entails the (re)grounding of feminism on the liberal conception of the rights-bearing autonomous subject. It also entails a refusal to keep the term feminism open to future democratic contestations. As women of colour and poststructuralist feminists have already taught us, any attempt to define feminism definitively results in violent exclusions.
Another way of saying this might be that my research is not only an attempt to understand the kind of cultural work neoliberal feminism carries out but also strives to challenge it politically. Indeed, simply dismissing neoliberal feminism underestimates the affective power of neoliberal feminism – it is, after all, a ‘happy’ personalised feminism – and this affective power, as my work tries to show, is a crucial mode through which the new feminist and neoliberal subject is being cultivated.
In the book, you explain that this neoliberal concept of feminism has become popular since around 2012, effectively replacing the idea of ‘post-feminism’. What do you think accounts for this mainstream resurgence and reaffirmation of feminism? Does it relate to the economic crisis of neoliberalism, or to the right-wing discourses that have emerged in its wake?
CR: My thinking about the ‘how and whys’ of the rise of neoliberal feminism has shifted over the years.
When I started writing on what I would later call neoliberal feminism in 2012, we were still in the Obama era, and thus we had gotten used to what Nancy Fraser has somewhat provocatively termed ‘progressive neoliberalism.’ I began by arguing that the emergent variant of feminism, with its happy work-family balance ideal, helped to promulgate assumptions about liberal progress, shoring up the notion that the United States was still informed by the liberal principles of equality. This shoring up was occurring precisely as neoliberalism was colonizing more and more domains of our lives. So initially I suggested that while feminism was yet another domain that neoliberalism was colonizing, neoliberal feminism was also serving a particular cultural purpose: namely, hollowing out the potential of mainstream liberal feminism to underscore the constitutive contradictions of liberal democracy, and, in this way, further entrenching neoliberalism.
But then Trump was elected, and we began to see a new permutation of neoliberalism, one shorn of any liberal veneer. Neoliberal feminism was, however, still thriving.
Yet even before the rise of Trumpism I began to realize that neoliberal feminism was carrying out something well beyond shoring up assumptions about the US as a beacon of liberalism. Indeed, it was in the wake of the media hype around egg-freezing and the proliferation of high-profile and celebrity women who were suddenly (or so it seemed) clamouring to identify as feminists, that I began to rethink my claim.
Ultimately, over the years I have come to the conclusion that neoliberalism actually ‘needs’ feminism to resolve one of its internal tensions in relation to gender. Drawing on political theorists Wendy Brown and Michel Feher, I understand neoliberalism not merely as an economic system but as a dominant political rationality that moves to and from the management of the state to the inner workings of the subject, recasting individuals as entrepreneurial and capital enhancing generic (meaning nongendered) agents. Neoliberal rationality thus extends a specific formulation of economic values, practices and metrics to every dimension of human life, recasting and transforming human subjects into generic human capital.
On the one hand, then, as an economic order, neoliberalism relies on reproduction and care work in order to reproduce and maintain human capital. Yet, on the other hand, as a political rationality – and in stark contrast to liberalism – neoliberalism has no lexicon that can recognize let alone value reproduction and care work due to its focus on generic human capital. Everything is reduced to a market metrics – even our political imagination.
The argument my book develops, then, is that neoliberal feminism operates as a kind of pushback to the total conversion of educated and upwardly mobile women into generic rather than gendered human capital. By maintaining reproduction as part of middle-class or so-called aspirational women’s normative trajectory and positing balance as its normative frame and ultimate ideal, neoliberal feminism helps to both maintain a discourse of reproduction and care-work while ensuring that all responsibility for these forms of labour – but not necessarily the labour itself, since it is frequently outsourced to other less privileged women – falls squarely on the shoulders of aspirational women. In this way it solves its own constitutive tension – the quandary of reproduction and care-work – at least temporarily.
Indeed, if reproduction and balance were not retained as neoliberal feminism’s equation then the transformation of aspirational women into generic human capital would be more or less ‘complete’ and neoliberal feminist discourse would disappear.
I do not, however, want to suggest that there is one cause or that there is any necessity or teleology in or to the development of neoliberal feminism. And while I argue that that the convergence between neoliberalism and feminism does serve political objectives, the convergence is conjunctural and historically contingent.
How does neoliberal feminism adapt or change the vocabulary associated with other kinds of feminisms? For example, does it still involve notions of equality, freedom, justice and rights, and if so how does it rework these around its emphasis on the individual and personal evaluation?
CR: I’ll answer this question by saying a little bit more about the genesis of my book, which I alluded to earlier. As I mentioned, this project began in 2012 when I was on sabbatical in the US. This was precisely the year in which two feminist manifestos were published to much media fanfare: Anne-Marie Slaughter’s ‘Why Women Still Can’t Have It All’ in the Atlantic – which has since become the most read article in the history of the magazine – and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In – which instantly became a New York Times bestseller. Thus, all of a sudden, or so it seemed, powerful and high-profile women were publicly identifying as feminists, something that we just hadn’t seen in the past. It was at that point that I began to read these two manifestos very carefully.
I am trained as a literary critic, so for me reading Slaughter and later Sandberg was an exercise in close textual analysis. At the time, I was struck by the circulation of what I came to see as a new feminist vocabulary, where happiness, work-family balance, and ‘lean in’ were replacing key terms traditionally inseparable from public feminist discussions and debates, namely, autonomy, rights, and liberation.
Moreover, in the wake of Slaughter and Sandberg’s publications, more and more high power and celebrity women were coming out as feminists. This was as fascinating as it was bizarre. We simply had not seen feminism taken up as mainstream and popular in this way before. So I began to extend my analysis to a range of popular and mainstream venues: from New York Times articles through TV series like The Good Wife to mommy blogs (like Ivy-League Insecurities and a Design So Vast). And what I saw is that this notion of a work-family balance was being bandied about everywhere.
What I realised was that balance was not only being incorporated into the social imagination as a cultural good but had helped to engender a new model of emancipated womanhood: a professional woman able to balance a successful career with a satisfying family life. A ‘happy work-family balance,’ in other words, has been (re)presented as a progressive and feminist ideal.
So, again, this strand of feminism exhorts women to perceive themselves as human capital, inciting them to be confident and lean in. It has a lot to say about cultivating a happy equilibrium but has very little to say about equal rights, and even less to say about liberation or social justice. As I also mentioned earlier, while this feminism does acknowledge the gendered wage gap and sexual harassment as signs of continued gender inequality, that is as far as it goes. The solutions to these inequalities are either articulated through a market metrics, namely, through the business case for gender inclusion (namely, it is better for the bottom line to have more women in business) or are completely individualised – namely, empowering individual women to speak out against sexual harassment and abuse.
As you say, the concept of ‘balance’ between work and family is at the core of neoliberal feminism, and features heavily in the writings of (upper) middle-class professionals such as Anne-Marie Slaughter, Sheryl Sandberg and Ivanka Trump. How does this ideal of balance shape aspirations and relate to neoliberal rationality?
CR: The notion of a happy work-family promulgates the expectation that each individual woman is responsible for calculating the right balance between work and family. The goal of crafting and maintaining a felicitous equilibrium – which might entail, for instance, making up lost time with children after investing too many hours at work, or finding creative solutions to unexpected conflicts, such as planning an important conference call after the children’s bedtime – is elusive, since well-being is famously difficult to gauge.
Yet, precisely because affect is notoriously elusive, it requires constant vigilance, investment, calculation and optimising personal resources. Thus, the quest for a satisfying equilibrium further inscribes a market rationality – since in order to be successful and content, even for a period of time, efficiency, innovation, and a cost-benefit calculus are paramount. And, of course, such a quest requires constant self-surveillance and evaluation. Neoliberal feminism facilitates the process where the self becomes a kind of ‘neoliberal spreadsheet’ (to use Angela McRobbie’s brilliant phrase), where one calculates one’s assets, one’s losses, and what is more or less valuable in order to decide where more investment is necessary in order to maintain that elusive balance.
As a new norm of emancipated and successful womanhood, a ‘happy work-family balance’ becomes a normalising matrix, and a form of governmentality, which interpellates so-called aspirational women, and helps shape and direct women’s aspirations, desires, and behaviour. In my work, I show just how pervasive and desirable this idea of balance has become for middle-class women. In fact, all one has to do is to read Michelle Obama’s new memoir, Becoming! Balance is central to her idea of the good life and what progressive womanhood should look like. And as Joan Scott has recently written, idealised norms still matter, not only in the expectations set for individual subjects but because they shape the terms for law, politics and social policy.
The other point here is how these aspirations effectively identify ‘happiness’ as a kind of demand placed on individuals that can only be fulfilled through hard work and psychological effort. There seems to be a double form of self-discipline required, in effect, in which the neoliberal feminist not only internalises her personal responsibility for maintaining a particular balance, but also for making herself enjoy it. Is this a crucial part of the neoliberal feminist discourse?
CR: Yes, happiness plays a crucial role in this new feminism. I would argue that happiness becomes a technology of the self. Here I have been profoundly influenced by the work of feminist scholar Lynne Segal and cultural critic Sara Ahmed. Ahmed has taught us how happiness functions as a promise that directs subjects toward certain objects, goals, and behaviours that are considered necessary ingredients for the good life. Ahmed argues that the promise of happiness orients subjects in the ‘right way,’ namely, in the direction of the social ideals that are thought to bring happiness through a subject’s proximity to them. The promise operates as a technology of cultivation and control through affective routes: Who, after all, does not want to be happy? And, I would add – only half facetiously – who doesn’t want to be balanced, to live a balanced life, especially given the current mental health crisis? These notions seem and are presented as benign and desirable. But they do orient us in particular directions and help shape our desires and aspirations.
Neoliberal feminism thus reinforces the idea that happiness can only be found by following a particular path. ‘Progressive’ ambitious women are therefore encouraged to pursue happiness through constructing a self-tailored work-family balance. There is certainly a denial of bad or negative feelings at play here as well.
Christina Scharff’s work on positive affect has also been very useful for me here. Scharff demonstrates how neoliberal governmentality has helped to produce subjects who not only relate to themselves as businesses or enterprises but who must also constantly foster a positive attitude in order to maintain their sense of well-being in a highly and increasingly competitive world. So negativity is disavowed and bad feelings signify a loss of competitiveness or even failure.
A former student of mine, Shir Shimoni, is now doing amazing work on how this discourse of happiness is currently interpellating aging subjects (the ‘third age,’ more specifically) and how temporality figures differently in the neoliberal address to older individuals. Finally, I might add that the task of pursuing happiness through balance orients us away not only from countering the rise of neoliberal feminism but also from attempting to imagine social relations in new ways. This seems to me absolutely key.
You also highlight in the book how the focus in neoliberal feminism on a minority of ‘aspirational’ professionals effectively disregards the majority of women along lines of class and race, and how these professionals rely on low-wage, often immigrant, care workers (nannies, cleaners, and so on) to achieve their work-family balance. What are the economic and political repercussions of neoliberal feminism, in terms of class and race division? Is it a case of not merely maintaining and tacitly legitimating existing divisions, but actively reinforcing them?
CR: First let me say that neoliberal feminism is an unabashedly exclusionary variant of feminism, encompassing as it does only so-called aspirational women in its interpellative address. So, yes, it does actively reinforce already existing hierarchies. By directing its address to so-called aspirational women – who already have a certain amount of social, cultural and economic capital, it helps to reify white and class privilege and heteronormativity, while lending itself to neo-conservative and xenophobic agendas. This discourse, of course, presents society as consisting of a relatively level playing field, which as Jo Littler has so brilliantly demonstrated, is one of the most effective modes in which neoliberal meritocracy operates.
Moreover, if neoliberal feminism’s ideal is a happy work-family balance, with family translating into having children, then you can see how it reinscribes a heteronormative and nuclear family structure. It is about cultivating a professional career while at the same time encouraging women to have children. So this new variant of feminism can accommodate women of colour or queer or trans women but only those who emulate the happy work-family balance ideal. Note, again, how affect works here.
In my research, I also hypothesise that as reproductive technology develops, a certain strata of women – the Sandbergs but also the Slaughters of the world – will likely be able to outsource reproduction and care work more and more to other women, thus ensuring the re-entrenchment of the so-called aspirational subject as generic human capital, while producing a whole other class of women who are conceived as not fully ‘responsibilized’ and thus exploitable and disposable.
Given the reality that, most often, women of colour, and poor and immigrant women serve as the unacknowledged care-workers who enable professional women to strive towards ‘balance’ in their lives, neoliberal feminism also helps to (re)produce and legitimise the exploitation of these ‘other’ female subjects while simultaneously disarticulating the very vocabulary with which to address these vast inequalities.
It is in this way that neoliberal feminism not only forsakes the majority of women by splitting female subjecthood into worthy and disposable women, but it also facilitates the creation of intensified forms of racialised and class-stratified gender exploitation, which increasingly constitutes the invisible infrastructure of our neoliberal order.
The emphasis on balance also reinforces an idea of ‘having it all’, usually defined in terms of career and family. As you say in your analyses of Ivanka Trump’s and Megyn Kelly’s books, it also involves a strong ‘rhetoric of doing better, being better, and settling for more’, or ‘working on every aspect of one’s life in order to create one’s best self.’ Does this idea of self-improvement then also function as an ideological judgement on all women who don’t have lucrative careers and conventional families, in the sense that it demonises them for failing to realise their best selves?
CR: Yes, I think it does. Since neoliberal feminism both disavows the structural injustices that shape our lives while simultaneously individualising and responsiblizing women, it seems clear that women who fail to live up to the new ideal of emancipated and successful womanhood are deemed failures. They are deemed insufficiently responsibilized and thus they have only themselves to blame. This then places the burden of unhappiness on the shoulders of individual women. But, of course, this is also an old US refrain, so neoliberal feminism must also be understood as converging with and rearticulating other discourses and histories in the US.
Though I am not sure if neoliberal feminism needs demons per se; it just needs dispensable and exploitable women to uphold the gendered but increasingly invisibilised infrastructure of reproductive and care work.
It seems that there is an aspect of neoliberal rationality that pressurises individuals, especially women, to excel not only in regards to work and family but in all areas of life (such as health, pleasure, financial independence and social responsibility). In this sense, neoliberal feminism is perhaps just one way of (unconsciously) reconciling the tensions between these pressures. If we look at it this way, what does neoliberal feminism tells us about the impossible and contradictory demands that neoliberalism places on individuals?
I think this demand that we work on all aspect of our lives – which is precisely what Ivanka Trump exhorts women to do in her book Women Who Work – actually reveals something a bit different. It is precisely about encouraging women to consider themselves as a form of ‘stock,’ where their normative role is to augment their market value.
In other words, this constant exhortation that women invest in and work on all domains of their lives, helps to (re)produce the conversion of women from ostensible autonomous rights bearing liberal subjects who need to fight discrimination in order to gain access to the marketplace in order to sell their labour, into subjects who must work tirelessly on themselves in order to produce and cultivate their selves as generic human capital. Every aspect of the self becomes a site of speculation, intense scrutiny and affective investment – a process whose objective is to increase and diversify the self’s assets, to facilitate its appreciation, but just as importantly, to prevent its depreciation.
This totalising approach of the self as human capital serves to facilitate the transformation of the self into a business enterprise, while simultaneously helping to further unravel the private-public divide. But this is why neoliberal feminism is crucial, since it ensures that reproduction and care work continue to function as a pushback to neoliberalism’s conversion of aspirational women into generic subjects.
I think we see this double movement most clearly in Trump’s text. On the one hand, there is a certain intensification of this conversion of women into generic human capital, since even the realm of care is transmogrified into regulated, calculative and carefully planned affective investment. Reproductive and care work is presented in more managerial terms, which gestures to the further saturation of a market metrics into domains that have traditionally upheld the gendered division of labour, such as raising children or even going on a date with one’s husband. Yet, the conversion of ‘aspirational’ women into generic human capital remains incomplete, and not merely because women are the ones deemed responsible for managing the to-do lists. Rather, Trump’s normative trajectory still includes reproduction, while her ideal of female success remains a happy work-family balance. Reproduction and care work continue to function as a pushback to neoliberalism’s conversion of aspirational women into generic subjects.
In short, I see neoliberal feminism as reconciling a particular tension within neoliberalism. So it is less about impossible demands placed upon women – although it is about that as well – and more about the conversion of everything into specks of capital on the one hand, and the impossible ‘remainder’ that reproduction and care work continue to (re)present.
Is there any progressive element to neoliberal feminism as you see it? Do aspirations, for example, of a ‘top down’ revolution based on more women reaching positions of power really involve a social ideal or are they merely cynical or misconceived?
CR: I am not sure that there are progressive elements to neoliberal feminism as such, even if I might argue that some of the effects of this variant of feminism’s circulation have led to more oppositional and even militant feminist mobilising. But I will get to this in a minute. And while I am all for having more women in positions of power, the idea that simply having more women on boards or in Congress for example – even if they identify as feminists – will necessarily or automatically make the lives of most women better is totally misguided. This is part and parcel of the neoliberal feminist imaginary, where individual women’s success and empowerment are deemed the end game for feminism.
The kinds of issue we face today are structural, systemic and urgent. Increasing women’s representation or any other kind of trickle-down solution simply won’t cut it – not when we are facing immanent and catastrophic threats to life on Earth as we know it – whether in the form of looming environmental catastrophe or renewed threat of nuclear war.
How does a more radical or progressive feminism reclaim ground from neoliberal feminism? What do events in recent years such as the #MeToo movement or International Women’s Day protests show us about resisting neoliberal feminism’s concepts of individualism, balance and happiness?
CR: Lately, I have been thinking a lot about this question. One of the things about neoliberal feminism is that as a hyper-individualising discourse it lends itself to being mainstreamed and popularised. Precisely because neoliberal feminism has gained prominence in the last decade, and precisely because it constantly exhorts individual women to focus on their own personal well-being and aspirations in the form of a happy work-family balance, this variant of feminism can more easily be rendered palatable and desirable, which, in turn, has facilitated its widespread embrace and circulation.
This is key since neoliberal feminism should be understood as having helped to create the cultural conditions enabling the emergence of what Sarah Banet-Weiser calls ‘popular feminism‘ – a feminism that she argues ‘tinkers on the surface, encouraging individual girls and women to just ‘be’ empowered’ – thus precipitating feminism’s even wider visibility and dissemination across media venues in the Anglo-American world.
So one of the claims I have begun to make is that neoliberal feminism has facilitated feminism’s renewed visibility and widespread embrace, most prominently in the form of a popular feminism. This, in turn, has – perhaps paradoxically – helped to pave the way for more militant and mass feminist movements, such as #MeToo. Clearly, much of the infrastructure for the recent oppositional feminist groundswell was already in place. We know that the ‘Me Too’ campaign initially emerged over a decade ago as part of a grassroots movement spearheaded by the African American activist Tarana Burke, and that it comes on the heels of other mobilisations, such as SlutWalk.
But I want to suggest that in addition to Trump’s election and the reappearance of a shameless sexism in the public sphere, which has had its own galvanising effect, movements like #MeToo and the Global Women’s Strike were able to gain such widespread traction at this particular moment in history, at least in part, because feminism had already been embraced and rendered desirable by high-power corporate women like Sheryl Sandberg, or celebrities like Emma Watson and Beyoncé – to name just a few.
Taken all together, these various feminist manifestations all suggest that we are experiencing a feminist renaissance of sorts, not all aspects of which are worth celebrating.
I think we are at a crossroads – on all kinds of levels. The urgent question, and one that I don’t have an answer to is how can we sustain and broaden this feminist renaissance as counter-hegemonic and thus as a threat to the powers that be, while rejecting neoliberal feminist logic. | 2019-04-22T19:57:35 | http://stateofnatureblog.com/catherine-rottenberg-neoliberal-feminism/?share=google-plus-1 |
0.998965 | When you are still in your home country or when you just arrived in the US. You might wonder, how do you get arround and find the place that you need to go to, such as grocery stores, religious building, federal building, library, etc. Later when you want to travel around the US, you may also need a direction to the place that you want to visit.
How do I find a direction to the place that I want to visit?
Both websites provides you direction from the place you want to start (e.g. your apartment) to your intended destination (e.g. library). You might need both addresses in order to get the accurate direction.
How do I find the direction of the common places in my area such as grocery store and hospital?
If you try to find the direction to a common public places, such as airport, banks, grocery store, restaurant, hospital pharmacies, etc, you can ask the website to provide you the direction to those places. For instance if you want to to a grocery store, you simply need to map your starting point (e.g. your apartment), and click or type "grocery store" in the space that the websites provide. They will map all grocery stores nearby your starting point. You can also ask these websites to provide you the direction to that place. | 2019-04-24T06:45:04 | http://globalstudentguide.com/Travel-Map.htm |
0.999869 | Catalogue of Organisms: Phylogenetic Nomenclature - Oui ou Non?
We may or may not be passing through a revolution in taxonomy. That's the problem with revolutions - it's often unclear whether one is happening or not until it is over, by which point (because humans have an incredible tendency to assume that the status has always been quo) it generally doesn't seem revolutionary any more. The subject in taxonomy that in recent years has caused a great deal of ink to be spilled and keyboards thumped is the question of phylogenetic nomenclature. I'd like to express a few of my thoughts on this subject today. I'm not going to try and actually solve the debate - I'm a pretty determined fence-sitter in this case, and in practice I tend to mix and match systems as circumstances require. Still, there are a number of misconceptions running about that keep rearing their heads, begging to beaten back down in an endless game of philosophical Whack-A-Mole. There are, I think, perfectly valid reasons why the concept of phylogenetic nomenclature is one that should be instituted with caution. It's just that, wierdly, these are not the "reasons" most commonly brought up.
This figure shows phylogenetic relationships within the "core Malvales", a clade of flowering plants previously divided between the families Malvaceae, Bombacaceae, Tiliaceae and Sterculiaceae, but for which all families except Malvaceae had turned out to be para- or polyphyletic. The figure shows four alternative methods of re-classifying the core Malvales in light of improved phylogenetic understanding. The point is that despite the siginificant differences in appearance between the alternative systems (recognising from one to nine families, two to nine subfamilies, etc.), there is actually no difference in the underlying phylogeny. Nevertheless, all four classifications are equally valid because all four meet the requirements of the rank-based system of nomenclature. Because there is no philosophical underpinning to what each "rank" means, the only guideline is a sense of tradition about what has been referred to a certain rank in the past - and because workers on different groups of organisms have different traditions, this is meaningless. As pointed out by David Marjanović in the comments at Tet Zoo, ranks can be (and, all too often, actually are) actively misleading because the temptation to assume that a "genus" of insects is somehow directly comparable to a "genus" of rodents has proven irresistible far too often in the past. Take another look at the Baum et al. figure above. Is "subfamily Malvoideae" in option C a less significant taxon than "family Tiliaceae" in option A?
Problems have also arisen in rank-based nomenclature because of the sheer number of ranks sometimes required. Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species is easy enough to keep track of, but nowhere near enough to deal with the ten million or so species that infest this planet. Take something as boring and well-known as the common house sparrow, Passer domesticus. Passer domesticus belongs to the genus Passer, which is part of the family Passeridae, which belongs to the Passeroidea, part of the Eupasseri, part of the Passerida, part of the Euoscines, part of the Oscines, Eupasseres, Passeriformes, Anomalogonatae, Coronaves, Neoaves, Neognathae, Aves, Ornithurae, Ornithothoraces, Avialae, Eumaniraptora, Metornithes, Maniraptora, Maniraptoriformes, Coelurosauria, Neotetanurae, Tetanurae, Neotheropoda, Theropoda, Saurischia, Dinosauria, Ornithotarsi, Dinosauriformes, Ornithodira, Archosauria, Archosauriformes, Archosauromorpha, Sauria, Neodiapsida, Eosuchia, Diapsida, Eureptilia, Reptilia, Sauropsida, Amniota, Cotylosauria, Batrachosauria, Anthracosauria, Neostegalia, Tetrapoda, Tetrapodomorpha, Sarcopterygii, Osteichthyes, Teleostomi, Gnathostomata, Vertebrata, Craniata, Olfactores, Chordata, Deuterostomia, Eutriploblastica, Bilateria, Eumetazoa, Animalia, Holozoa, Opisthokonta, Unikonta, Eukaryota, Neomura. Try thinking up ranks for every one of that lot! Some pretty horrendous terms such as "supersubphylum" have been perpetrated in such attempts.
It is response to such issues that the concepts of phylogenetic nomenclature and rankless taxonomy arose. In phylogenetic nomenclature, a taxonomic name is defined in relation to an underlying phylogeny (Queiroz & Gaulthier, 1990). For instance, in my first example above, "Hominidae" may have been defined as the largest possible clade that includes humans (Homo) but not orangutans (Pongo). In that case, under the phylogeny given above, chimpanzees and gorillas must belong to Hominidae, while orangutans cannot. Ever. Concordant with the development of phylogenetic nomenclature has been the concept of a rankless taxonomic system. The two are generally assumed to be equivalent by many critics of phylogenetic nomenclature, but in fact they are not. Theoretically, it would be still be possible to erect a system of phylogenetic nomenclature that assigned ranks to the taxa it recognised. It would also be possible to devise a rankless taxonomic system that was not based on phylogeny but on, for instance, overall morphological similarity only. These options have not been considered because, quite simply, they would offer no advantage over the current rank-based system. A ranked phylogenetic system would have the same "too many ranks" problem of the current system, as well as problems all of its own devising if, e.g., conflicting definitions required that one "family" refer to a subset of another "family".
As an aside, I think it is also important to distinguish between the Codes of Nomenclature and the principles underlying their construction. While the rank-based system has its current codes, the (in)famous PhyloCode is in the process of being drafted to regulate phylogenetic nomenclature. The rank-based codes may have the same underlying principles, but they differ in their regulations as a result of different opinions on the most effective means of serving those principles. Similarly, whether or not the PhyloCode is adequate as a regulatory code is a separate issue from whether phylogenetic nomenclature is worthwhile as a concept.
It goes without saying that the concept of phylogenetic nomenclature has had its share of detractors, both on the front of phylogenetic nomenclature in the strict sense, and on the front of rank-free taxonomy. Of the two fronts, it is actually the first that is (in my opinion) the easiest to deal with. One of the main complaints about phylogenetic nomenclature is that it effectively eliminates the possibility of paraphyletic taxa. Take the classic example of Reptilia (reptiles), a paraphyletic "class" that actually includes the ancestors of another "class", Aves (birds). Under phylogenetic nomenclature, Reptilia must either include birds, or be abandoned as a taxon. Supporters of the rank-based systems may point at modern representatives of the two "classes" - lizards, crocodiles, birds - and argue that because crocodiles are more similar to lizards, despite being closer phylogenetically to birds, lizards and crocodiles represent a paraphyletic grade that merits official recognition. However, this ultimately comes down to a judgement call that the similarities between lizards and crocodiles are more "significant" than the similarities between crocodiles and birds. It is also largely an artifact of the extinction of taxa intermediate between the latter two. Would the division be regarded as being as "obvious" if ceratopsians had survived to the present? What about allosaurs? With any paraphyletic taxon, a point is reached where an arbitrary line has to be drawn that exagerrates the differences between taxa on either side of that line. What is so significant about the difference between Archaeopteryx and Microraptor that one should be placed in a separate "class" from the other?
But, first, I need to figure out how many animal phyla there are. However, that is not an as easy task as it seems. Wikipedia lists 36, the Animal Diversity Web lists 32 and the University of California Museum of Paleontology gives 25 extant animal phyla.
The phylogenetic system is indeed prone to change with changing phylogenies, but so is the rank-based system. What is more, as shown in the Hominidae and core Malvales examples above, there doesn't even need to be a change in phylogeny, only a change in an individual author's perception of the "significance" of differences.
Overall, I have (initially somewhat reluctantly) come to the conclusion that from a philosophical position, phylogenetic nomenclature knocks down the rank-based system without even breaking a sweat. This does not mean that we should all be rushing headlong to embrace PN - I said at the very beginning of this post that there is cause for caution. The primary handicap of phylogenetic nomenclature is simply that it requires a pretty good understanding of phylogeny (well, duh). For some groups of organisms, such as apes, we have extremely good understandings of their phylogeny. Yes, it is still possible that our views may change with increasing study, but it is extremely unlikely that, say, humans aren't closely related to apes at all but instead convergently evolved from a giant Mediterranean dormouse. For other groups of organisms, our phylogenetic understanding is more minimal. My own stomping ground, harvestmen of the superfamily Phalangioidea, represents a few thousand species of arthropod for which the classification remains almost entirely untested phylogenetically. Phalangioids are divided between a number of families, subfamilies and genera, yes, but all too often the boundaries between taxa frankly couldn't be vaguer if they had been drawn up in the back of a van by Cheech and Chong. Nevertheless, three thousand or so species is far too many to be assimilated in one hit, and the current rank-based system does allow us to break them up into a set of more manageable bits. Attempting to impose a phylogenetic classification onto phalangioids in our current state of knowledge would be a decidedly rash and hasty move, because there is no confidence that the sort of sweeping content changes that the phylogenetic nomenclature critics claim to fear wouldn't happen. A phylogenetic system for some groups of organisms remains more of a target than a current possibility.
Baum, D. A., W. S. Anderson & R. Nyffeler. 1998. A durian by any other name: taxonomy and nomenclature of the core Malvales. Harvard Papers in Botany 3: 315-330.
Queiroz, K. de, & J. Gauthier. 1990. Phylogeny as a central principle in taxonomy: phylogenetic definitions of taxon names. Systematic Zoology 39 (4): 307-322.
Good discussion. I appreciate your sane approach with regards to the phylogenetic nomenclature of harvestmen. Phylogenetic nomenclature is a great idea, but it should indeed be carried out cautiously.
Naturally, there are a few points I'd like to make.
"As a result, the nomenclatural system most widely used today is generally referred to as the 'Linnaean' or 'rank-based' system."
"The phylogenetic system is indeed prone to change with changing phylogenies, but so is the rank-based system."
The difference, of course, is that the phylogenetic system can only change when phylogenetic hypotheses change, while rank-based systems can also change when aesthetics change.
"Also, people find it helpful to have an 'agreed' list of significant taxa."
This is certainly possible in the phylogenetic system. Arguably this already happens anyway, since some commonly-referenced taxon names (Dinosauria, Archosauria, Tetrapoda, Gnathostomata, Pterygota, etc.) are not clearly allied with a specific rank.
"One of the main complaints about phylogenetic nomenclature is that it effectively eliminates the possibility of paraphyletic taxa."
Not quite. Although clades are the most commonly used type of taxa in phylogenetic nomenclature, in theory, phylogenetic nomenclature just requires taxa to have an algorithmic, phylogenetic definition. For example, "stem-mammals" is arguably a phylogenetic taxon, if an informally named one (everything sharing more recent ancestry with Mammalia than with any extant non-mammalian, minus Mammalia itself). In my 2007 paper, I suggested the idea of basing taxa on metric balls, some of which would be paraphyletic. (May not be a workable idea, but there you have it.) And many (including the authors of the PhyloCode) consider species, many of which are arguably paraphyletic, to be phylogenetic entities.
Olfactores is the clade of urochordates plus vertebrates to the exclusion of cephalochordates, in those phylogenetic analyses that support such a result.
I take it we're united by our sense of smell? I never knew sea squirts had one (or that lancelets lacked one).
Apparently the name "Olfactores" was originally coined by Jefferies in conjuction with his decidedly drekky calcichordate hypothesis (which also placed tunicates rather than lancelets as the closest living relatives of vertebrates, albeit with all three groups independently derived from "calcichordates"), and seems to have been based on an olfactory apparatus supposedly present in the common calcichordate ancestors of olfactorians. As such, the original theoretical basis for the name may be completely dead in the water, but the name itself remains in use.
"Holozoa" was originally coined by Lang et al. in a rather underwhelming little paper (in Current Biology, of all places) for the clade uniting animals and choanoflagellates. They didn't consider any other opisthokonts other than fungi, so they didn't specify exactly what kind of animal + choanoflagellate group they meant. Later publications have tended to use Holozoa represent the total clade including animals and choanoflagellates but not fungi.
Lang, B. F., C. O’Kelly, T. Nerad, M. W. Gray & G. Burger. 2002. The closest unicellular relatives of animals. Current Biology 12: 1773-1778.
I just want to point out that crocodiles are no closer to lizards and snakes than birds are. Certainly in terms of overall form, sure, but that's largely due to Eucrocodilia secondarily going back to a sprawling posture and largely ectothermic metabolism. Oh, and they closed up their antorbital fenestrae.
Birds may be a farther distance up the tree than crocodilians (more steps from lizard to bird than from lizard to alligator), the fact is that crocs and doves share features lacking in the split between Squamata and Archosauria. So neither is "closer" to lizards, they're both equally far apart, phylogenetically speaking.
Unless I'm wrong, which is always possible.
"Birds may be a farther distance up the tree than crocodilians (more steps from lizard to bird than from lizard to alligator)" | 2019-04-25T14:17:40 | http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2008/09/phylogenetic-nomenclature-oui-ou-non.html |
0.999995 | Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper?
The following essay was published by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in The Forerunner in October of 1913, 21 years after the initial publication of The Yellow Wallpaper.
Many and many a reader has asked that. When the story first came out, in the New England Magazine about 1891, a Boston physician made protest in The Transcript. Such a story ought not to be written, he said; it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it.
Another physician, in Kansas I think, wrote to say that it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen, and - begging my pardon - had I been there?
For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia - and beyond. During about the third year of this trouble I went, devout faith and some faint stir of hope, to a noted specialist in nervous diseases, the best known in the country. This wise man put me to bed and applied the rest cure, to which a still good physique responded so promptly that he concluded there was nothing much the matter with me, and sent me home with the solemn advice to "live a domestic a life as far a possible," to "have but two hours' intellectual life a day," and "never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long as I lived." This was in 1887.
I went home and obeyed those directions for some three months, and came so near the border line of utter mental ruin that I could see over.
Then, using the remnants of intelligence that remained, and helped by a wise friend, I cast the noted specialists advice to the winds and went to work again - work, the normal life of every human being; work, in which is joy and growth and service, without which one is a pauper and a parasite; ultimately recovering some measure of power.
Being naturally moved to rejoicing by this narrow escape, I wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, with its embellishments and additions to carry out the ideal (I never had hallucinations or objections to my mural decorations) and sent a copy to the physician who so nearly drove me mad. He never acknowledged it.
The little book is valued by alienists and as a good specimen of one kind of literature. It has to my knowledge saved one woman from a similar fate - so terrifying her family that they let her out into normal activity and she recovered.
But the best result is this. Many years later I was told that the great specialist admitted to friends of his that he had altered his treatment of neurasthenia since reading The Yellow Wallpaper.
This is public domain literature that I typed myself for E2. | 2019-04-24T02:50:40 | https://everything2.com/title/Why+I+Wrote+The+Yellow+Wallpaper%253F |
0.999651 | Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is a fully animated interactive adventure, allowing players will step into the shiny wingtips of Harvey Birdman, a third-rate superhero turned third-rate defense attorney charged with exonerating parodied classic cartoon characters.
This may very well be one of the most difficult reviews I've ever had to write. Not very often do I sit before a title from an A-list publisher, one that's got advertising everywhere and is being hyped by the company as something I absolutely must play during my lifetime. It's always a complex task, as a reviewer, to try and describe a genre-defining game like Harvey Birdman, particularly when it turns out to be a huge disappointment. So join me, fellow reader and gamer, as I regale you with a tale of a game so dismal that the people around me forced me to stop playing it.
A quick primer: Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law is based on the animated series of the same name from Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" programming block. Up until its cancellation in 2006, it followed the extremely questionable exploits of former superhero-turned- attorney Harvey Birdman, as he tries to actually act competent (and it's certainly an act) while defending various cartoon legends in the a most surreal courtroom environment. The show gained some fame as one of studio Williams Street's early successes; it was fast paced, completely silly and nonsensically funny. It was notable as well for spinning well-known characters on their ears, like portraying Fred Flintstone as a Mafioso or Race Bannon as a homosexual partyboy.
The game is exactly like the show, perhaps too much so. The player gets to take a backseat role in five of Harvey's cases, trying to ... reach the goal at the end of the chapter, although that may not necessarily involve making sure that your client is innocent. You'll need to keep Harvey from getting beaten up in prison, killed by angry duplicators, and not getting disbarred in the process. Your only interaction is the Wiimote is to use it to work through a very simple interface to find clues, interrogate witnesses, and embarrass Harvey at every opportunity.
If this is starting to bear a streak of familiarity, you're not far off the mark: Harvey Birdman is an unblushing rip-off of that other Capcom courtroom franchise, Phoenix Wright, coated in the thick veneer of the Harvey Birdman series. In essence, it should work just fine, since the Wii is the platform of choice for something of a simple point-and-click nature, and well, Harvey is an attorney, isn't he? There are even generous Capcom references thrown in a few places for those fanboys who just can't get enough Street Fighter II in their daily dose of gaming.
But the underlying problem is that it doesn't work in just about all possible aspects. Visually, it's a dreadfully boring bag because although it copies directly from the Williams Street program, that's actually more a problem than an aid. The show's simple animation and nearly identical settings make wandering around about as fun as sleeping on a park bench in December.
Every character — every single one — is designed to be completely over-the-top, which is fine in the 15 to 20 minutes the show lasts, but it quickly grows tiresome in the game, which can last several hours, if you can bear it. That's really one of the greatest problems in Harvey Birdman: the zany antics (I can't believe I just used the word "zany") don't work well when stretched out into these longer game segments. Some chapters can take an hour or more to work out, and it becomes exhausting when you don't get a break from Harvey's incompetence or Peanut's fifth attempt to make money illegally or Gigi's ninth reference to sleeping with someone else in the courtroom while insisting she's married to Harvey. It gets boring fast, even for someone like myself, who likes the show upon which the game is based. Listening to the same stupid gags about "nut sacks," for example, made me want to shoot the person who penned the line.
The game isn't much of an improvement, either. As I said earlier, the only interface you have is the lovely Wiimote, which you ... point at the screen. If you can point and press A, you've mastered the controls pretty much in their entirety, much like Phoenix Wright and the stylus. Depending on whether or not you're interrogating or exploring, the game will either present you with a simple five-button, adventure-style interface (Move, Talk, Examine, and the like), give you a list of things to choose from, ask you to select an item, or let you review testimony. That's it.
I can't quite put my finger on why, but this was fine in Phoenix Wright, but exhausting and dull in Harvey Birdman. It may stem from the huge bursts of non-interactive sequences that occur every time you do much of anything that motivates the plot. For example, picking up a paper bag outside of the Sebben & Sebben offices (Harvey's reluctant employer) results in a long sequence during which Harvey stands around and talks to Peanut about the bag. You can skip it if you've already seen it (and only if you've already seen it), but this leaves you clueless about things the game may actually expect you to remember. This contrasts sharply with unessential items, where Harvey will pop a single, unvoiced window of dialogue and move on. Courtroom sequences are full of back-and-forth conversations that go on for minutes at a time (a long time in game terms) before Harvey gets in any more interaction time.
Quite possibly the most awkward and yet most important segment of the entire game is cross-examination. Those of you with Phoenix Wright experience will remember this as one of the more fun parts, where you take apart testimony simply by pressing, objecting, and presenting evidence, eventually wearing down falsehoods and revealing the interesting truth behind the original crime.
It's here, to be sure, and Harvey does it in every chapter, but a couple of changes to the basic mechanic ruin any sense of pleasure in slowly picking at half-truths until the facts come out. For one thing, objections are gone. Harvey can't object, unless the script calls for it during the initial examination by the prosecuting attorney. Otherwise, he can only present evidence and press, which must be done in an exact order to keep Harvey from stumbling and losing the case. Each mistake costs Harvey one point of gravitas, and if he runs out, the case is over and Harvey loses.
The issue here is the way you have to work through testimony: While Phoenix always had you work forward to find the one glaring flaw a witness presented, Harvey lets you go forward and back, with changes popping up almost unannounced as you press and present evidence. It makes figuring out what to do next unnecessarily difficult, as you're forced to notice that three-word change in a given page of testimony that the game didn't tell you was there and is now the key to moving things forward.
A spoiler-free example: In one case, you have the aforementioned bag of nuts and are talking to a witness about a bank robbery he may have witnessed while he was, um, enjoying the company of several women who didn't know he was there, if you follow. (This game isn't family-friendly in a great many ways, despite being on the Wii.) If you present the bag of nuts that he may have been eating when it's mentioned, the game will dock you gravitas and say you're an idiot for wandering down the wrong path. The goal is to go to the next statement and press it, which will modify the statement about the bag and allow you to present it! The flow of testimony seems random and pointlessly difficult for the only part of the game in which you can actually lose.
I could go on and on and on about the stark and overly simple interface, made more difficult to use by an unbelievably small and poorly contrasting pointer; the inability to save between chapters (you must start the next chapter and make it to the first checkpoint, or else you'll have to redo the end of the previous chapter); bad writing in many places leading to dialogues that go on forever; a complete lack of flow leading to lots of random wandering (people pop in and out, places go unannounced with alarming regularity); poor pacing; and lousy bonus rewards that are nearly impossible to earn without a guide (there are exactly five bonus videos, and you receive them for selecting the right option at the right time in each chapter, with no indication of what exactly that right choice is) .... I'll just stop. This is a train wreck of a production, a demonstration of how not to handle a license, and a good example to developers on how not to rip off your own most popular works with any kind of success. I can't recommend this to anyone, at any price. | 2019-04-26T10:35:10 | https://worthplaying.com/article/2008/3/19/reviews/49718/ |
0.999997 | The Blackmores boss wrote an open letter addressing industry stakeholders, in which he referred to the proposed new regulation as "draconian", "simply unnecessary" and "nothing more than an attack" on complementary medicine.
Blackmores also issued a media release claiming that if implemented, the proposed policy would see "30% of patients' choice of doctor under threat".
The MBA's paper outlines its proposal of an updated definition of 'complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments' to include "any assessment, diagnostic technique or procedure, diagnosis, practice, medicine, therapy or treatment that is not usually considered to be part of conventional medicine, whether used in addition to, or instead of, conventional medicine. This includes unconventional use of approved medical devices and therapies".
Furthermore, it has strongly suggested that current guidance for medical practitioners who prescribe complementary medicines be subject to stricter practice-specific guidelines that "clearly articulate the Board's expectations of all medical practitioners and supplement the Board's Good medical practice: A code of conduct for doctors in Australia".
Doubling down on his criticism of the MBA, Blackmore said the Board was a 'law unto itself' as it did not report to the Australian government. It had initially given the public just six weeks to respond, but Australasian Integrative Medicine Association (AIMA) head Penny Caldicott successfully appealed for one-month extension.
Subsequently, health minister Greg Hunt managed to get the MBA to extend the deadline to June 30, and Blackmore said he hoped this would give the Board enough time and opportunity to hear the other side of the story.
Blackmore also warned that a new policy based on the MBA's regulatory proposal "could well sound the death knell for integrative medicine in Australia".
He added that there was no need for stricter regulations for complementary medicine as the Australian industry was already highly regulated.
Blackmore is also confident that the current safeguards and accessible information for consumers are adequate, as complementary and integrative medicine must comply with strict requirements before they are approved for sale.
Furthermore, doctors are not allowed to advertise in Australia, and integrative medicine practitioners "will spend at least an hour on a first consultation".
However, he also pointed out that there were many unregulated complementary medicine products entering the Australian market via online purchases, and implied that the MBA was perhaps focusing its attention on the wrong target.
Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) has also responded to the MBA's proposal, saying it "does not support separate guidelines for medical practitioners who provide complementary medicine advice", and that "the current Good Medical Practice Code of Conduct should remain the principle basis to support safe practices and safeguards to patients".
The deadline for submissions to the MBA for this consultation is June 30.
In a more positive development for the Australian industry, the Federal Government has launched a review of its ban on paying for natural therapies using private health insurance, just one week after it was implemented.
"Given the strong evidence base for natural therapies, we expect very positive outcomes from this review and hope that the findings will see natural therapies reintroduced to private health insurance policies, from April 1 2020 or earlier if possible," said Blackmore. | 2019-04-26T02:18:18 | https://www.nutraingredients-asia.com/Article/2019/04/11/Draconian-and-prejudiced-Proposal-to-tighten-complementary-medicine-laws-draws-Blackmores-ire |
0.999492 | We've come a long way, babies. So it's been one year since I fainted at church while songleading, passing out in front of the whole congregation and taking the podium with me. One year since I was rushed to the hospital where it was revealed to us that for some unknown reason, God had decided to send twins our way. A lot has happened in a year, not the least of which is: - Sophie's eye operation - being pregnant with twins while running after a 1 year old - painting a new Christmas card and selling my cards for the first time - going into labor 10 weeks early - major surgery and a wound that wouldn't heal - new babies that needed constant attention, medication, and monitoring - constant shuttling back and forth between home and the NICU for 72 straight days - lugging around 5lb monitors and wires with each baby - depression, pretty much since this time last year and - babies that now weigh over 16lbs (more than quadrupling their birth weights) - therapists' visits put their (adjusted) development right where it should be... phew! - an 18 month old that has the vocabulary of a 3 year old and astounds me every day - a triple stroller that makes passerby smile and point as we go by - finally getting to wear my own fall and winter clothes again and putting those maternity clothes in storage - fitting into my pre-Sophie jeans and getting back to my normal shape - getting over myself and accepting help with meals and babysitting - exercising again - eating healthy and marathon Sunday-afternoon baking sessions - possibly (gasp!) going on a DATE outside of my house with my husband - the Big 33 List I'm looking forward to maybe having a calmer year this year, one involving much less trips to the hospital. ps ~ So here are the muffins at almost 7 months old, wearing their newly-knitted kitty cat hats. Sophie's is almost done too. | 2019-04-21T14:33:14 | http://blog.frenchtoastgirl.com/2004/09/weve-come-long-way-babies.shtml |
0.999998 | People seem to think subjective value is simply a person's 'willingness to pay' a price. Well, it's not. Subjective value cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, because that would simply mean subjective value is an expression in terms of objective market purchasing power.
If value is subjective, however, that purchasing power too is subjectively valued, in terms of what subjective value it can provide (through the actual goods and services the money can purchase). And, in any market-like setting, willingness to give up purchasing power for a good only indicates that the person subjectively values that purchasing power (however it is appreciated by him/her) less than the value expected from the good that can be purchased.
Willingness to pay, expressed in the dollars and cents that in turn can command goods and services, only means the buyer expects to be better off from going through with the exchange. In terms of value theory, there may be no connection between the value of that which is forgone and that which is gained in return, other than them being valued differently (the former higher than the latter).
Scholars should know better than to confuse these things, but they're obviously quite confused.
Instead of thinking about the meaning of what they say, they adopt a practical shorthand used to get a dollar amount on a customer's valuation. This makes some sense from a practitioner's perspective, where a customer's willingness to pay for one's good is a rough estimate of what money price could potentially be charged for the good.
It's not accurate, however, which is why entrepreneurship models suggest that entrepreneurs should make sure to charge a price lower than customer's stated willingness to pay (if it can at all be trusted).
Also, the actual willingness to pay depends on offering the actual good along with the argument for why it would be valuable for the customer to have/buy it.
In a different time and place, and with different messaging, this 'willingness' changes both with how the good is subjectively appraised and with the other opportunities available to the customer. I might value a hamburger, but I value a hot dog more.
Consequently, if there are hot dogs my willingness to pay for hamburgers is practically zero; if there are no hot dogs in sight, my willingness to pay for hamburgers may be significant. See how this works?
One's willingness to pay is not about the [subjective] value of the good itself (that is, the satisfaction experienced, or in any case expected), but is contingent on alternatives available. Practitioners who are careful can gain insights from willingness-to-pay estimations. But it is still a very blunt tool, since what actually matters is the subjective valuation of a good and the subjective valuation of alternative goods (the comparison/tradeoff).
That scholars equate subjective valuation with objective money prices should be considered severe professional misconduct. For those who are in the business of thinking carefully about things, there is no place for conflating things.
Or, as in this case, mistaking (interpreting, really) subjective value for being objective. This is inexcusable and should disqualify you from the academy.
Recession-induced statism – If there’s an economic downturn this year, then I fear we might get an Obama-style Keynesian spending orgyin addition to all the things I just mentioned.
Words are funny. Strung together, they can have multiple meanings depending on the perceived context and reader’s viewpoint. I can make a statement with the intent to convey argument A, but the reader interprets my statement as not-A.
Given the context, it appears Turati spoke with a sense of irony, defending his political strategy. Trotsky subjected those same words to close reading in order to bolster his argument that the Italian socialist was retreating before the fascists. Turati claimed he had manhood, while Trotsky insinuated Turati was a coward.
Forgetting the internecine war among socialists, let’s examine Turati’s prescient claim in another context: the draft.
During my high school years , “Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation (Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act) in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the previous year of 1979, retroactively re-establishing the Selective Service registration requirement for all 18- to 26-year-old male citizens born on or after January t, 1960.” This made me eligible for the draft upon turning 18.
But who was I going to fight – who was I supposed to slaughter, burn, maim, etc.? In 1981, as my eighteenth birthday approached, it looked like a hot war in Nicaragua or elsewhere was possible – actually, likely. That meant I could have ended up in uniform shooting peasant farmers whose political worldview disagreed with the then-current policies of the US government – policies that changed with elections. Today’s enemy could be tomorrow’s ally.
Regardless of the side, I could have been required to do the bidding of those in power, to bloody my hands and taint my soul. As a quasi-radical, or what went for a quasi-radical in middle class, suburban Pittsburgh in the early 1980’s, I would have none of it.
In those days, I was a Deadhead – a fan of the rock group, the Grateful Dead. Each Sunday evening, a true public radio station (i.e. non-government funded) had a show that replayed recordings of the band’s concerts. Either before that show or after it (l no longer remember) was another show where antiwar activists discussed the evils of US interventions overseas – this is back when there was a strong antiwar left. That program greatly influenced me. And when there was talk about conscientious objection to war, I listened.
Initially, upon turning 18, I refused to register. However, based on information from the radio show, as well as consultations with my church minister and the antiwar mother of a friend, I learned my best chance to not being forced to point a gun – ironically, at the point of a government bayonet – was to register, but register as a conscientious objector.
However, I did not write this article as a guide to registering as a conscientious objector today – there are many resources on the internet. Instead, I wrote it to discuss the Turati-Trotsky rhetorical divide and answer the question of whether it takes manhood to be a coward. My article is also meant to encourage today’s youth to stand for peace and not war.
To answer the coward question in the context of this article, I revised Turati’s statement to read, “One must have manhood to object to war.” Sadly, that is a true statement, with an unwillingness to fight perceived by many as a sign of cowardice. This is especially so given the lack of any antiwar movement outside of libertarianism.
If the government institutes the draft and your number comes up, are you prepared? If you believe war is wrong, you need to begin documenting those beliefs well in advance of a draft. That documentation will be the primary evidence on your side as you stand before the draft board.
Nevertheless, if your number comes up, you will be called to “serve.” And you may not get that deferral. You may end up being forced to fight. lf you choose not to, you will likely end up in prison, which is not a coward’s path. Additionally, where you would have probably been placed in a non-frontline position (most soldiers are not even near the frontlines, never coming face to face with a person in a different uniform), your objection may put you on the line as an unarmed medic. Again, not a coward’s path.
Nevertheless, folks will call you a coward. But it also takes manhood to hold your ground in face of social pressure.
And those interests may indeed lead to war.
Ask yourself whether you are willing to kill in an unjust war, whether decrees from the US government can provide sufficient moral justification for you to slaughter folks in Afghanistan or Nicaragua (in my day), or anywhere, and whether being called a coward is more frightening than selling your soul, so to speak.
For me the answer is no, but I am long past the draft age. What is your answer?
Think, consider, and act today!
The Ludwig von Mises Institute Romania and the Private Academy have recently celebrated the publication of the Romanian translation of Mises’s Human Action.
more than a simple treatise on economics, methodological prolegomena included. It is also a cultural and rhetorical product which speaks of a different scientific world—or a different world altogether… Human Action reveals to readers not only the cultural and intellectual stature of its author, but also a model for how a reader should be. Reading Mises you can rediscover what thoughtful, genuine reading and writing means, as well as how, if these activities were legitimately undertaken, that world and culture would look like.
Congratulations to the Mises Institute Romania for this accomplishment, which I know was not an easy one or without financial difficulties. For Romanian speakers, the full recording of the book launch can be viewed here.
Photos courtesy of the Mises Institute Romania. Vlad Topan (left) and Dan Cristian Comănescu (right).
Unfortunately for English-language readers, the book remains only available in German.
The authors, however, have now launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund the translation of the book into English.
The book is an important addition to the scholarship of decentralization and secession.
“I have finally finished reading your great book about Mises. When I use the word ‘great,’ I mean not simply that it weighs at least a kilo and contains more than 1,000 pages. I mean most of all that it is a magnificent scholarly achievement. I can’t remember when I have taken more pleasure from a book. It is a joy to read, in every way. The English is precise and polished, and everything is put just right. The research is amazingly broad, yet deep, too. The judgments are sensible and mature. The coverage–from the personal details to the content of Mises’s ideas to the context in which he lived and worked–is extraordinary, and the organization puts everything into comprehensible order. The bibliography is more than impressive. All in all, the book is simply an amazing accomplishment, and a fitting tribute to its great subject.
The Mises Institute deserves great credit, too, not only for its support of your work on this project, but also for producing a book that is a fine example of the publisher’s art: the typeface is clean and clear, and large enough to permit effortless reading; the layout is spacious and proper; the footnotes are where they should be, and they, too, are large enough to be read without a magnifying glass; the illustrations are splendid complements to the text; and the indexes are terrific. The work is thus not simply beautiful intellectually, but beautiful physically, as well.
The continuing tragedy of Venezuela is a disaster that few Americans can truly comprehend. Annual inflation in the country, as calculated by Dr. Steve Hanke, has reached 61,436%.
A recent article at Business Insider has done a great job of connecting this sort of data to real world items.
Photographer Carlos Garcia Rawlins took a series of photos showing every day items next to the stacks of Bolivars necessary to purchase them. | 2019-04-25T22:01:53 | https://mises.org/power-market?title=8 |
0.999581 | In some ways, "Local" holds the same allure and mystery of "Mobile" for the digital ad ecosystem. How can they be unlocked through automated, advertising strategies?
For both, aggregation of demand through display ad networks has been the automated answer - i.e. solutions like Google's AdWords/AdSense. That's great for indirect sales, or smaller websites without a sales team, but for larger websites, facilitating automated direct local ad sales at a national scale still seems a ways off.
Witness Business Insider's move to the private exchange or marketplace model to close the gap between its direct and indirect sales of display advertising. And for this article, national, if not global, website networks Gawker Media and Thrillist Media Group declined to comment, which is perhaps indicative of a dearth of solutions for local, automated, direct ad sales.
To be clear, from a sell-side perspective, the reason for enabling automated "direct" would be the ability to access the premium that local advertisers would be willing to pay. Meanwhile, buy siders might want to get a first crack (via direct) at local audiences according to their campaigns' geographic needs.
What's the key to unlocking a direct local ad channel for large, national, online-only publishers?
"There's obviously a ton of money out there in local, but I think the first hurdle is that publishers are going to have to get comfortable with a pay-for-performance model. That's how that market works today, and in my opinion, it's the easiest path to draw dollars into a market clearly skeptical of display.
In addition to that, though, I'd like to see publishers have a spine when it comes to products - let people buy what they want and make price the consideration, not whether the targeting is available. That's the lesson from the failed promise of private exchanges - publishers didn't put any effort into productizing their private market offering, and no surprises, advertisers didn't see any value.
Personally, I think programmatic premium is a much more immediate option to service large deals for existing clients and not so much the local markets precisely because they don't need to make the leap from CPM to CPC and because those direct clients already largely know what they want to buy. I think folks should start there with their programmatic direct strategy and move to local as a phase two offering."
"I'm a pessimist on this... at least for the next 5 years. The mechanics, cost of sale and service, relatively low dollar value of the buyer, and so on all roll up into a model that is just too hard today. To unlock it you'd need boots on the ground in locales (perhaps a job for the unemployed print/radio guys) using technology that allowed for super efficient self-service buying and campaign management (including build a banner, etc) with better attribution for offline results. Because local buyers just aren't thinking too much about digital until someone walks in and says "I saw your banner ad" or they can see the attribution funnel down to their POS credit card purchase - right or wrong, that's how the local SMBs will gauge success."
"At Cars.com, we do quite a bit of revenue locally, but I feel we have some built in advantages that would be tough to replicate if you operated in a different industry or vertical.
First, we have an endemic niche. For us, that’s local car dealers. They have established budgets and marketing goals and they are stationary targets for your sales team. Perhaps the endemic customer base isn’t a requirement, but it sure makes it a lot easier to focus your sales and marketing efforts.
Second, we have a large in-market sales force. For small business owners, there’s no substitute for personalized attention. Even if you had something that is automated, you’d still need some minimum level of personal communication. Remember, you are not just competing against Google AdWords. You are competing for a share of their very limited marketing budget against companies like local TV, radio, print, and outdoor. All of which appear in person to ask for their business.
Third, we have very little competition between local and national over the same inventory, which is partly by design and party good fortune. How will your local customer feel about buying 'leftover' and “remnant” that isn’t sold Nationally? Or in reverse, will National still have appetite for a placement that is already sold out in the top 10 DMAs? It’s seductive to think that you can accept both sales at once, but in my experience, there is always some level of cannibalization. This obviously isn’t an issue if you have so much inventory that you will never run out anyway. But for many web properties there is a finite audience, so selling locally opens the door to evaluating Price/Quantity tradeoffs. Thoughtfully evaluating your areas of overlapping demand is critical to success."
"Like most everything in the digital space, local is currently a victim of complexity and a lack of transparency. How do I get it, what am I getting, when will I get it and so forth. The flip side to complexity (at least in this construct) is control and feedback once you have mastered the nuance. But that mastery and the often opaque nature of online buying are huge friction points to scale. So somewhat long way around to saying that like the rest of the online ad ecosystem, transparency and ease of use will herald huge gains in local digital spend. And it is only a matter of when vs. if that these two things will happen. Here's to hoping that when is sooner rather than later..." | 2019-04-22T00:04:43 | https://adexchanger.com/online-advertising/local-direct-automated-ads/ |
0.999021 | 'Romney-Lite': Jon Huntsman for President?
Politico and ABC News' Jack Tapper are both reporting that the White House expects U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman to resign from his post in the spring to explore a possible 2012 presidential bid. While there's been speculation that the ambassador may potentially be gunning for Obama's job, the fact that Huntsman has "quite notably" not knocked down the rumors has only added fuel to observers who are sizing up what a bid could look like.
One notable observer? The President: "I couldn't be happier with the ambassador's service, and I'm sure he will be very successful in whatever endeavors he chooses in the future," Obama remarked at a press conference (via Politico) earlier in the month. "And I'm sure that him having worked so well with me will be a great asset in any Republican primary."
He Will Immediately Become a 'Serious Contender,' says National Journal's Jeremy P. Jacobs, who proceeds to detail the "obvious and significant hurdles" the potential candidate faces: "He's a moderate on some of the most hot-button issues in a Republican electorate--immigration, climate change and China, among them--nevermind the fact he served in the Obama administration. And he shares many of the same strengths (and weaknesses) as Romney, without the fundraising and organizational know-how--making a Huntsman campaign appear like Romney Lite."
'White House Strategists May Have Been Too Clever' observes Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, about the White House pushing the ambassador toward resignation. "Few people had heard of Huntsman outside of Utah in 2009. While Huntsman had a good center-right record in the state, he had not done much to build himself into a national brand," Morrissey writes. "Since then, the political winds have blown far more favorably to conservatives within the GOP, which may have left Huntsman on the outside in any case. Now Hunstman has a much higher profile than he may otherwise have attained."
What Would a Huntsman Bid Look Like? Asks Brandon Kiser at The Right Sphere, before answering his own query. "Turns out, it would probably remind a lot of people of 2008, which in hindsight isn’t exactly Republicans’ favorite year. If you take a big piece of John McCain and throw it in a pot with some Mitt Romney, the finished product is Gov. Huntsman." Also: "When it comes to his similarities to 2008 runner-up Mitt Romney, Huntsman, like many in Utah is also Mormon and could potentially compete with Mitt for 'Mormon money.'"
A Case Study: Can Huntsman Go Toe-to-Toe With Romney in Utah? Answer: No, not yet, writes The Hill's Christian Heinze. "In the most recent polling of a Romney vs. Huntsman matchup in Utah, Romney won by 23%, and that, despite the fact Huntsman held an 84% approval rating at the time," Heinze observes. "My guess is that any Huntsman decision to run for president would be to raise his national profile in advance of a 2016 bid, when the political environment in the Republican party might be more welcoming to a moderate."
For the nation's interest, and (in my view, but what do I know?) for Huntsman's--is for him clearly to put them to rest. Says that of course he's a Republican, and of course he'll support the GOP ticket in 2012. But he's doing the nation's business now in Beijing, and doesn't want to complicate that with all this political gossip. To me as armchair strategist, staying out of the 2012 fray would seem to save him a lot of heartache. Avoiding a primary fight in this bitter season, when he's fresh off Team Obama; and, if he survived that, avoiding a general election battle when--one assumes--the economic cycle should be improving. If that economic assumption is wrong, everything else changes. But if that were the case and Obama seemed gravely weakened, I am not sure that makes a moderate, rather than a red-meat conservative, the most likely Republican candidate. | 2019-04-20T12:46:05 | https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/romney-lite-jon-huntsman-for-president/342436/ |
0.998321 | A fishing boat with 22 people on board crashed into a 338-ton tanker in South Korea. The crash happened when the boat was passing under a bridge.
The 10-ton fishing boat then overturned. Twenty-two people were stuck in the ship or fell into the water. No one from the tanker was injured, but 13 people from the fishing boat died. Two people, including the captain, are missing.
Difficult words: overturn (turn over), stuck (not able to get out). | 2019-04-24T21:49:01 | https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/boat-accident-in-south-korea-level-2/ |
0.999048 | The Minnesota Twins employed the best catcher in baseball up until 2013, and over his tenure behind the plate, Joe Mauer proved to be one of the five or ten best to ever play the position. Since then however, the role has become somewhat of a black hole for the organization. With Jason Castro shelved in 2018 more question marks have surfaced. The biggest unknown going forward is what do Derek Falvey and Thad Levine do now?
Castro will return in 2019 on the final year of a three-year, $24.5 million deal. He'll be coming off a knee surgery that allowed him to play in just 19 games this season. At 32 years old he'll have spent 699 games behind the dish, and the likelihood that his best days are behind him remains real.
Initially billed as a framing wizard behind the dish, Castro ranked just 15th in baseball per Baseball Prospectus' Framing Runs metric for 2017. While not awful, that's hardly what the Twins had hoped given the hype around that being his best asset. Castro's .720 OPS last season was 29th among major league catchers with at least 130 plate appearances. To summarize, there was plenty to be desired on both sides of the game even before the injury.
Fast forward to 2018, and the Twins catchers have combined to post a .607 OPS. That number comes in 6th worst in all of baseball. Bobby Wilson, who has been the main starter behind the plate in Castro's absence, owns the 6th worst OPS among 55 catchers with at least 100 plate appearances (.507). Mitch Garver has been a significantly better bat, and Willians Astudillo profiles as such also, but neither have been trusted with the gear on.
The lack of belief behind the plate really points to the crux of the Twins issues.
Regardless of what form Castro is in when he returns, Minnesota has virtually no one else they're willing to turn to. Astudillo has posted strong framing numbers at Triple-A, and held his own throwing out 35% of would be base stealers. In seven games with the Twins (and nearly a month on the roster), he never once drew time behind the plate. Garver has been on the 25 man for the balance of the season, yet has been called upon to start at catcher just 45 times.
There's plenty of reason to believe that the Twins should compete immediately in 2019. Projecting another year of virtually everything going wrong seems like a poor bet, and the division should remain plenty open with the only other talented team being the Cleveland Indians. Before they get there however, the Minnesota front office needs to figure out a better blueprint at catcher.
Down the stretch, Garver should be prioritized over Wilson. Whether or not he's deemed an acceptable catcher shouldn't matter in a lost season. Figuring out to what degree he can be counted upon is a must. Astudillo seems like a career minor leaguer, and probably isn't the answer either. Should the results point towards a different direction than Garver, the Twins will need to get creative over the winter.
Castro could be presumed the starter out of the gate again, but a free agent could be brought in to take away those duties. Potential names on the open market include Yasmani Grandal, Wilson Ramos, and Devin Mesoraco. Should the Twins decide not to supplant Castro, another Chris Gimenez type might make sense in place of Garver.
Stepping further away from the situation, the reality is there's a ton of moving pieces and very few certainties for Minnesota. Catcher isn't a position rich in value across the big leagues right now, and while the Twins have two intriguing prospects in Ben Rortvedt and Ryan Jeffers, neither are close enough to make a difference any time soon. The role can't continue to be a revolving door for a team with postseason aspirations however, and driving towards a real answer needs to be a goal sooner rather than later.
Definitely with you on the Garver situation, he needs to play and be evaluated so a decision can be made. Wilson is a known commodity. And while I would imagine that Astudillo is indeed at best a AAAA catcher, we as observers will likely never know. Which would normally lead me to a rant about the MOY, I just don't have that much ambition or passion right now.
I sure hope the FO understands what this article clearly states.The Twins needed a catcher and got Castro for 1 year. That was good enough for 1 year, but stuff happens and now the Twins need another, full time, above average framing, fielding, and hitting healthy catcher. If the FO expects this team to win next year, this must be a top priority.
Why hasn't Astudillo caught some games while he was in the majors?He surely wasn't promoted for his speed...but he was a breath of fresh air when he played.
Why dismiss Astudillo? He certainly deserves a chance at the MLB level in some fashion - a real chance. Why not at catcher? Especially if the Twins aren't all in on Garver. At this point the Bobby Wilson experiment seems pointless.
You both inadvertently touch on the reality with Astudillo. He was up for a month, played something like 5 positions, and not once did he catch. If the Twins don't believe in Garver behind the plate, they think absolutely nothing of Astudillo. Disagree with it or not, that's the message they've sent.
At this point the Bobby Wilson experiment seems pointless.
I 90% agree.There is 10% that wonders if the pitchers need Bobby if they want to develop and get the framing for calls or have the confidence that they can throw a breaking pitch with a man on third.It's those little things.
Astudillo also did not catch in the 4 weeks prior to his first game in the majors. He started mainly at 3B with a few starts in the outfield. Prior to that he was the primary catcher.
The Twins have signed a series of fill ins at catcher for Rochester this year in Cameron Rupp, Jordan Pacheco and Juan Graterol. All were added after the Twins staff had a chance to see Astudillo at catcher in the minors for two months. I certainly didn’t expect that he would be catching upon his call up after following Rochester and seeing how they used him.
Garver is the hope for next year. There is a huge amount of prep work preparing to catch each game. They can probably increase his workload to 4 games a week but the work he is doing preparing for games and learning the league is an unseen piece that is critical to his development. | 2019-04-19T02:27:25 | http://twinsdaily.com/blog/517/entry-11165-a-dish-of-the-waiting-game/ |
0.999018 | Moto G5S doesn't need root, Boldbeast Recorder records calls loudly and clearly in two sides.
Both Moto G5S and Moto G5S Plus work very well.
Some users met this problem - "at first it records the call crystal clear in two directions, but after some time the caller's voice becomes very weak in the recording, or my voice becomes very weak in the recording". What made the problem? There are 3 possible causes.
- Remove all other recorders in your phone.
- Disable OK Google, see the part in this page http://www.boldbeast.com/android/call_r … oting.html to know how to disable it.
- Disable other apps in your phone that may change audio route during a call.
You enabled the "HD Voice" feature. If your phone is working in the HD Voice mode but the caller's phone or his wireless signal doesn't support HD Voice at the moment, this problem appears. So please disable HD Voice to fix the problem.
The ROM has bugs inside. A user sent a recording to me, the first 2 minutes recorded very good, the middle 4 minutes had no sound or only the caller's voice was recorded, the last 1 minute recorded very good again. It seems the ROM wrongly changed the audio route when processing "Echo Cancel", "Noise Suppress", "Automatic Gain Control" or something similar. In this case you have no good solution, no matter what recorder in the market you are using the problem will always be there. You have to wait Motorola to fix it in future ROM updates.
However some users didn't meet this problem. Most possibly the ROMs have some differences inside from country to country, from area to area.
Then it will fix the problem.
1. Moto G5S uses the Qualcomm MSM8937 chipset, all other phones that use the same chipset don't have the problem.
2. Moto G6 Plus uses the Qualcomm SDM630 chipset, all other phones that use the same chipset don't have the problem.
3. Moto G6 Play uses the Qualcomm MSM8920 chipset, all other phones that use the same chipset don't have the problem.
4. In some countries Moto G5S has the problem, in some countries it doesn't have.
5. In some countries Moto G6 Plus has the problem, in some countries it doesn't have.
6. In some countries Moto G6 Play has the problem, in some countries it doesn't have.
It seems this is not a bug in the ROM, instead it is intentionally made by Motorola as a measure to disable the call recording feature in some market areas. If you met the problem you should root the phone to fix it, otherwise all recorders don't work well undoubtedly.
Some Moto E5, Moto E4 users met the same problem as Moto G5S also. In this case root is needed to fix the problem.
I have Moto G5 S Plus and i use Bluetooth headset to make and recieve calls. Is your app can still record calls both ways using bluetooth? Please confirm. Also is it compatible with Moto G5 S PLUS?
So far we have no feedbacks from users about bluetooth.
You are welcome to test it and tell us your result.
Any feedback if a root is needed on Moto G5 S Plus?
So don't know if bluetooth works or not. If not, after root the phone Boldbeast Recorder can fix it.
As per guidelines I had change all settings but same problem is still remaining.
Any news with the android oreo update.
Android Oreo has not been released yet for Moto G5S at this moment.
It's out, waiting for confirmation before updating.
According to reports from users, in some countries Moto G5S / Moto G5S Plus Android 8.1 still suffer the same problem. In this case root is needed to fix it.
So, I can expect the same level of functionality?
In which country does it have the problem?
In which country does it not have the problem?
Unfortunately I don't know. Users usually don't tell me which country he is in.
On Android 7.1.1 my phone doesn't have the problem, on Android 8.1 is it possible to have the problem?
Unfortunately I don't know either. In a new Android version to disable the call recording feature in which market area is solely decided by Motorola itself.
I am Using Moto 5S plus and I am from India. My android version is 8.1. Call recordings are working fine for first 60 sec. only.
I used the sound system settings with root actvate sound not working complete, then the audio gets horrible, unfortunate.
2. Open CatLog to start reading logs (give it root access when asked).
3. Make a call, and let Boldbeast to record the call.
4. Hang up the call.
5. Switch to CatLog, stop reading logs, save the logs to a file.
- Send to me the file saved at 5 above.
- Tell me approximately when the problem occurred during the call.
Let me check the log file and see what happened in your phone. Thanks. | 2019-04-24T06:54:30 | https://www.boldbeast.com/forum/topic1515-call-recorder-for-moto-g5s.html |
0.999234 | Are soil or foliar micronutrients better?
Micronutrients are getting more attention thanks to farmers doing more routine soil testing and plant analyses. Those tests show more micronutrient deficiencies even though farmers might not see foliar symptoms in the growing crop.
Applying micronutrients also is making more economic sense because today's higher yields remove more micronutrients from the soil and many of today's commercial fertilizers contain less residual micros.
The questions many farmers ask center on how to best determine a deficiency, and if found, whether to apply micronutrients on the seed, in the soil or to foliage. The best time, of course, is to apply before a deficiency occurs (seen or unseen).
There are eight nutrients that crop plants need in very small quantities; boron (B), chlorine (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Soil and plant tests measure them in parts per million instead of a percent and constitute, in total, less than 1% of the dry weight of plant biomass. A soil application rate is typically less than 10 pounds per acre.
Most growers are already aware of the importance of adding zinc to corn and manganese to soybeans. Boron is now getting more attention as well.
It is easy to get soil micronutrients levels, it's just an additional measurement during standard N, P and K soil tests.
However, micronutrient soil tests aren't reliable predictors of a crop response especially when test levels are low to medium. In those cases an actual crop response to micronutrients depends on the crop grown (corn responds to zinc, soybeans more to manganese) as well as soil characteristics that affect nutrient availability including pH, organic matter, soil texture, and soil phosphorus levels.
Plant tissue testing uncovers unseen deficiencies, nutrient imbalances and even toxicities. Tissue testing is easy and measures the concentrations of nutrients taken up to date and scores the values as deficient, sufficient or excess. Since crop deficiencies can exist without visible symptoms, tissue tests are a good check on whether soil resources and your fertility program are providing enough nutrients to the crop.
Combining soil and tissue tests can help answer the question of how and when to apply micronutrients.
Soil applied: Historically the most common method has been soil application. It's a natural next step when soil tests show overall deficiencies. Micronutrients can be blended with commercial fertilizer at a retail plant, manufactured with other nutrients (such as with Mosaic's MicroEssentials) or offered as a granule coating (such as the WolfTrax EvenCoat line). Micros can be added to either granular or fluid fertilizers, and applied either broadcast or banded (including popups.) Including micronutrients with fertilizers is convenient, enables uniform distribution and reduces application cost.
Seed-applied: Seed treatments are an attractive way to deliver small amounts of micronutrients. Any micronutrient seed treatment can improve stand establishment, speed up early growth and development and overcome short-term spring nutrient deficiencies. The limitation is that seed companies today are loading the seed with so many pesticides, inoculants and biologicals that adding the necessary amounts of micronutrients may not be practical.
Foliar applied: It's become more popular to apply some type of foliar spray, which might include micronutrients, growth regulators and carbon. Most of the foliar micronutrients are soluble and chelated inorganic salts and easily taken up across leaf surfaces. Foliar sprays are uniform, applied at lower rates than soil application and can be combined with pesticide passes. Crops respond immediately by taking up and banking these nutrients in their tissue rather than relying on roots to access them. There is a risk of some leaf burn and the plants are limited in how much they can absorb, so foliar applications can't overcome soil deficiencies of macronutrients.
Rely on soil and tissue tests to guide application to get a return on your investment. | 2019-04-22T18:01:03 | https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2016/05/19/soil-foliar-micronutrients-better-4 |
0.998842 | How do you get kids to write a summary? How do you get them to write something shorter and more general--a just-the-highlights version of the original text? First, compare it to ESPN SportsCenter.
Imagine an entire basketball or football game lasting 90 minutes. If you were the sportscaster or commentator of the game, you would have to watch the entire game in order to announce all that happened during the game. That's the sportscaster's job--to retell, paraphrase, or interpret what is happening in the game. Because the sportscaster is retelling all the details as they are happening, it will be as long as the original game--90 minutes.
However, if you missed the game, you might watch SportsCenter the next morning. Although the game took 90 minutes, you're not going to get a 90-minute SportsCenter brief. You're going to get a 90-second version. And it's not going to include the play-by-play, but rather, just the highlights.
SportsCenter anchors focus on the key characters, important plays, and the pivotal moments told in order. Their sports reports don't include ALL the details from the game, just the MOST IMPORTANT ones. And, for this reason, the summary is signicantly shorter than the retelling. And that's what a written summary is, too--just the highlights from the passage told in order.
Use sample passages to give students experience turning the original text first into a retelling/paraphrase and then into a summary. | 2019-04-21T17:04:03 | https://www.smekenseducation.com/Summary-Writing-Parallels-ESPN-0.html |
0.999893 | Categorizing artists and classifying them under a specific style of music is often a daunting and dangerous task. For program directors and those in the marketing and advertising field, it’s a necessity. While some artists can easily be slotted into various genres, many shudder at the process. Classify someone under “blues”, for instance, and try to get their record played in a non-blues format. As a marketing tool, such labels can help but they can also hurt.
Over 50 years have passed since Little Anthony and the Imperials traveled from the Fort Green Projects in Brooklyn, New York’s Greenpoint neighborhood to record for George Goldner’s fledgling End Records. In that time, the group has endured a host of categorizations- Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Vocal Group Harmony, Doo Wop and- ouch- Oldies. “That one is the worst,” agrees Anthony, now 69 and living in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerland. “It sounds like something old and dusty, and moldy that you dragged out. Even Doo Wop- we do the Doo Wop shows but we’re not a Doo Wop group. We were in the middle of that, and we graduated from it. There were so many styles. I wouldn’t call the Flamingos or Bobby Lester and the Moonglows ‘doo wop’ groups. We knew them as rhythm and blues singing groups. Today, we do all types of music, and the people who come and see us live and hear what we’re doing, they know and they understand that.” In 2009, Little Anthony and the Imperials continue to record and tour around the world.
Undeniably, Anthony and the Imperials did come out of the so-called “doo wop” era. Jerome Anthony Gourdine’s father worked as an electrician in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard and had also played tenor sax with Buddy Johnson’s big band. His mother and her sisters sang gospel in their neighborhood Baptist church. Influenced by a diverse group of artists from Ella Fitzgerald and George Shearing to his future label mates, the Flamingos, Anthony formed his first group at the age of 14 with a trio of neighborhood friends and Boys High classmates.
Taking their name from a chemical firm’s advertising sign, the Duponts recorded a pair of singles for the local Winley and Royal Roost labels in 1956-57 and made it to the stage of the New York Paramount Theater with legendary WINS disc jockey Alan Freed. By mid-1957, the group had dissolved and Gourdine connected with a local quartet looking for a new lead singer. Known as the Chesters, they consisted of baritone Clarence Collins, lead Ernest Wright, Jr., tenor Tracy Lord, and bass “Nate” Rogers. “I was doing the lead, (and) we went in to the studio to (audition) for Richard (Barrett) and George Goldner,” Wright recalled at Barrett’s 2006 memorial service. “(It) wasn’t coming out right. Richard came out and he said, ‘Come back when you have a better lead singer’. Walking away, we knew we had to find a better voice - a lead voice.” When Anthony noted the neighborhood girls’ affinity for the Chesters, he turned his attention to joining them, and a new partnership was born.
Through a friend in the Cellos, the Chesters auditioned for Apollo Records and ended up recording “The Fires Burn No More” in 1958, but even a big push from Freed couldn’t break the record nationally. With all the pieces in place, the quintet returned to see Richard Barrett (1933-2006), the former Valentines’ lead singer whose skill and success as a songwriter, producer, arranger, manager, and label owner made him a creative force behind artists including the Chantels, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Three Degrees, among others. Barrett, who served as a producer and A&R man at Goldner’s End-Gone firm liked the group and Wright’s original song, “Two People In The World”, and suggested adding the “boy who told the girl of the stars up above” bridge. Lou Gallo, the label’s promotions rep, rechristened them the Imperials.
Disc jockeys turned the record over and began playing “Tears On My Pillow”. One of the deejays playing the record was Freed, who came up with the “Little Anthony” moniker after hearing the singer’s unusually high tenor lead. “Tears” went to #4 on Billboard’s pop chart, the first in a string of 19 Hot 100 hits stretching into 1974. Eleven additional R&B charted singles and four albums also followed. The succession of tours and television appearances that followed over the next 17 years was virtually endless.
While the hits on End continued, the group did not allow themselves to be pigeonholed. Their 1961 album Shades of the ‘40s, presented the group in a more sophisticated light, tackling the likes of Mercer, Gershwin, and Ellington. One of their biggest-selling singles, 1959’s “Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko Bop”, a song Anthony still refers to as “stupid”, crossed over into a more novelty pop vein.
By late 1961, Anthony and the Imperials had parted ways, with Gourdine recording a pair of singles for Roulette and the group following Barrett to Carlton Records. Rogers and Lord also left, and George Kerr stepped into the lead role with Sammy Strain handling the first tenor chores. By 1963, Anthony, Wright, Collins, and Strain had reformed the act, and were soon introduced to singer-songwriter Teddy Randazzo (1935-2003), who had appeared in several of Freed’s 1950s motion pictures with his group, the Three Chuckles. Randazzo, working as the A&R director at Don Costa’s DCP label, offered the group a stellar ballad he had co-authored with Bobby Weinstein called “I’m On The Outside (Looking In)”.
When DCP ran into difficulty with United Artists, who was distributing their product, Anthony and the Imperials shifted to UA’s Veep label in mid-1966, continuing to broaden their bases with the “Better Use Your Head”, a mix of R&B, soul, ‘60s pop with backing chorus, and even Broadway, which became their first British chart single in 1966. With Randazzo behind the board, the sweeping, powerful yet often-neglected “It’s Not The Same” followed it up the charts in the U.S. Again, the Imperials couldn’t easily be classified.
Shifting to the parent company in 1969, the group returned to the music of their youth, with successful renditions of “Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind”, and “The Ten Commandments Of Love” before placing their final chart hit to date on Avco in 1974, “I’m Falling In Love With You”, from their On A New Street LP. One side of the disc was produced, arranged and conducted by Randazzo. The other side, including the hit single, was a Thom Bell product.
The group parted ways amicably in 1975 to pursue other opportunities. Sammy Strain went on to sing with the O’Jays. Wright spent some time with Tony Williams’ Platters. Clarence, Bobby Wade, and Harold Jenkins kept the Imperials active.
In January of 1992, Little Anthony and the Imperials- Gourdine, Strain, Wright, and Collins- performed together again at The Ultimate Reunion concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Delivering rich harmonies, sharp choreography, and a commanding stage presence, the effect the group had on their audience and reviewers was overwhelming. In the 17 years since, the group has crossed the globe making personal appearances. Strain retired in 2004 and was replaced by the returning Jenkins, who serves as the group’s choreographer. They have also released three CDs, Up Close And Personal, recorded live in South Carolina in 1996, 2002’s Pure Acappella, a return to the roots 1950s vocal group harmony, and You’ll Never Know, a 50th Anniversary celebration released in 2008 which includes the salsa-flavored “Carnival” and Anthony’s sparkling title track duet with Deniece Williams, an ideal mark for the Adult Contemporary charts. Once again, Little Anthony and the Imperials cannot be easily classified.
Ironically, the group’s pending induction finally provides them with a suitable categorization and classification a full half-century after their career began. Little Anthony and the Imperials are now Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. | 2019-04-24T20:21:48 | http://toddbaptista.com/the%20imperials.html |
0.999674 | "The Name of the Rose": Where Is Christian Slater now?
Sean Connery and Christian Slater in "The Name of the Rose"
It has been thirty years since Christian Slater starred as " Adson von Melk" in the screen adaptation of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. The now 48-year-old has enjoyed a lot of success as an actor over the last three decades and has had his fair share of ups and downs in his personal life.
Christian Slater has had an action-packed life. The American actor has experienced various highs and lows, both career-wise and in his personal life, over the last few years. He found worldwide fame in 1986 as "Adson von Melk" in The Name of the Rose, starring alongside Sean Connery, who played the wise Franciscan friar William of Baskerville. Slater had already acted professionally previously, however.
The New York born Slater had his first acting job when he was just seven years old appearing in the soap The Edge of the Night. During the early eighties he was more than at home on Broadway until he decided to move to Los Angeles. After The Name of the Rose, Slater starred in countless films such as Mindhunter (2004) and Nymphomaniac (2013). He also appeared in several TV series including My Own Worst Enemy (2008) and has starred in Mr Robot since 2015. In 2017 he appeared in the film The Public.
The handsome actor has had various run-ins with the law including an arrest for drunk driving in 1989. He also supports several charities. He took part in an educational video produced by Nelson Mandela (+95) aimed at raising public awareness of AIDS and has taken part in humanitarian projects in South Africa.
Slater has been married twice. He was married to his first wife Ryan Haddon from 2000 to 2007 and the couple have two children, Jaden Christopher Haddon-Slater and Eliana Sophia Haddon-Slater. He has been married to Brittany Lopez since 2nd December 2013. | 2019-04-22T13:05:42 | https://www.promipool.com/celebrities/the-name-of-the-rose-where-is-christian-slater-now |
0.998558 | Raj's video statement, however, stands contradictory to what he said in the FIR. In the video, he claimed he went to the spot after he received information. But in the FIR, Raj had claimed he and his associates saw "seven people slaughtering cows" when they were roaming in the fields.
Yogesh Raj, the main accused in connection with the killing of a police officer in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, has denied his involvement in the violence that broke out over alleged slaughter of cows. In a video message, Bajrang Dal member Raj claimed innocence and said he was not present at the site where the violence had erupted.
Raj, in the video, said the people are “portraying me as if I am a history-sheeter.” He is among 27 people named in the FIR in connection with the death of the inspector. Police are presently investigating the violence that led to the death of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and Sumit Kumar due to gunshot injuries on the basis of two FIRs — one on cow slaughter and the other on violence.
Referring to the Monday incident, Raj said, “There were two incidents that happened on that day.” Elaborating those incidents, he said, “The first incident was related to cow slaughter at Mahav village near Siyana. When I got information about that, I reached there with my supporters. The police also reached there and we went to the Siana police station for filing our complaint (about cow slaughter),” he said.
“When we were still at the police station we got to know that villagers were pelting stones. There had been firing as well and a youth and a policeman have received gunshot injuries,” he continued.
Raj’s video statement, however, stands contradictory to what he said in the FIR. In the video, he claimed he went to the spot after he received information. But in the FIR, Raj had claimed he and his associates saw “seven people slaughtering cows” when they were roaming in the fields. The FIR was lodged against seven people, including minors, under IPC section 295 at Siyana police station. Police said all seven named in the FIR are Muslims.
Interestingly, the neighbour of the man on whose field the “carcasses” were found said farm workers had first flagged them.
Meanwhile, the Bajrang Dal asked Raj to surrender before police and said it believed he is innocent. It also demanded a probe into the incident by the CBI, saying the police themselves were the complainant.
“Yes, we admit having brought the carcasses to the police station because we wanted action against those involved in cow slaughter. But when the police had agreed to our demand and registered an FIR, then why should we create ruckus?” Bajrang Dal’s Western Uttar Pradesh region co-convenor Praveen Bhati asked.
“What happened here (violence at Chingrawathi police post) in the meantime, Yogesh Raj has got nothing to do with it. He is our district convenor, we are with him and he is innocent. He will cooperate with the police and come out at the right time,” he said.
Earlier, ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar had said police were looking for Raj and probing his role. The police had also said they were trying to ascertain if the accused have political links. | 2019-04-24T02:29:23 | https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bulandshahr-violence-yogesh-raj-accused-bajrang-dal-police-officer-killed-up5480209/ |
0.999814 | How would Barack Obama handle foreign policy?
The presidential contender on dealing with Iran, fighting AIDS in Africa and restoring America's standing in the world.
Barack Obama sat down with Salon for a short interview about foreign policy Sunday night after holding a town meeting at the Grundy Center High School.
I have talked with Democratic voters who say they are looking for a presidential candidate who would not get us into a war with Iran. Could you explain why you are that candidate instead of your rivals?
My philosophy has been consistent, which is that we don't take military options off the table. We must have a much more effective set of sanctions and measured sticks that we should apply to get Iran to change its behavior.
But I have also said -- in a way that no other candidate has emphasized -- that I would talk directly to Iran, and that I would initiate the kind of bold diplomatic initiatives that have been entirely absent from this administration. I have outlined very specifically how I would approach that diplomacy. And I have the credibility of someone who got Iraq right. So if you're looking for someone who is not going to be rushed into war, it strikes me that I'm that candidate.
Do you think Iran is a valid way to choose among Democratic presidential candidates who -- based on their public statements and positions -- are 95 percent similar on foreign policy?
Any of the Democrats are going to be more prudent than George Bush has been. But I think there are genuine differences in how the Democrats posture themselves when it comes to issues in the Middle East. My belief is that all too often we try to look tough and vote and act in ways that give George Bush the benefit of the doubt.
Kyl-Lieberman is a good example, but there have been preceding votes of that sort. There are differences in the sense that I have been willing to call it as I see it regardless of the politics. And I think we are going to make ourselves safer if we have maintained a strong military capacity and are willing to go after those who would target us or do us harm.
But the problems in the Middle East are complex. And we have to apply a foreign policy that uses all of our power -- political, economic, cultural, as well as military -- if we're going to make ourselves safer instead of just wanting to believe that somehow we could browbeat the countries in the Middle East into giving into our will.
You said in your speech here tonight that your election would be a major symbol to the world because you have a grandmother living in a village in Kenya and you partly grew up in Indonesia, a Muslim country. What are the practical benefits of that background?
I'll give you a specific example. When I went to Kenya -- which is an ally of ours and, while poor, is doing better than many countries in sub-Saharan Africa -- Michelle and I took an AIDS test. The CDC [Centers for Disease Control] estimated that half a million people would probably take that test after they saw Michelle and me take it, which could lead to thousands of lives being saved.
I gave a speech that talked about not only the U.S.'s obligations to help developing countries but developing countries' need to help themselves by getting rid of corruption. That was broadcast all across the country and generated the consternation of the government there. But it opened up a whole new conversation in the country about demanding more transparency and anti-corruption measures. That is not a speech that any other American politician could have delivered in the same way.
And as president, I think that means not only do people give me the benefit of the doubt, but I can challenge some of the conventional wisdom in other countries and push for U.S. interests in these other countries in a way that others cannot do.
In your speech you suggested that more former Clinton administration foreign-policy officials are supporting you than Hillary Clinton. Why are these foreign-policy experts with you? Is it a generational thing, or is something else at work here?
You obviously have to ask them. But I think that what many of these advisors have in common is a belief that repairing our standing in the world is perhaps the single most important task of the next president. It is what will lead to a more secure America. And I believe that they trust my judgment to be able to execute that in a way that is liberated from someone of the past thinking.
All of these people recognize that we can't keep on doing the same things when we have an entirely new environment. And the 21st century is a new environment. It may not be entirely generational, but people who support me are more likely to see that we're in a post-Cold War world with asymmetric threats and we've got to respond in different ways.
Do you think that foreign-policy advisors should disagree with one another?
So you wouldn't mind a secretary of state who in ideological terms thinks that the national security advisor is on planet Mars?
I think it is important for an administration to have strong, robust debates as long as everybody is on the same team. Obviously, once I, as president, make those decisions, you don't want them being subverted because of ideological differences. But I think having a robust debate [is good, since] all of us have certain biases. And this is one area where you want to get it right. That's part of the reason why I want some traditional Republicans to be involved in this process. | 2019-04-26T01:51:47 | https://www.salon.com/2007/11/20/obama_foreign/ |
0.998509 | Closed-Lid iBook on External Monitor?
Is this possible to do? I have an external monitor with a much higher resolution than my iBook has and want to do some work on there. Is closed-lid usage possible with a hack?
On my old (OLD) iBook, the only way I could find to do it was to disable sleep mode, and close the lid with display brightness set to 0.
I'll see if I can find an application that can do it for you. IIRC I had to use terminal commands and such.
As far as I know, the iBook should not be run with the lid closed because of heat problems. Having the extra screen is not a problem with the hack. | 2019-04-24T04:51:01 | https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/comment/880220/ |
0.999985 | : : : I have recently looked thru a book of Civil War veterans buried in Arkansas. William E. Shirley was listed. It showed that he was born 12/30/1843 and that he died 11/2/1929. His unit was shown as Co. D Alabama Infantry but it did not show the number of the Alabama Infantry. He is buried in Oakland Memorial Cemetery in Johnson County, Arkansas. Does anyone have any information regarding his parents, his descendants, etc.? I would appreciate any help.
: : Mr Shirely was in the 60th Alabama Infantry. He moved to Ark in 1881 from Opelika , Alabama..William E Shirely was married to Emma Elizabeth White...Their children were: Mina Mildred : Olla : William Edwin : Edward : Jesse ; and Winfred.
: : Mr Shirely had a very extensive military record with the C.S.A.
: : Mr Shirely was the owner of a mill on Horsehead Creek. It was a few miles west of Clarksville.
: Do you know who his parents were, where he was born, etc.? I am trying to see if he is connected to my Shirley ancestors in Alabama.
Unfortunately I have been unable to find that information. I do know that he enlisted in the Confederate Army out of school in Columbus, Ga.
: : : : I have recently looked thru a book of Civil War veterans buried in Arkansas. William E. Shirley was listed. It showed that he was born 12/30/1843 and that he died 11/2/1929. His unit was shown as Co. D Alabama Infantry but it did not show the number of the Alabama Infantry. He is buried in Oakland Memorial Cemetery in Johnson County, Arkansas. Does anyone have any information regarding his parents, his descendants, etc.? I would appreciate any help.
: : : Mr Shirely was in the 60th Alabama Infantry. He moved to Ark in 1881 from Opelika , Alabama..William E Shirely was married to Emma Elizabeth White...Their children were: Mina Mildred : Olla : William Edwin : Edward : Jesse ; and Winfred.
: : : Mr Shirely had a very extensive military record with the C.S.A.
: : : Mr Shirely was the owner of a mill on Horsehead Creek. It was a few miles west of Clarksville.
: : Do you know who his parents were, where he was born, etc.? I am trying to see if he is connected to my Shirley ancestors in Alabama.
: Unfortunately I have been unable to find that information. I do know that he enlisted in the Confederate Army out of school in Columbus, Ga. | 2019-04-25T00:44:12 | http://web.archive.org/web/20040331110001/http:/shirleyassociation.com/wwwboard/messages/785.html |
0.999993 | The quality of surfaces is becoming more and more important. Users are paying more attention to economical concepts and the aspect of time when it comes to shot blasting.
Large steel beams are used more and more often. Depending on the condition of the beams, the shot blasting process is very complex. In order to solve this task, AGTOS is offering a powerful roller conveyor shot blast plant. This machine type will be exhibited at the exhibition booth.
The passage width is 1.500 mm. Thus, the shot blast plant can treat steel beams up to a width of 1.100 mm and a height of 420 mm. Rust and scale will be removed reliably.
Furthermore, this machine type is also suitable for the treatment of metal sheets. The max. sheet width is 1.500 mm. In case smaller parts shall be processed, appropriate wire baskets are available. The machine shown at the exhibition is part of a product series which is offered in different sizes.
The work pieces will be supplied to the machine via a roller conveyor. They pass a switching threshold installed in front of the inlet sluice. This threshold releases the automatic supply of abrasive to the running high-performance turbines. By means of this measure, it is ensured that the blasting only takes place when there are work pieces in the blasting area. This limits the wear and tear of the machine and saves energy and abrasive media.
The inlet sluice is sealed with easily replaceable and wear-resistant rubber curtains in the upper part that mitigate the escape of abrasive and dust. The lower part is sealed by means of adjustable rubber lamellas that adapt to the contour of the respective work pieces.
While passing the blasting chamber itself, the work pieces are blasted evenly and accurately. Four AGTOS high-performance turbines with up to 22 kW of power have been provided for this task. They are distinguished by their high performance and long lifetimes of the wear parts. In case of maintenance, they can be changed relatively quickly and easily.
After having passed the blasting area, the work pieces reach the combined brush and blower unit. Here, the abrasive cleaned from the surfaces of the work pieces is returned to the abrasive circuit. In order to do this, the abrasive is collected in the hopper below the machine, forwarded by means of a screw conveyor, and then transported to the upper part of the machine by means of a bucket elevator.
There, bigger particles are filtered out and small grain and dust are removed from the abrasive. The purified abrasive is led from the abrasive silo back to the high-performance turbines by means of the abrasive control unit.
The dust separation of the shot blast plant is realised by means of a cartridge filter. The filter has a fan which creates a negative pressure. A deflecting separator and filter cartridges with an appropriate medium clean the aspirated air, so that it is clean when it returns back into the factory hall. An additional filter provides double security.
Our exhibition team will be happy to inform you about the different versions of our high-performance turbines - the most important component of a shot blast machine - as well as their maintenance options. They reach a long service life also when using aggressive abrasive media. Examples of already produced machines will be shown and the best solutions for processing work pieces by means of shot blasting will be demonstrated. | 2019-04-25T02:34:36 | http://mfn.li/archive/issue_detail.php?id=1856&pid=132&typ=5 |
0.998767 | Bearing in mind that there are many trade shows held at different places in the world if you are producing some products you should be adequately prepared for it. Seeing the products only cannot increase the volume of sales but by explaining all the possible ways of the public and how the product will be of importance can. Your graphics about the product should be very well displayed to create some attention. There is a lot that you should do when it comes to the trade show signage and display corporate.
Those people with experience with such a company would be of benefit to you since they will help in making a decision. No person is born knowing and so you should seek for recommendations from your friends and colleagues who are ready to help. You are supposed to look for those people who have ever received this kind of services and they will direct you on the best corporate to hire. Once they give the views, you can investigate and come up with the best trade show signage and display corporate in the market.
The location of the trade show signage and display company is the third factor you should think about. This is one of the key factors that you cannot afford to avoid since they have a lot of impacts. A graphics corporate that is near your store or rather just near you would be of help since you will not suffer from distance challenges. However, if the company has met your specifications and it is the only one you can have then you can choose it despite the distance.
For how long has the company been offering these services? This is one of the credentials of the corporate that you are supposed to know. A graphics corporate that has been in operation for less than five years would not be the very best choice. Looking at some of the graphics of some products on a trade show that the company has done can shed some light on you about whether to opt for the company or think otherwise. | 2019-04-20T15:03:44 | http://www.homedesignedison.tk/a-beginners-guide-to-shows.html |
0.999997 | 1 A None No Power Seat 1 A is a standard Business Class seat however, the proximity to the lavatories and galleys may be bothersome. Passengers that require a bassinet are often sat here, which may be bothersome. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the left armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
1 C None No Power Seat 1 C is a standard Business Class seat however, the proximity to the lavatories and galleys may be bothersome. Passengers that require a bassinet are often sat here, which may be bothersome. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the left armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
1 D None No Power Seat 1 D is a standard Business Class seat however, the proximity to the lavatories and galleys may be bothersome. Passengers that require a bassinet are often sat here, which may be bothersome. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the left armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
1 F None No Power Seat 1 F is a standard Business Class seat however, the proximity to the lavatories and galleys may be bothersome. Passengers that require a bassinet are often sat here, which may be bothersome. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the left armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
14 A None No Power Seat 14 A is a standard Economy Class seat with limited recline due to the Exit Row behind.
14 B None No Power Seat 14 B is a standard Economy Class seat with limited recline due to the Exit Row behind.
14 C None No Power Seat 14 C is a standard Economy Class seat with limited recline due to the Exit Row behind.
14 D None No Power Seat 14 D is a standard Economy Class seat with limited recline due to the Exit Row behind.
14 E None No Power Seat 14 E is a standard Economy Class seat with limited recline due to the Exit Row behind.
14 F None No Power Seat 14 F is a standard Economy Class seat with limited recline due to the Exit Row behind.
15 A None No Power Seat 15 A is a standard Economy Class seat with additional legroom due to the Exit Row. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing.
15 B None No Power Seat 15 B is a standard Economy Class seat with additional legroom due to the Exit Row. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing.
15 C None No Power Seat 15 C is a standard Economy Class seat with additional legroom due to the Exit Row. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing.
15 D None No Power Seat 15 D is a standard Economy Class seat with additional legroom due to the Exit Row. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing.
15 E None No Power Seat 15 E is a standard Economy Class seat with additional legroom due to the Exit Row. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing.
15 F None No Power Seat 15 F is a standard Economy Class seat with additional legroom due to the Exit Row. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing.
24 C None No Power Seat 24 C is a standard Economy Class seat. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
24 D None No Power Seat 24 D is a standard Economy Class seat. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
25 A None No Power Seat 25 A is a standard Economy Class seat however, this seat is in the last row and does not recline. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
25 B None No Power Seat 25 B is a standard Economy Class seat however, this seat is in the last row and does not recline. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
25 C None No Power Seat 25 C is a standard Economy Class seat however, this seat is in the last row and does not recline. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
25 D None No Power Seat 25 D is a standard Economy Class seat however, this seat is in the last row and does not recline. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
25 E None No Power Seat 25 E is a standard Economy Class seat however, this seat is in the last row and does not recline. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
25 F None No Power Seat 25 F is a standard Economy Class seat however, this seat is in the last row and does not recline. The proximity to the lavatory and galley area may be bothersome.
8 A None No Power Seat 8 A is a standard Economy Class seat with limited legroom. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
8 B None No Power Seat 8 B is a standard Economy Class seat with limited legroom. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
8 C None No Power Seat 8 C is a standard Economy Class seat with limited legroom which is often bumped into since it juts into the aisle. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
8 D None No Power Seat 8 D is a standard Economy Class seat with limited legroom which is often bumped into since it juts into the aisle. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
8 E None No Power Seat 8 E is a standard Economy Class seat with limited legroom. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
8 F None No Power Seat 8 F is a standard Economy Class seat with limited legroom. There is no floor storage for this seat during takeoff and landing. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width.
Movies are shown on overhead screens in both classes.
On flights lasting longer than two hours, meals are served. On flights less than two hours, hot snacks are served. Beverages are served on all flights.
Royal Air Maroc flies their Boeing 737-700 in a 114 seat, two-class configuration of Business and Economy. Royal Air Maroc flies this aircraft on short-haul routes.
Royal Air Maroc flies 1 versions of Boeing 737-700. | 2019-04-18T21:21:13 | https://seatguru.com/airlines/Royal_Air_Maroc/Royal_Air_Maroc_Boeing_737-700.php |
0.999999 | What’s more terrifying other than a monster trying to hunt you down as food? Imagine a movie inspired by films such as Jaws or a post-apocalyptic video game like The Last Of Us, mixed them both together and you have yourself a dramatic horror thriller called A Quiet Place directed by John Krasinski, A.K.A. Jim Halpert from The Office, Jack Ryan from Amazon’s Tom Clancy’s titular character & he’s possibly rumored to voice Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
A Quiet Place became a sleeper hit from both critics & movie goers alike. So far, it continues to make a enough money at the box office.
The following article is a NON-SPOILER review. If you’ve never seen this movie, feel free to read it.
Positive: John Krasinski, Emily Blunt (also John’s real life spouse) & the child actors who play their onscreen children all did an excellent job on their respective performances. John’s performance as the father, has got to be the best performance I’ve ever seen since Hugh Jackman in Logan. I know it sounds early, but John deserves a Best Actor nomination for The 91st Academy Awards. I’m gonna give him a bunch of Extra Points for taking a serious role.
Besides starring as the main protagonist, John also did a fantastic job on writing, producing and directing his movie.
Loud sounds are used to build suspense. Whenever someone accidentally makes a noise, The Monster will come after them, you know the intensity is about to get real.
Scary Moments were handled carefully they managed to keep me startled. As if I was part of The Family trying to stay silent as possible.
Jump Scares aren’t used heavily to make you pee your pants, thank goodness.
Visual Effects were used to create The Monster. It reminded me of “The Clickers” from The Last Of Us. I bet John was playing the game so he can come up with a sinister threat that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.
Even though he is not a fan of horror films, John stated that he’s influenced by Jaws, Alien, No Country For Old Men, In The Bedroom, Don’t Breathe & Get Out.
As a gamer myself, the movie reminded me of post-apocalyptic video games such as the Fallout series & The Last Of Us. Maybe John is actually a gamer and was inspired by the games in order to craft a cohesive narrative. The Last Of Us also features a similar protagonist forced to protect a girl and escape from a monster attracted to echolocation like a bat who’s blind but can hear to find you where you’re at.
Cinematography didn’t feature extensive use of Shaky Cam not Dutch Angles.
Chemistry between the characters was the main highlight, as you don’t want them to get killed. They’re a family you can relate to if you’re caught in the middle of dangerous circumstances.
Similar to Cloverfield, we don’t see we’re The Monster came from, we only focus on characters who aren’t connected to a scientific failed experiment or a military unit sent to investigate an abandoned spaceship.
In order to avoid a fateful encounter with The Creature, The Family must rely on sign language, whispering quietly & body language if they want to stay alive.
Opening Sequence establishes the story with a shocking moment.
According to John, he confirmed where The Monster came from. I refuse to tell you his confirmation. However, I’ll give you a clue, all ya have to do is spot a bunch of newspapers.
The Main Theme for the film is Guilt. If you’ve already seen it, you’ll probably get it.
Near the end, something terribly happened. I will not tell you what it is, you’re gonna have to see for yourself.
Speaking of the end, you’re gonna be surprised about one pivotal scene before The End Credits commence.
Negative: Michael Bay also produced the film. I can’t believe I’m gonna say it, I’ll give him a pass, because I didn’t see a lot of explosions.
I couldn’t find anything wrong with this movie, I’m gonna give it an Extra Point for The Cast & Crew for making a film as flawless as possible!
A Quiet Place has got to be the best horror film since the 2017 version of It: Chapter One. Minimal Cast did a tremendous job on their performances. Sound managed to be used carefully to build of suspense. John Krasinski deserves special praise for his hard work on acting, directing, producing and writing. If I were you, I strongly recommend this movie. If you don’t have plans, go out and support John’s movie right now!
Dear Mr. Krasinki, if you’re reading this, I won’t you to poissbly auditioned for Logan/Wolverine, if Disney & Fox officially make an agreement to allow X-Men character to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (MCU for short) I hope it’s possible to make this miracle happen, because it’s a role of a lifetime. | 2019-04-23T15:54:16 | https://nickthemoviecritic.com/2018/04/14/a-quiet-place/ |
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It arrives like you may perceive being s remaining this Meaning in Absurdity: What bizarre. It compares like you may run regarding guys Taking this review. F ': ' This Research was only try. damage ': ' This boy had however be. page. | 2019-04-22T04:30:58 | http://paginacuba.com/cc/ccsmall/images/pdf/Meaning-in-Absurdity%3A-What-bizarre-phenomena-can-tell-us-about-the-nature-of-reality-2012/ |
0.999206 | The Treasury declares it wants more participation by women and veterans in its banking fix-it plan. But what about paying a little more attention to the problem of keeping cheaters out?
What does it mean that the Treasury Department now wants to "encourage small, veteran-, minority- and women-owned private asset managers" to participate in the Geithner plan to get toxic assets off the balance sheets of ailing banks?
To ensure a diversity of participation, the Treasury will encourage small, veteran-, minority- and women-owned private asset managers to partner with other private asset managers, if necessary, in order to meet the criteria identified above for assets under management and ability to raise private capital.
An early criticism of the Geithner plan was that its focus on requiring the asset managers that could participate to be able to raise at least $500 million in private capital and have a minimum of $10 billion in "eligible assets" under management, effectively ruled out anybody except Wall Street's already existing elite from playing. Why should only big institutional investors be allowed in? As one commenter at the Baseline Scenario put it, while recommending that the government find a way for individual investors to participate, "I think the willingness of the administration to do such a thing would tell us a lot about whose for whose interest they are really looking out."
So in that context, one could argue that the administration is listening to critics, although I am sure that conservatives are already decrying the insertion of political goals into the Geithner plan.
But if the Treasury was really listening to critics, then it should have taken the opportunity presented by today's announcement to unveil some changes that would address far more substantive criticisms -- specifically, the charge that Wall Street is going to manipulate the plan to its own advantage. I don't agree with Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican member of the House Financial Services committee, very often, but he's absolutely right when he says "it would mark 'a new level of absurdity' if financial institutions were 'colluding to swap assets at inflated prices using taxpayers' dollars.'" Jeffrey Sachs also slams the plan today for the "extraordinary" opportunities it offers "for banks to game the plan."
The term sheet for what has been dubbed the "Legacy Securities" part of the Geithner plan includes a section on "Governance and Management" that could be construed as forbidding some of the shenanigans that are being raised as possibilities, but I, for one, would be far more reassured by more attention being paid to how the system can be manipulated than to whether or not to encourage participation by veteran- and women-owned business. The latter seems like window dressing; the former seems a make-or-break proposition. | 2019-04-18T10:23:45 | https://www.salon.com/2009/04/06/gaming_the_toxic_asset_plan/ |
0.999999 | Decide whether who or whose is used. Choose from the drop-down menu.
1 He knows a boy whowhose has three bikes.
2 This is Peter whowhose lost a tooth yesterday.
3 This is John whowhose car was stolen yesterday.
4 Mrs Brown, whowhose husband is a dentist, came to visit yesterday.
5 I talked to a man whowhose had just returned from China.
6 Thomas Edison was an inventor whowhose ideas changed the world.
7 Sean is the boy whowhose won the competition.
8 John, whowhose is Susan's boyfriend, works in a bank.
9 What do you call someone whowhose lives in Canada?
10 The Jones, whowhose son lives in New York, are moving to America. | 2019-04-21T16:05:40 | https://englishgrammarexercise.com/who-or-whose-exercise/ |
0.998847 | the cancer is back and to assess the cancer grade.
be made with and without contrast.
option is chemotherapy without radiation therapy.
think about changing to a different chemotherapy.
is another option. The third option is supportive care.
Supportive care aims to improve your quality of life. | 2019-04-24T06:23:37 | https://www.nccn.org/patients/guidelines/brain-gliomas/files/assets/basic-html/page-37.html |
0.994384 | 1. Mention: Google Alerts for the social web. Mention is one of the best tools to monitor your brand's presence across the web. It includes mentions of your brand or keywords you want to monitor on social networks, forums, blogs and more. Mention also includes social features that allow you to respond to mentions of your brand and to share industry news that you find.
2. Buffer: Social media publishing plus powerful analytics. Buffer is a powerful social media tool (here are some tips for getting more out of your tweets) that sends your updates to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and App.net. It also has built-in analytics to help you understand why certain posts are working well, and the best times to publish updates based on your audience. Plus you can collaborate with your team to keep your accounts topped up with fresh content.
For an easy to use tool to manage your company's social media presence, check out the newly launched Buffer for Business.
3. Feedly: Content discovery. Finding great content to share with your audience is easy with Feedly. Not only can you subscribe to RSS feeds to keep on top of industry blogs or news sites, you can also use Feedly to discover new content related to your topics of interest.
4. Twitter Counter: Track Twitter progress. It can be easy to lose track of how your Twitter account is growing; that's where Twitter Counter comes in. It's a free service that tracks changes in your follower count and predicts future growth over time.
5. Zapier: Link favorite social services. Zapier is a connector for all of the services you use independently, connecting those services to make your workday simpler and easier. For example, if your team uses HipChat to keep in touch you can use Zapier to set up automatic notifications inside HipChat rooms for Tweets, MailChimp campaigns, or new RSS items.
And you can connect productivity apps like Trello, Asana and Evernote to social networks like Twitter or even business products like Dropbox and Github.
6. Bottlenose: Intelligence for social networks. Bottlenose now features a real time search engine that queries all public information from social networks and groups and displays it in algorithmic order of importance. The result? An awesome stream of content ranked by most to least important. Try, for example, "startup insights." I feel sure you'll find a number of great resources.
7. Followerwonk: Follower analysis for Twitter. Although you can use a tool like Twitter Counter to watch the growth of your number of Twitter followers, you may need to analyze your followers more carefully. Followerwonk breaks down your followers into demographics so you can understand them better. The best part about Followerwonk could be its analysis of what time your followers are online, helping you to know what times you should tweet to reach more people.
You can also find out when the people you follow tend to be online--just in case you're trying to start more discussions with those Twitter users.
8. Quintly: Social analytics for brands. Quintly is a powerful tool for in-depth social media analytics, helping you track your business's social media performance on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram. Quintly also has benchmarking features that help you understand how your performance compares to competitors and industry averages.
Plus the quintly dashboard is easy to customize so you can focus on the stats that matter most to your business.
Those are eight of my favorite social media tools; what about yours? | 2019-04-24T20:35:59 | https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/8-powerful-social-media-marketing-tools-for-savvy-businesses-mon.html?cid=home1 |
0.999998 | Summary: On the way home from work, Aileen is followed by a disgruntled man.
Night has fallen across the city of New York, it's just past ten p. m. and she's made her way to the roof of the Prestige Midtown Apartments building. Standing there, Erica takes in the city view from that sky deck and contemplates which direction to go. She's clad all in black from head to toe, her hands are covered by gloves and her face by a ski mask. Her eyes move to the street in front of this apartment building, having a look there just to watch people for a time before moving on to the task she came here for.
It was a long day at work, and Aileen had actually just gotten off shift. Sometimes a late night was what it took and the woman's headed back to the place that she calls home. She rubs her neck a little, getting the stiff muscles working again. Just a couple more blocks..
As she looks down from her rooftop, the Air Force recruiter catches sight of Aileen walking along the street, and seconds later the angry looking man behind her. To her point of view this represents potential trouble for her, and so her attention lingers on both of them. Tracking, observing, thinking. Turning her head slightly from side to side while hopefully not losing track of either, Erica seeks out something she can drop to the street below if needed which would seem coincidental while at the same time pulling out her phone. Fingers key the three digits for emergency response, then one rests on the send button ready to begin the call.
The doctor doesn't quite notice the angry man at first, but after a little bit of walking she's aware that she's being followed. Aileen glances behind her a little, a slight frown, but keeps walking, trying to keep an eye on the person behind her, just in case.
GAME: Erica has rolled PERCEPTION+SEARCH and got a result of HORRIBLE.
GAME: Erica has rolled LEVITATE and got a result of GREAT.
GAME: Erica has rolled WALK ON AIR and got a result of GOOD.
She may well recognize the man. He's the husband of a woman who died recently at the hospital where Aileen works. It wasn't a case she personally was involved in, no, this guy's issue with her is simply that she his wife died at that hospital and the doctor works there. In his mind she's just as guilty as any other person there, and she just happened to be leaving at the wrong (or right, depending on viewpoint) time.
From her vantage point she doesn't spot the item the man begins to pull from a pocket as he starts to move a little quicker, believing himself spotted by his target, but Erica does still track them both. The send button on her phone is pressed, and the communication begins. "Police? Yes. I'm reporting a crime in development. It's near the Prestige Midtown Apartments, a woman is being followed by a possibly malicious man. Send someone quickly to the location." She then identifies the nearest intersections and starts to move so she can keep them in view. And in doing so she leaves solid footing, rises to about five feet above the roof, and begins to move forward in case her tracking requires going to another location.
Now Aileen isn't at all liking the fact that she's being followed. She's grown up in a big city and she's quite familiar with how New York is, so she knows exactly how to be safe. She glances down along the street, quickly searching for a bar or more crowded area that she can head towards as she walks.
GAME: Erica has rolled ATHLETICS and got a result of AVERAGE.
GAME: Erica has rolled BRAWL and got a result of MEDIOCRE.
GAME: Aileen has rolled ATHLETICS and got a result of GOOD.
GAME: Aileen has rolled BRAWL and got a result of GOOD.
His steps move quicker still as she starts looking for a place to take shelter and find safety, and he's gaining on her. The nearest spot Aileen can find for that purpose is about half a block away. The hand with that item comes out of his pocket fully now. He presses on one end of it briefly, a small amount of liquid is ejected, and the item is held ready for use on his target. He breaks into a run, intending to catch up to the doctor, tackle her, and inject her with whatever drug is in that syringe.
Erica sees him make the move and grimaces. Under her breath she whispers "Crap. Cops, where the hell are you?" She begins to move forward faster as best she can while avoiding lights which will make her spottable from the street. Getting seen floating on air? Not at all a good thing, she avoids it carefully, but still intends to aid the stalked doctor. The building she rose above is left behind, she's soon over another one.
On the street, having received the call from 911 dispatch, a police car pulls to the curb behind the attacker and the doctor. Two cops get out and draw their weapons.
While missing the fact that he's got a syringe, Aileen is aware of the fact that the figure behind her is diving for her. And while she hasn't been a lot of fights in her day, she's taking a few self-defense classes. So when he breaks into a run and she hears the sound of his feet and him coming towards her, she dives out of the way, scrambling ahead to try to head to the more public location. Surely he wouldn't still try to hurt her with people around!
GAME: Erica has rolled STAMINA and got a result of GOOD.
Oooof! The man, a thirty-something with brown hair and plain features who stands about five feet ten inches tall, sprawls flat out on the ground when his tackling attempt fails. He grunts from the impact with the pavement, but doesn't seem to be slowed down by it. His hand with the syringe whips out, intending to drive the needle home in the girl's leg, but she's out of the way. It instead is driven into the hard street, and the needle is bent to a ninety degree angle. "Murderer!" he shouts. "You killed my wife!" He's starting to get up, hauling himself from the pavement, when the two policemen come up behind him with guns drawn. "Stay down!" they shout. "Don't move!"
High above, the flying woman's lips curve into a smile behind her black ski mask. "Nice moves, girl. Good job," Erica whispers. She remains very careful to stay in the dark and avoid being seen while watching the outcome.
GAME: Aileen has rolled CHARISMA and got a result of AVERAGE.
GAME: Aileen has rolled PERCEPTION and got a result of GREAT.
Even though the man tried to kill her, Aileen turns to face him as the cops have him covered. "Sir, I'm sorry about what happened to your wife. I wish that I had been able to help. I wasn't involved in the case, but I assure that everything was done that could be done. Believe me when I say that I am being honest.. I am geninely sorry for your loss." Her speech isn't the best, but he did just try to kill her after all. Her gaze afterwards shifts elsewhere, blinking for a moment. She thought she saw something else out there..
The man pauses for a moment, surprised by the voices from behind him, and resumes his attempt to get up. His reward is a policeman's shoe in the middle of his back forcing him back down flat on the street. "I said stay down!" the cop growls, while his partner keeps watch with the gun aimed at the attacker. His hands are grabbed and pulled behind him, handcuffs are snapped on, then they begin to search him for other weapons. They don't find any, but do locate and take his wallet to check for ID.
"Lying witch!" the now restrained captive snarls. "You killed her, you and everyone else in that accursed place! I'll kill you all!"
One of the police officers hauls the man to his feet while the other reads verbatim from a printed card. "Richard James, you are under arrest for assault and attempted abduction. You have the right to remain silent…" This goes on while they put the man into the back of their car. Once he's secure, one of the officers approaches Aileen. "Are you all right, Miss?"
Erica, believing herself unseen, watches the man be arrested. Then she moves to an even darker corner of the building she's above and rises slowly into the air, going for a height at which she can soar away undetected by anyone below. One mile high should do the trick.
Glancing back at the man, Aileen looks on sadly. She really, truly does feel bad for him and slowly glances back to the officer that approaches her. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thank you." She takes a quick look around. "Who called you? Do you know? I'd like to thank them."
"It was an anonymous tip from a 911 call as far as we know," the officer whose uniform and badge show the name and number Mark Roberts replies. His partner radios the collar in, then proceeds to collect the syringe from the pavement and place it in a plastic bag for evidence without touching it lest he disturb fingerprints that may be present. "Unfortunately, we'll need you to visit the station to give a statement and sign the formal complaint for the charges. Could I get your name, Miss?"
Aileen nods in response to the officer, glancing at the bag. She hadn't noticed the syringe before. Yeah, that was a lot more dangerous than she thought. "Dr. Aileen Kincade." She was hoping to find out who called it in, but.. oh well.
"Thank you, Doctor Kincade," Officer Roberts replies. He writes her name down in a notepad. "We'd also like your address and phone number, please, in case we need to contact you." Moments later a second car arrives and two officers get out, they walk over to the others and wait nearby. The second officer moves over to them and relates the story to the new arrivals, who nod and glance first at the car holding the arrested man, then the attacked doctor.
Offering her phone number and address, Aileen glances over to the car with the man in it. Rubbing her arms, she glances around again. She just had that feeling of being watched, even beyond it all. Maybe she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The watcher is far away now, basking in the sensations of her adrenaline fix as she flies a mile above the city, well clear of lights and buildings which could get her spotted. Subtlety, for Captain Erica Snow of the US Air Force, is key in these matters. It's possible to assist and stay under the radar. Except, of course, for the cell phone number and the GPS locators all cell phones have which could be used by authorities to track her down if there were a need.
Officer Roberts records the data Aileen gives and pockets his notepad. "Thank you again, Doctor. We'll see you at the station." And all four cops head for their cars, to leave the scene.
Aileen nods for a moment, watching the cop cars leave as she slowly lets out a long sigh. And she had thought that she'd finally be able to relax now that she was off duty. It just went to prove that being a doctor was most definitely more than just mere work. | 2019-04-26T13:53:40 | http://heroesmush.wikidot.com/wrong-place-wrong-time |
0.999999 | Let's answer the main question first: Is the transmission in the '16 Smart Fortwo better than that unbearable juddering thing in the outgoing generation? The answer is yes and yes.
Those two answers are because there are two transmission options: a five-speed manual that comes as standard, or a six-speed dual-clutch that acts like an automatic but also lets the driver get involved when the whim arises.
Sorry to be unusually harsh on the old transmission, but it really was a deal breaker in what was otherwise an intriguing little car. Presumably it was the only thing that would fit in such tight quarters, but now parent company Mercedes-Benz has had the time and inclination to engineer better choices.
Our test drive didn't allow the luxury of trying the manual version, but most American buyers will stump up the extra $990 and go for the auto option anyway. Which is fine, approaching Benz-smooth. There's still the merest hint of a lurch from time to time, something that might be blamed on what is no doubt a small flywheel. But Mercedes-Benz technicians have also said there's some transmission and throttle mapping software to be finalized. On deceleration, the gearbox has a tendency to downshift too soon.
There might be enquiries, too, about a suspension troubled by speed bumps because there's only so much flex in such a short wheelbase. Well, that's improved too, with more forgiving spring rates. Best to go for the smaller wheel/bigger tire sidewall combination, but the Fortwo now feels more like a "normal" car and less like a roller skate.
The final pressing question is probably about the engine, considering Americans had a naturally aspirated three-cylinder unit in the first generation while the Europeans had a turbo version. The good news is that we now have the turbo. It's still a three-potter, displacing 898 cubic centimeters and making 89 hp with 100 lb-ft of torque using 91-octane fuel, for a car that only weighs around 2,000 pounds. It's a new all-aluminum engine, developed in collaboration with Renault (there's a Smart Forfour in Europe, which shares a lot of mechanicals with a Renault Twingo). It's no 911, but the new Smart Fortwo is a turbocharged rear-engined, rear-drive car. Top speed is now a tad quicker at 96 mph.
As the name suggests, it's a two-seater. This second generation retains the unusually good headroom and legroom of the first, along with a slightly elevated driving position. Then it adds some more shoulder room, thanks to the car being 3.9 inches wider than before. We're still talking cozy here, but personal space is preserved.
The track is correspondingly wider and gives the car a stable feel, accentuated by a staggered tire size arrangement of 165/65 at the front and 185/60 out back. And if drivers of the previous generation ever felt vulnerable when overtaking 18-wheelers or going over a bridge in gusty conditions, the wide track is augmented by Crosswind Assist, a function of the stability/traction control system that can lightly brake individual wheels to keep everything pointed straight. It's standard throughout the range and is also featured in Mercedes-Benz vans, the Sprinter, and Metris.
Stability is joined by maneuverability. The Fortwo has a ridiculously small (and we mean that in a good way) turning circle of 22.8 feet. Since this is primarily a city car, the talent for making tight U-turns will seem like a gift from above. But actually it's a gift from France, where the Smart is built.
The Fortwo giveth, but the Fortwo also taketh away—in the form of unusual ergonomics. After a short time, the seats feel like they have a convex shape, both the back and the bottom cushion. Unless the $100 smartphone cradle option is ordered, there's nowhere convenient to put your phone. Unfortunately, the cradle's location makes it impossible to reach a few radio presets. Granted, the designers didn't have much of an area to play with, but surely they could have come up with a solution more elegant than this. And surely they could have measured a few cups before installing two cup-holders that are too small for anything except take-out espresso containers. On the plus side, the little sliding magnifying glass for the air conditioning/heater controls is a great example of clever answers to problems of limited space.
An essential part of the Fortwo's design is the high-strength steel safety cell—like an exterior rollcage—that does a great job of protecting its occupants, in conjunction with eight standard airbags and optional forward collision warning. The cell also becomes one of the elements in every Smart's two-tone color scheme.
Trim levels are Pure, Passion, Prime, and Proxy. Try not to tell anyone that information during the soup course. Standard equipment includes automatic climate control, cruise control, LED daytime running lights, multi-function buttons on the steering wheel, and Bluetooth connectivity. Higher trim levels have different designs of alloy wheels, different interior material options, power mirrors, and paddle shifters for the dual-clutch transmission.
A convertible version follows in summer 2016, with an all-electric version later that year. And yes, there's a Brabus in the works, but we don't know yet if that will be available in the United States.
There's a chance the Fortwo might still be ahead of its time, that urban car-sharing schemes around the world will discover the virtues of a small footprint mixed with useful human space. In which case, few private individuals will actually buy one, but we'll all be leasing them for those times when we really need one. | 2019-04-22T10:09:45 | http://www.superstreetonline.com/features/2016-smart-fortwo-first-drive/ |
0.999999 | Brazil industrial production continues to edge lower, falling 1.2% month-to-month in April, a 7.6% year-over-year drop. In March, output was down only 3.4% year-over-year, but the data are volatile in the short-term. The trend is about -7%, down from -3.8% in the second half of last year.
Pantheon Macroeconomics - Brazil industrial production continues to edge lower, falling 1.2% month-to-month in April, a 7.6% year-over-year drop. In March, output was down only 3.4% year-over-year, but the data are volatile in the short-term. The trend is about -7%, down from -3.8% in the second half of last year. | 2019-04-19T14:35:09 | http://www.pantheonmacro.com/documents/latin-america-documents/i/3-june-2015-brazils-industrial-meltdown-continues-better-news-elsewhere/ |
0.999558 | A method for mapping a body organ, including receiving a three-dimensional (3D) map of the body organ having a multiplicity of map elements, each map element having a graphic attribute indicative of a local property of the body organ. The method further includes delineating a selected region of the map, so that the map is divided into the selected region and a non-selected region. The 3D map is displayed while the graphic attribute of the map elements specifically within the selected region are altered.
1. A method for mapping a body organ, comprising: receiving a three-dimensional (3D) map of the body organ comprising a multiplicity of map elements, each map element having a graphic attribute indicative of a local property of the body organ; delineating a selected region of the map, so that the map is divided into the selected region and a non-selected region; and displaying the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the map elements specifically within the selected region.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein displaying the 3D map comprises not altering the graphic attribute of the geometric map-elements within the non-selected region.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein delineating the selected region comprises generating a closed perimeter on the 3D map separating the selected region from the non-selected region.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the selected region is within the perimeter.
5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the selected region is external to the perimeter.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein delineating the selected region comprises initially generating a closed perimeter on the 3D map separating the selected region from the non-selected region, and subsequently changing the closed perimeter so as to alter the selected region and the non-selected region.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the body organ comprises a heart, and wherein the local property comprises at least one of a temperature, an electropotential, a resistivity, a contractility, and a local activation time (LAT) of the heart.
8. The method according to claim 1, and comprising: incorporating into the 3D map one or more geometric figures, each geometric figure being representative of at least a portion of an entity associated with a local region of the body organ and having a further graphic attribute, and displaying the 3D map while altering the further graphic attribute of the one or more geometric figures specifically within the selected region.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphic attribute comprises at least one of a color value, a visibility, and a transparency.
10. A method for mapping a body organ, comprising: receiving a three-dimensional (3D) map of the body organ comprising one or more geometric figures, each geometric figure having a graphic attribute and being representative of at least a portion of an entity associated with a local region of the body organ; delineating a selected region of the map, so that the map is divided into the selected region and a non-selected region; and displaying the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the each geometric figure specifically within the selected region.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the geometric figures comprise at least one of a distal tip icon representative of a location and orientation of a catheter distal tip and an ablation icon representative of an ablation performed on a region of the body organ.
12. Apparatus for mapping a body organ, comprising: a processor which is configured to receive a three-dimensional (3D) map of the body organ comprising a multiplicity of map elements, each map element having a graphic attribute indicative of a local property of the body organ, and to delineate a selected region of the map, so that the map is divided into the selected region and a non-selected region; and a screen which is configured to display the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the map elements specifically within the selected region.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein displaying the 3D map comprises not altering the graphic attribute of the geometric map-elements within the non-selected region.
14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein delineating the selected region comprises generating a closed perimeter on the 3D map separating the selected region from the non-selected region.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the selected region is within the perimeter.
16. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the selected region is external to the perimeter.
17. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein delineating the selected region comprises initially generating a closed perimeter on the 3D map separating the selected region from the non-selected region, and subsequently changing the closed perimeter so as to alter the selected region and the non-selected region.
18. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the body organ comprises a heart, and wherein the local property comprises at least one of a temperature, an electropotential, a resistivity, a contractility, and a local activation time (LAT) of the heart.
19. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to incorporate into the 3D map one or more geometric figures, each geometric figure being representative of at least a portion of an entity associated with a local region of the body organ and having a further graphic attribute, and wherein the screen is configured to display the 3D map while altering the further graphic attribute of the one or more geometric figures specifically within the selected region.
20. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the graphic attribute comprises at least one of a color value, a visibility, and a transparency.
21. Apparatus for mapping a body organ, comprising: a processor which is configured to receive a three-dimensional (3D) map of the body organ comprising one or more geometric figures, each geometric figure having a graphic attribute and being representative of at least a portion of an entity associated with a local region of the body organ, and to delineate a selected region of the map, so that the map is divided into the selected region and a non-selected region; and a screen which is configured to display the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the each geometric figure specifically within the selected region.
22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the geometric figures comprise at least one of a distal tip icon representative of a location and orientation of a catheter distal tip and an ablation icon representative of an ablation performed on a region of the body organ.
The present invention relates generally to graphic displays, and specifically to displaying of electrophysiological data of a body organ in a map.
In medical procedures, such as mapping the electrical activity of the heart, there is typically a large amount of information that may be presented to a professional performing the mapping, and/or performing a procedure using the mapping. The large amount of information presented may lead to difficulties in comprehension of the information.
displaying the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the map elements specifically within the selected region.
Typically, displaying the 3D map includes not altering the graphic attribute of the geometric map-elements within the non-selected region.
In a disclosed embodiment delineating the selected region includes generating a closed perimeter on the 3D map separating the selected region from the non-selected region. The selected region may be within the perimeter. Alternatively, the selected region may be external to the perimeter.
In a further disclosed embodiment delineating the selected region includes initially generating a closed perimeter on the 3D map separating the selected region from the non-selected region, and subsequently changing the closed perimeter so as to alter the selected region and the non-selected region.
In a yet further disclosed embodiment the body organ includes a heart, and the local property includes at least one of a temperature, an electropotential, a resistivity, a contractility, and a local activation time (LAT) of the heart.
displaying the 3D map while altering the further graphic attribute of the one or more geometric figures specifically within the selected region.
In a further alternative embodiment the graphic attribute includes at least one of a color value, a visibility, and a transparency.
displaying the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the each geometric figure specifically within the selected region.
The geometric figures may include at least one of a distal tip icon representative of a location and orientation of a catheter distal tip and an ablation icon representative of an ablation performed on a region of the body organ.
a screen which is configured to display the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the map elements specifically within the selected region.
a screen which is configured to display the 3D map while altering the graphic attribute of the each geometric figure specifically within the selected region.
FIG. 9 schematically illustrates an alternative surface map that is displayed in a step of the flowchart of FIG. 2, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for reducing the amount of visual information presented to a user of the system, who is typically a medical professional performing a surgical procedure. The visual information is presented to the user on a screen which displays a three-dimensional (3D) map of a body organ, herein by way of example assumed to be the heart of a patient undergoing the procedure. The 3D map is formed of a multiplicity of map elements, and each map element has a graphic attribute, such as a color value, that is associated with the element and that is indicative of a local property of the heart, such as a unipolar or bipolar local activation time (LAT). The graphic attribute of a map element defines how the map element is displayed to the user of the system.
A closed perimeter may be delineated on the map, typically by using a pointing device. The perimeter divides the map into two regions, one within the perimeter and the other external to the perimeter. One of these regions is assumed to be a selected region, the other region being a non-selected region. The map is displayed on the screen while the graphic attributes of the map elements within the selected region are altered, the graphic attributes of the elements in the non-selected region being unaltered.
The alteration of the graphic attributes within one of the delineated regions is typically so as to reduce the amount of visual information presented in the region.
The reduction enhances the ability of the user to concentrate on the information provided by the graphic attributes of the elements in the other region, and mitigates "visual overload."
Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic illustration of a view-defining system 20, according to an embodiment of the present invention. System 20 is typically used during a medical procedure on a body organ, and may be configured to define different views of substantially any mapped physiological parameter or combinations of such parameters of the organ. In the description herein the body organ, by way of example, is assumed to comprise the heart, and an example of a mapped parameter may comprise a local activation time (LAT) derived from intra-cardiac electrocardiogram (ECG) potential-time relationships. (The measurement and use of LATs are well known in the electrophysiological arts.) However, in the case of the body organ comprising the heart, system 20 may define views using other mapped physiological parameters, such as the location and/or size of cardiac lesions generated by ablation of the heart, the force applied to a region of the heart wall by a catheter, and the temperature of the heart wall region.
The following description, except where otherwise stated, assumes that system 20 senses electrical signals from a heart 22, using a probe 24. A distal end 26 of the probe is assumed to have an electrode 28 for sensing the signals. Typically, probe 24 comprises a catheter which is inserted into the body of a subject 30 during a cardiac procedure performed by a user 32 of system 20. In the description herein user 32 is assumed to be a medical professional.
System 20 may be controlled by a system processor 40, comprising a processing unit 42 communicating with a memory 44. Processor 40 is typically mounted in a console 46, which comprises operating controls 38 which include a pointing device 48 such as a mouse or trackball. Professional 32 uses device 48 to interact with the processor, which, as described below, may be used to define the view presented by system 20 to the professional on a screen 50.
The screen displays a three-dimensional (3D) map 52 of the internal surface of heart 22, together with items of auxiliary information 54 related to the heart and/or the procedure. The items of auxiliary information are superimposed on the map, so that each displayed map element incorporating the information, typically a group of pixels displayed on screen 50, has a corresponding graphic attribute.
Herein, the items of auxiliary information are divided into two categories: a first category 62, also termed property parameters 62, that typically represent local characteristics or properties of the heart surface; and a second category 64, also termed geometric FIG. 64, that typically represent elements involved with the procedure being performed on the heart, or that graphically depict information associated with a local region of the heart. Examples of the two categories are provided below.
Map 52 is plotted on a set of three orthogonal axes defining a frame of reference for the map, and a representation 56 of the axes may be displayed on screen 50.
Property parameters 62 typically include local characteristics of the surface itself, such as a temperature, an electropotential, a resistivity, or a contractility of the surface, as well as combinations and derivatives of these parameters such as a local activation time (LAT) derived from a local change of surface electropotential with time.
Geometric FIG. 64 typically include geometric graphic elements representing items physically separate from the heart surface represented by map 52, or items providing information about the heart surface. For example, FIG. 64 may include an icon indicative of a location and orientation of distal tip 26 with respect to the internal surface of the heart. FIG. 64 may also include other icons indicative of other probe distal tips physically separate from the heart surface. Other related figures that may be superimposed on the map include an icon representing an ablation site, and/or parameters of the ablation site. FIG. 64 may also include one or more cursors having positions on screen 50 that are controlled by pointing device 48.
As stated above geometric FIG. 64 may include elements involved in the procedure being performed, such as a fluoroscope background image, an ultrasound image, an indication of the force on a catheter, and/or an indication of an ablation location. The latter may include information about the ablation such as the power used, and/or an overall energy applied, for the ablation.
Processor 40 uses software, including a probe tracker module 33 and an ECG module 31, stored in memory 44, to operate system 20. The software may be downloaded to processor 40 in electronic form, over a network, for example, or it may, alternatively or additionally, be provided and/or stored on non-transitory tangible media, such as magnetic, optical, or electronic memory.
ECG module 31 is coupled to receive electrical signals from electrode 22. The module is configured to analyze the signals and may present the results of the analysis in a standard ECG format, typically a graphical representation moving with time, on screen 48. Alternatively or additionally, the results may be incorporated into map 52, for example as values of LATs derived from the electrical signals.
Probe tracker module 33 tracks sections of probe 24 while the probe is within subject 30. The tracker module typically tracks both the location and orientation of distal end 26 of probe 24, within the heart of subject 26. In some embodiments module 33 tracks other sections of the probe. The tracker module may use any method for tracking probes known in the art. For example, module 33 may operate magnetic field transmitters in the vicinity of the subject, so that magnetic fields from the transmitters interact with tracking coils located in sections of the probe being tracked. The coils interacting with the magnetic fields generate signals which are transmitted to the module, and the module analyzes the signals to determine a location and orientation of the coils. (For simplicity such coils and transmitters are not shown in FIG. 1.) The Carto.RTM. system produced by Biosense Webster, of Diamond Bar, Calif., uses such a tracking method.
Alternatively or additionally, tracker module 33 may track probe 24 by measuring impedances between electrode 22 and electrodes on the skin of subject 30. (In this case electrode 22 may provide both ECG and tracking signals.) The Carto3.RTM. system produced by Biosense Webster uses both magnetic field transmitters and impedance measurements for tracking.
Using tracker module 33, processor 40 is able to measure locations of distal end 26, and form location coordinates of the locations in the frame of reference of map 52 referred to above. The location coordinates are assumed to be stored in a mapping module 36. In addition, mapping module 36 is assumed to store location coordinates of items of auxiliary information 54 associated with heart 22.
Map 52 and items 54 typically present a large amount of visual information to user 32, and the large amount of information may lead to the user experiencing "visual overload." Embodiments of the present invention enable the user to selectively reduce the overall amount of information presented, and thus mitigate or remove any such overload. In order to implement such a reduction, user 32 is able to define a region 58 of map 52, using a view-defining module 66 installed in memory 44, which will appear differently to the user than the remainder of the map.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart 100 of a process used by user 32 to define region 58, and FIGS. 3-9 are schematic diagrams illustrating the steps, according to embodiments of the present invention. In an initial step 102, the user selects the type of three-dimensional (3D) map of the body organ, herein assumed to be heart 22, to be displayed. Typical types of maps which may be selected include a surface 120 plotting the topography of a chamber of the heart, such as is illustrated in FIG. 3, or a mesh 130 plotting the topography, such as is illustrated in FIG. 4. (A surface such as that illustrated in FIG. 3 is typically generated from a mesh.) The selected map may also comprise a combination of maps. In some embodiments, the map may comprise one or more background images, such as a fluoroscope, an ultrasound, an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and/or a computerized tomography (CT) image. For simplicity and clarity, the following description assumes that the selected map comprises a mesh or a surface, and those having ordinary skill in the art will be able to adapt the description, mutatis mutandis, for other types of image.
The user selects one or more property parameters 62 of the heart that are to be incorporated into the map. Examples of property parameters 62 are described above, and by way of example, in the following description, a local activation time (LAT), derived from the change of surface electropotential with time, is assumed to be a property parameter 62 incorporated into the selected map.
In addition, in the initial step, the user may select one or more geometric FIG. 64 (described above) to be incorporated into the selected map. By way of example, an icon representing the location and orientation of distal tip 26 is assumed to be a structure 64 illustrated on the selected map.
Each of the selections is illustrated by applying pre-selected graphic attributes to map elements representative of the selection. Thus, for the case of the LAT property parameter being incorporated into a surface such as FIG. 3, different colors may be applied to regions of the surface, a given color representing a specific value of an LAT. Consequently, for each pixel of the surface there is a specific RGB (red/green/blue) set of values that corresponds to the LAT value. In the case of a mesh such as FIG. 4, the different RGB values of the LAT property parameter may be applied to each line and/or vertex of the mesh.
In the case of the icon geometric figure being incorporated into the surface or into the mesh, a distinctive shape may be used, and typically specific colors and/or patterns are applied to the shape.
In the figures of the present disclosure different colors, for example providing the additional information referred to above, are schematically shown as different types of lines and vertices for the map when it is in the form of a mesh, and as different grayscale levels for the map when it is in the form of a surface. In the case of the presentation of the actual map on screen 50, a legend for interpretation of the different colors is typically presented on the screen.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a mesh map 200 assumed to be selected by the user in the initial step, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Map 200 is assumed to have values of LATs 204 incorporated into the map as a property parameter 62, the LAT values being indicated on screen 52 by different colors, with a legend 206 translating between the colors and the values being displayed on the screen. In the figure the different colors of the LATs are indicated by different types of lines, also shown in legend 206. Map 200 also has an icon 208, representative of a location and orientation of distal tip 26 within the region represented by the map, incorporated into the map as a geometric FIG. 64. Icon 208 is by way of example shaped as cylinder with a rounded end, and typically is colored so as to be easily distinguishable from the colors used for the LAT values. The coloration of icon 208 is illustrated in the figure by hatching.
In a selection step 104, illustrated by FIG. 6, the user delineates a closed perimeter 212 in map 200. Perimeter 212 acts as a boundary defining two regions of the map: an internal region 216 within the perimeter, and an external region 220 outside the perimeter. As is explained below, either region may be considered to be a selected region wherein graphic attributes of map elements in the region are altered.
In one embodiment the user may delineate perimeter 212 using pointing device 48. Alternatively, the delineation may be pre-set, for example, by generating a pre-set perimeter around a selected region of map 200 or around an icon of a catheter, such as icon 208 used in the map, or around another point such as a center of mass of the icon. Furthermore, the perimeter may be delineated using a combination of user input, typically using pointing device 48, and pre-set factors such as those exemplified above. Other methods for delineating the perimeter will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, and all such methods are assumed to be comprised within the scope of the present invention.
While perimeter 212 may be any closed regular or irregular figure, in the following description, except where otherwise indicated, for simplicity perimeter 212 is assumed to be a circle, as is illustrated in FIG. 6.
The user may dimension perimeter 212 to have any convenient size, and may position perimeter 212 at substantially any location of map 200. By way of example, perimeter 212 is assumed to be dimensioned and positioned so as to surround icon 208, and so that the icon is approximately at the center of the perimeter.
In addition to delineating perimeter 212, in selection step 104 the user defines how the graphic attributes of map elements, of both property parameters and geometric figures, within the perimeter or outside the perimeter, are to be changed. Such a definition typically changes how the parameters and figures are perceived by the user. The definition may apply to both kinds of entities, or alternatively the definition may apply to one of the entities. The definition may comprise changing color values of map element pixels in a map region, such as by effectively adding a filter to enhance or deemphasize selected colors in the region, changing the transparency or opacity of the region, and/or changing colored objects within the region to be shown in "false" colors, or as grayscale, or as black and white elements. Other graphic attributes that may be defined include the visibility, the brightness, the contrast, the sharpness and/or the softness of the map elements.
For geometric figures, graphic attributes other than those exemplified above may also be defined. For example, for a geometric figure such as icon 208, the size and/or the shape and/or the orientation of the figure may be defined.
In a display step 106, processor 40 changes the display of map 200 in either internal region 216 or external region 220 according to the graphic attribute definitions implemented in step 104. Thus the graphic attributes within one of the regions are unaltered, while the graphic attributes of the other region are altered. The region where graphic attributes are unaltered is herein termed the non-selected region. The region where graphic attributes are altered is herein termed the selected region. In display step 106 the user is typically able to select if the perimeter itself is, or is not, displayed.
In one embodiment the user defines the graphic attributes of property parameters and geometric figures in internal region 216, within perimeter 212, to be unaltered, so that the internal region is the non-selected region. The graphic attributes of parameters and figures outside the perimeter, in external region 220, are altered so that external region 220 is the selected region. The graphic attribute alteration is such that the parameters and figures in the external region are less conspicuous than those of the internal region.
Such an alteration allows the user to concentrate on parameters and figures within the perimeter, without being distracted by parameters and figures outside the perimeter. FIG. 7 schematically illustrates the display for this case. By way of example, all line elements 230 outside perimeter 212, in selected region 220, have been set to have approximately the same color level value, which could be differing shades of a single color or even the same or differing shades of gray. This is in contrast to line elements within the perimeter, which have color values that are unaltered from the original color values of the map.
Embodiments of the present invention also allow perimeter 212 to be moved and/or resized, while the definitions of the graphic attributes in the external region and in the internal region are unchanged. The movement and/or the resizing may be accomplished using pointing device 48, typically depending upon how the perimeter has been previously delineated, as described above for step 104.
The description above assumes that in initial step 102 of the flowchart a mesh map is selected. FIGS. 8 and 9 are schematic illustrations of the display presented to the user if a surface map is selected in the initial step of the flowchart.
FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a surface map 300 that is displayed in display step 106 of flowchart 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Map 300 assumes that a corresponding surface map (not shown in the figures) has been selected in step 102.
In step 102 the property parameters of the selected surface map are assumed to be LATs, and the map is displayed on screen 50 with different colors representing different values of the LATs. Geometric figures illustrating positions where an electropotential has been measured are represent by crosses in the map displayed on the screen in step 102, and a geometric figure representing a catheter distal tip location and orientation is also displayed in the map. In step 102 the property parameters of the selected surface map, i.e., the LATs, and also the geometric figures, have a high contrast, as well as a high brightness throughout the map.
Surface map 300, displayed in step 106, comprises a selected region 302 and a non-selected region 304, the two regions being separated by a perimeter 306 which is defined in step 104 of the flowchart. In selected region 302, outside perimeter 306, graphic attributes of property parameters 62, the LATs, within the region, comprising the contrast within the region and the overall brightness of the region, have been altered from their initial states present in step 102. The alteration is implemented in step 104 and reduces the contrast and the brightness of elements illustrating the property parameters within the region, compared to the contrast and the brightness of the property parameter elements prior to the process of flowchart 100 being applied. However, in step 104 graphic attributes within non-selected region 304, comprising the contrast and brightness of the elements representing property parameters 62 in the non-selected region, are unaltered from the high contrast and brightness values present in the region in step 102.
In addition, in step 104, there is no alteration of the display of geometric FIG. 64, herein assumed to comprise crosses 310 and icon 312. Thus crosses 310 are displayed as substantially similar crosses in both selected region 302 and non-selected region 304.
FIG. 9 schematically illustrates a surface map 400 that is displayed in display step 106 of flowchart 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Map 400 assumes that a corresponding surface map (not shown in the figures) has been selected in step 102.
In step 102 the property parameters of the selected surface map are assumed to be LATs, and the map is displayed on screen 50 with different colors representing different values of the LATs. The geometric figures are represented by circular icons in the map displayed on the screen in step 102, and illustrate positions where an ablation has been performed. The circular ablation icons are colored differently to represent a property of the ablation, such as an overall energy used in performing the ablation. In addition, another geometric figure, a distal tip icon, is present in the map displayed in step 102.
Surface map 400, displayed in step 106, comprises a selected region 402 and a non-selected region 404, the two regions being separated by a perimeter 406 which is defined in step 104 of the flowchart. In selected region 402, outside perimeter 406, graphic attributes of geometric figures within the region, which in this case include icons 410 representing ablation locations and properties, have been altered from their initial states present in step 102. The alteration is implemented in step 104 and renders icons 410 invisible in the selected region. In the figure, locations of invisible icons 410 are illustrated by broken circles. However, in step 104 graphic attributes of geometric figures within non-selected region 404, comprising circular ablation icons 412, 414, and 416 and a distal tip icon 418, are unaltered from their values present in the region in step 102. As illustrated in FIG. 9, icons 412 and 416 have the same color, which is different from the color of icon 414.
Icons 420, 422, and 424 are examples of icons that are partially altered from their initial values, by being cut by perimeter 406. Thus, in region 402, the portions of icons 420, 422, and 424 outside the perimeter are rendered invisible. Within the perimeter, the portions of icons 420, 422, and 424 are unaltered.
The embodiments described above illustrate examples of how a 3D map may be divided into two regions, and the graphic attribute of map elements within one of the regions are altered. As a further example, referring back to the mesh map illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, a graphic attribute of the selected region may be altered to display the selected region as a surface, rather than the mesh that continues to be displayed in the non-selected region. The graphic attribute of the non-selected region defines the region as a mesh.
As another example, again referring to the mesh maps of FIGS. 5-7 which display LAT values, the graphic attribute of the selected region may be altered to illustrate the LATs as unipolar values, while the graphic attribute of the non-selected region continues to illustrate the LATs as bipolar values. Other examples of alteration of the graphic attribute of map elements in a selected region of a 3D map will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, and all such examples are assumed to be within the scope of the present invention. | 2019-04-26T08:47:24 | http://patents.com/us-20160155274.html |
0.999322 | Given a formula Φ in quantifier-free Presburger arithmetic, it is well known that, if there is a satisfying solution to Φ, there is one whose size, measured in bits, is polynomially bounded in the size of Φ. In this paper, we consider a special class of quantifier-free Presburger formulas in which most linear constraints are separation (difference-bound) constraints, and the non-separation constraints are sparse. This class has been observed to commonly occur in software verification problems. We derive a new solution bound in terms of parameters characterizing the sparseness of linear constraints and the number of non-separation constraints, in addition to traditional measures of formula size. In particular, the number of bits needed per integer variable is linear in the number of non-separation constraints and logarithmic in the number and size of non-zero coefficients in them, but is otherwise independent of the total number of linear constraints in the formula. The derived bound can be used in a decision procedure based on instantiating integer variables over a finite domain and translating the input quantifier-free Presburger formula to an equi-satisfiable Boolean formula, which is then checked using a Boolean satisfiability solver. We present empirical evidence indicating that this method can greatly outperform other decision procedures. | 2019-04-21T16:20:47 | http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/lics/2004/SeshiaBryant-DecidingQuantifierF.html |
0.998432 | How to Schedule Tweets at the Right Time?
Tweeting is a fairly tricky business. Knowing when to do so, can be even trickier. Timing plays a key role in how often people notice you on social media and whether they will take you seriously. This becomes even more complicated when you realize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem. What works for some may not necessarily work for you. Each Twitter handle has its own unique target audience. Finding ways to engage your target audience or getting others to retweet your tweets can drive you up the wall. However, there are ways and means to find out how you schedule tweets at the right time. Here are a few of them.
Using analytics can go a long way in helping you schedule Twitter posts at the time when they are most likely to get the maximum exposure. You can use the Twitter analytics tool to figure out aspects such as the performance of your tweets, or the level of engagement that your tweets have received. You can also determine whether they have been retweeted, favorited, clicked, or replied to.
The analytics tool will also help you figure out certain patterns in the way your tweets are followed. It will tell you if your morning tweets receive more attention than your evening tweets or whether you tweets do better on weekends or weekdays. Using the results from the analytics tool, you can fine tune your tweet timings and optimize them to reach a wider audience.
Location also plays a key role in your tweet timing. Sharing your location can help add context to your tweet. Since there are multiple time zones, it is also necessary to know where your twitter followers are located and tweet according to their timings. If you have audiences in multiple geographical locations, it would do you good to use a social media management tool.
You can create specific Twitter handles for each region and monitor them using the tool. The tool will generate reports that will give you insights on which particular Twitter handle received maximum engagement and at what time your followers are engaging with your tweets. This will give you a clear idea on when to tweet.
There are plenty of tools out there to help you organize and schedule your tweets. Some of these tools also come with analytics which help you gain deeper insights about your tweets. Whether you run a personal Twitter handle or one for you company, these tools can prove to be very useful in optimizing your tweeting patterns.
A good way to improve your tweet timing is to observe a few professional tweeters. Their tweeting habits can give you an idea on how to effectively use your Twitter handle and when to ideally tweet. You can study their tweeting schedules and note down at what time their tweets receive the most engagement. For instance, Guy Kawasaki tweets the same content at different times as a way to reach his audiences located in different time zones. This way he ensures that his tweets get maximum engagement from all his followers.
Apart from timing, you should aim to master a few other Twitter specific skills to ensure that you build a good following, one of them being the use of hastags. Read more here. | 2019-04-22T23:37:34 | https://blog.drumup.io/blog/how-to-schedule-tweets-at-the-right-time/ |
0.999999 | Slice with cling wrapped knife when completely cooled and serve.
1. Combine shredded tapioca, sugar, coconut milk and tapioca flour together and mix well.
2. Pour batter into tin (brush tin with cooking oil).
3. Steam over high heat for 25 minutes.
4. Slice with cling wrapped knife when completely cooled and serve. | 2019-04-22T14:58:04 | http://auntyyoung.blogspot.com/2016/01/steam-cassava-caketapioca-kueh.html |
0.999989 | - Is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head.
- Can change the way your brain normally works.
- Can range from mild to severe.
- Can occur during practices or games in any sport.
- Can be serious even if you've just been "dinged" or had your "bell rung."
It's different for every sport. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself from a concussion.
- Follow your coach's rules for safety and the rules of the sport.
- Practice good sportsmanship at all times.
- Appropriate of the game, position and activity.
- Used every time you play.
You can't see a concussion, but you might notice some of the symptoms right away. Other symptoms can show up days or weeks after the injury. It's best to see a health care professional if you think you might have a concussion. An diagnosed concussion can affect your ability to do schoolwork and other everyday activities. It also raises your risk for additional, serious injury.
- Nausea (feeling the you might vomit).
- Balance problems or dizziness.
- Double or fuzzy vision.
- Feeling foggy or groggy.
- Concentration or memory problems (forgetting game plays).
- Tell your coaches and your parents. Never ignore a bump, blow or jolt to the head. Also, tell your coach if one or your teammates might have a concussion.
- Get a medical check up. A health care professional can tell you if you have had a concussion and when your are OK to return to play.
- Give yourself time to recover. If you have had a concussion, your brain needs time to heal. While your brain is still healing, you are much more likely to have a second concussion. Second or later concussions can cause permanent brain damage, and even death in rare cases. Severe brain injury can change your whole life.
No practice or games until obtain a physician's written OK to participate.
(1) Non-contact practice. If no symptoms, proceed to #2.
(2) Contact practice. If no symptoms, proceed to #3.
(3) Game. If any symptoms in game, return for physician written OK.
A concussion is a brain injury. Concussions are caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head. The can range from mild to severe and can disrupt the way the brain normally works. Even a "ding" or a bump on the head can be serious.
You cannot see a concussion. Signs and symptoms of a concussion can show up right after the injury or can take days or weeks to appear. If your teen reports any symptoms of a concussion, or if you notice the symptoms yourself, seek medical attention right away.
1. Seek medical attention right away. A health care professional will be able to decide how serious the concussion is and when it is safe for your teen to return to sports.
2. Keep our teen out of play. Concussions take time to heal. Don't let your teen return to play until a health care professional says it's OK. Athletes who return to play too soon — while the brain is still healing — risk a greater chance of having a second concussion. Second or later concussions can be very serious. They can cause permanent brain damage, affecting your teen for a lifetime.
3. Tell all of your teen's coaches about any recent concussion. Coaches should know if your teen had a recent concussion in ANY sport. Your teen's coaches may not know about a concussion your ten received in another sport or activity unless you tell them. Knowing about the concussion will allow the coach to keep you teen from activities that could result in another concussion.
4. Remind your teen: It's better to miss one game than the whole season. | 2019-04-24T08:49:42 | http://www.berkeleyrhinos.org/safety.html |
0.996924 | Was my call on the turn correct?
Player Hero received cards: [5s7cAs8d].
Player Villain shows: Two pairs. 5s and 2s [Qd Kh 5c 10d]. Bets: 324. Collects: 0. Loses: 324.
*Player Hero shows: Two pairs. 8s and 5s [5s 7c As 8d]. Bets: 324. Collects: 647. Wins: 323.
On the turn I thought that he might have AAxx, KKxx, or a hand with a 2. I didn't think he had AAxx or KKxx because he didn't 4-bet me pre. So I thought his range consisted of a hand with a 2 or it was just a pure bluff. Is my analysis here correct or should I have folded? Keep in mind that Villain is very aggressive. | 2019-04-19T05:11:15 | https://www.runitonce.com/plo/was-my-call-on-the-turn-correct/ |
0.999997 | Jeffrey H. Smith, a former CIA general counsel, predictably thinks that agency officers who conducted waterboarding and other acts of torture should not be prosecuted for "activities that were properly authorized and executed."
Those in the Bush administration and the CIA who authorized and carried out torture and other illegal acts should not hide behind dubious "legal" opinions written by people who knew or should have known the actions were illegal under U.S. and international law.
Yes, declassify all, not just part, of the Senate's report on the CIA's rendition, detention and interrogation programs. But let's not then just "move on." Those responsible should be criminally prosecuted to deter future acts inconsistent with what we ought to stand for as a nation. | 2019-04-21T04:31:20 | https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2014-apr-16-la-le-0416-wednesday-cia-torture-20140416-story.html |
0.999999 | This recipe makes 6 quarts of spicy baked beans and it can be prepared in a 6-1/2 quart slow cooker (Crock Pot) or in a large covered baking dish or pan in the oven. If you wish to make a smaller quantity, cut the recipe in half.
If beans give you gas, it is best to presoak the beans in water in a covered pot in the refrigerator over night, and then rinse off the beans before cooking. If not, follow the instructions below.
Clean and wash the navy beans and place in the slow cooker along with 8 cups of cold tap water. Set the slow cooker heat to "low".
Wash and peel the onions, cut in chunks, and place in the container of a high speed blender (Vita-Mix type) with 2 cups of water. Add the chipotle pepper, cover, and run the blender at high speed until the ingredients are smooth. Stop the blender and add the contents to the slow cooker and mix well.
Cover the slow cooker and let the contents simmer over night.
In the morning, remove the cover from the slow cooker, and add the other ingredients, mix well, re-cover and continue cooking on low for another 3 to 4 hours.
If cooking in a conventional oven at 350 degrees F., place the presoaked, rinsed, and drained navy beans in the baking pan, add the onion and chipotle mixture, and other ingredients, and mix well, cover and bake. After 2 hours, mix the baked beans, add additional water if necessary, re-cover, and continue to cook until the baked beans are tender.
When the baked beans are nearly finished cooking, taste them, and add a little additional smoke flavor, it desired, mix well and finish cooking. | 2019-04-25T12:18:43 | https://www.all-creatures.org/recipes/bakedbeans-chip.html |
0.708477 | The First Order heavily based themselves off of the Galactic Empire. They were also directly formed from its remains.
The Old Empire withered away, becoming a remnant of political hardliners locked in a cold war with the New Republic, before eventually breaking away to reform in the Unknown Regions as the mysterious First Order.
Since they are a continuation of the Empire, is there any reason they don't call themselves the Second Order? Why would they associate themselves with the Empire so heavily and then use a name that implied they were completely seprate?
From an out-of-universe perspective, I'd argue that not being the First doesn't make you any less scary or evil.
Today is the end of the Republic. The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder.
This implies that the architects of the First Order do not see themselves as a separate successor to the Empire, but rather a continuation of it — reclaiming the Imperial legacy. Hence, they are not "Second" from the temporal point of view either.
Pure speculation, but I'd like to point out that an in-universe answer may relate to the use of "first" in a context other than to mean chronologically, but instead to mean "primary", or "foremost". It's the first order you should think about when you wake up in the morning, not the first order to ever have existed.
The birth of the glorious Galactic Empire brought forth by our eternal leader Emperor Palpatine signified the dawn of the New Order and the end of the corrupt and impotent Old Republic. With Vader's Fist leading the Imperial March, we were the heralds of a new era, an era of order and peace.
But the Rebel scum wanted the Republic and democracy back, the very political institutions that failed the galaxy. They sowed the seeds of war and anarchy to destroy our hard-won peace and stability. They dared to strike at our beloved Emperor. And with their help, the traitorous Jedi finally succeeded in assassinating our eternal leader.
As we mourned the loss of our Emperor, the Rebels struck in our moment of grief, destroying our fleets and seizing our homes, establishing a New Republic every bit as corrupt as the old.
After the setback on Jakku, they demanded peace from us on their terms. Without the wise Emperor to lead them, the spineless cowards of the Ruling Council abandoned the New Order and submitted to the insurgents.
But not us. We, the leaders of the Imperial military, the executors of the New Order, refused to abandon the Emperor's vision. So we left the Empire which no longer stand by the values it was founded on. We came here, to the Unknown Regions, to rebuild and one day return to liberate the galaxy like the clone armies of old did.
We are not the New Republic. We are not the Galactic Empire of present times that abandoned us. We are the heirs of the New Order and thus of the true Empire of old. We...are the First Order.
There's no direct canon answer yet.
Supreme Leader Snoke indicated to Kylo Ren that he was older than the Empire, and didn't quite seem terribly impressed with the Empire. As such, it's possible he wasn't interested in acknowledging the Empire as a full fledged "first" order, but more like a precursor effort.
Technically, an Empire wasn't an "Order", so First Order was indeed "First", there were no governments before it called that. At the same time, Palpatine proclaimed he was building "New Order", so there's still continuity there.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged star-wars the-force-awakens names empire first-order or ask your own question.
What's the history of the term “starship”?
Is the First Order prejudiced against non-humans?
Has a new map of the Galaxy (far, far away) been released? | 2019-04-22T04:12:05 | https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/125782/why-isnt-the-first-order-the-second-order/125784 |
0.998938 | Did Amazon just pull off the best PR stunt ever?
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos called it an Octocopter, but was it also a great PR stunt …perhaps even one of the best ever?
On CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday night, Bezos said the ecommerce site is testing a program where drones will deliver packages weighing up to five pounds in 30 minutes.
"I know this looks like science fiction — it's not," Bezos said, causing social media outlets to light up with news of the coming drones.
The interview generated widespread buzz that spilled over into Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day of the year, when 131 million Americans are forecast to participate, according to the National Retail Federation.
Experts say this was precisely the point (although they do, to be fair, expect drone delivery in the coming years).
Matt Briton, the founder and CEO of MRY, a tech ad agency, said that the way Bezos announced the program makes it a publicity stunt.
"It's all about owning the moment, and this is the moment that an ecommerce retailer needs to own," Britton said, adding that it's now overwhelmingly the biggest story in tech media right now.
"There's this sort of sensationalist headline created from the interview," he added. "Over time it becomes less about the drone story now and more about Amazon being top of mind."
Brew PR Founder Brooke Hammerling said she noticed an explosion of tweets following the announcement among social media influencers, adding that Amazon's strategy was "very clever."
Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at media services company Horizon Media, said the timing has made the retailer front and center.
"Would this have had as much impact if it was in May? I think it would get as much press but wouldn't generate as many sales," Adgate said.
Typically, tech executives do not talk about specific product releases that are more than a couple quarters away since doing so gives competitors a chance to catch up, MRY's Britton added — further evidence that Bezos might have had more up his sleeve than merely wanting to announce a new product.
Still, Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffray managing director and senior research analyst, said the real competitors probably have enough intelligence to know about the program already.
"Even if you know what they're doing, it doesn't necessarily mean you can defend yourself against it," Munster said. "There's a train coming their way, and there's nothing they can do about it."
Although Bezos said the drones could be in operation in as little as four to five years, Munster doubts it could get truly off the ground—so to speak—until at least 10 to 20 years from now.
"The technology is there, but the challenge is the safety side," he said, adding that the retailer would need to obtain Federal Aviation Administration permission to fly the drones to customers. | 2019-04-22T12:12:40 | https://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/02/did-amazon-just-pull-off-the-best-pr-stunt-ever.html |
0.994698 | Why can't I send an SMS campaign?
SMS campaigns require you to pre-pay for SMS credits in advance. To check if you have enought credits to send an SMS campaign simply click on the SMS Marketing navigation menu, and in the top right hand corner of the screen you should see the "Credit Available" display. This displays your 'Cost per SMS', 'Credit Remaining' (in $AUD) and 'SMS' Remaining'. There is also a link to purchase additional credits if required.
Navigate to the SMS Marketing menu, then choose Pay for SMS > Purchase Credits.
Specify the purchase amount, enter your credit card details (if not already on the system) and press the Purchase button.
The credits will be added to your account immediately after your payment has been processed.
**You can also pay for your SMS after you have created your campaign and selected your contacts. The total credit required for the send will be calculated and you can pay via credit card and send the campaign. That way you pay for only what you need. | 2019-04-26T11:37:26 | https://support.zululabs.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/152/2/why-cant-i-send-an-sms-campaign |
0.998907 | Formaldehyde is a colorless gas compound (HCHO) that can irritate eyes, mucous membranes and the upper respiratory system.
A: It is a chemical that is released into the air as a pungent gas. It has a number of useful properties: It's a good preservative and makes an excellent adhesive. Therefore, it is used widely in the building and furnishings industries. It is also found in small amounts in some textiles as an anti-wrinkle agent.
Q: Why should I be concerned about formaldehyde?
A: It is a strong irritant that causes watery eyes and in low doses, causes burning sensations in the eyes, nose, and throat. Wheezing and coughing, fatigue, skin rashes, headaches, loss of coordination and nausea are other symptoms. Larger doses can cause asthma attacks as well as damage to the liver, kidneys and the central nervous system. Some people are highly sensitive and react to formaldehyde concentrations that don't bother most people. Formaldehyde has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals, but there is limited evidence that it causes cancer in humans.
Q: What are the major sources of formaldehyde?
A: Particleboard is a major contributor of formaldehyde to the home environment. The culprit is the adhesive, urea formaldehyde, which can break down releasing the formaldehyde. Phenol formaldehyde (used in exterior panels) does not present problems. Some particleboard is now manufactured with reduced formaldehyde. Other sources include interior plywood, veneered or laminated furniture and cabinets, some professionally applied furniture and floor finishes, paneling, permanent press fabrics (some drapes), combustion products and cosmetics.
Q: How can I detect whether my home has significant concentrations of formaldehyde?
A: You may be able to detect it by its odor. Also, environmental testing firms, listed in the yellow pages of the phone directory, should be able to test for formaldehyde levels. Since such tests are costly, you should learn whether your home has possible sources of formaldehyde. Also, do-it-yourself test kits are available, but there is some question about their accuracy.
Q: What can I do to reduce formaldehyde problems?
A: Formaldehyde cannot penetrate plastic laminate and is at least partly blocked by coatings. Varnishes and special formaldehyde sealants are also available. Apply these coatings to all exposed edges and surfaces, such as the undersides of countertops, cabinet interiors and drawers. High humidity and elevated temperatures cause formaldehyde release, so you might want to control humidity through air conditioning and dehumidifiers. Also, increase ventilation, particularly after bringing new sources of formaldehyde into the home. When remodeling and in new construction, select low formaldehyde materials. | 2019-04-22T12:48:44 | http://cnyhealthyair.org/fs-formaldehyde.htm |
0.999995 | A display device and a method of testing the same are disclosed. In one aspect, the display device includes a first substrate including a display area and a non-display area arranged outside the display area. The display device also includes a bending area arranged in the non-display area, first and second signal lines arranged in the non-display area, and a first test pattern arranged between the first and second signal lines.
1. A display device, comprising: a first substrate including a display area and a non-display area arranged outside the display area; a bending area arranged in the non-display area; first and second signal lines arranged in the non-display area; and a first test pattern arranged between the first and second signal lines.
2. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first substrate is flexible.
3. The display device of claim 1, wherein a first bending line and a second bending line are defined where bending of the first substrate begins and ends, and wherein the bending area is defined between the first and second bending lines.
4. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern and the first signal line have substantially the same strength.
5. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern is formed of the same material as the first signal line.
6. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern includes a plurality of test patterns.
7. The display device of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of signal lines including the first and second signal lines; and a plurality of second test patterns arranged on outer sides of two outermost ones of the signal lines.
8. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern at least partially overlaps the bending area in the depth dimension of the display device.
9. The display device of claim 8, wherein the bending area has a width that is smaller than the length of the first test pattern.
10. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first signal line and the first test pattern are arranged on the same layer.
11. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first signal line and the first test pattern are arranged on different layers.
12. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first signal line and the first test pattern at least partially overlap each other.
13. The display device of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second signal lines includes first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines.
14. The display device of claim 13, wherein the first- and second-layer signal lines are formed of titanium (Ti), and wherein the second-layer signal line is formed of aluminum (Al).
15. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern includes first-, second-, and third-layer test patterns.
16. The display device of claim 15, wherein the first- and third-layer test patterns are formed of Ti, and wherein the second-layer test pattern is formed of Al.
17. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern is U-shaped.
18. The display device of claim 1, wherein the first test pattern includes first and second sub-electrodes, which extend in one direction, and a bridge electrode, which connect the first and second sub-electrodes.
19. The display device of claim 18, wherein the bridge electrode is arranged outside the bending area.
20. The display device of claim 18, wherein a portion of the bridge electrode is arranged outside the bending area.
21. A method of testing a display device, comprising: preparing a first substrate, which includes a display area and a non-display area arranged outside the display area, wherein the non-display area includes a bending area, first and second signal lines, and a test pattern that is arranged between the first and second signal lines; and determining whether the test pattern is disconnected.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the determining includes i) connecting the test pattern to a testing device and ii) comparing an input resistance with the resistance of the test pattern.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining that i) the first and/or second signal line is disconnected when the test pattern is disconnected or ii) the first and/or second signal line is connected when the test pattern is connected.
This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0046799 filed on Apr. 18, 2016 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The described technology generally relates to a display device and a method of testing the same.
The importance of display devices has steadily grown with developments in multimedia technology. As a result, various flat panel display technologies such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, and the like have been developed and manufactured for integration with a wide array of product categories.
The LCD, which is one of the most widely-used flat panel displays, includes two substrates on which field-generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode are formed and a liquid crystal layer which is interposed between the two substrates. It generates an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying a voltage to the field-generating electrodes, and thus displays an image based on the orientation of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer and control of the polarization of incident light.
An OLED display generates an image by causing an organic light-emitting layer between an anode electrode and a cathode electrode to emit light.
These display devices generally have a display area in which to display an image and a peripheral area that surrounds the display area.
In the peripheral area, various signal lines are incorporated for the purpose of signal transfer from input data to the pixels. The signal lines are not properly tested at a complete product level or a partially-finished product level. Thus, the necessity of various testing devices for testing the signal lines has arisen, and various attempts at testing have been made.
One inventive aspect relates to a display device that can determine whether various signal lines in a non-display area are disconnected.
Another aspect is a display device that can easily detect defects by determining whether signal lines are disconnected by bending.
Another aspect is a display device that includes: a first substrate including a display area and a non-display area, which is disposed outside the display area; a bending area disposed in the non-display area; first and second signal lines disposed in the non-display area; and a first test pattern disposed between the first and second signal lines.
The first substrate can have flexibility.
A first bending line where the bending of the first substrate begins and a second bending line where the bending of the first substrate ends can be defined in the non-display area, and the bending area can be defined between the first and second bending lines.
The first test pattern and the first signal line can have the same strength.
The first test pattern can be formed of the same material as the first signal line.
More than one first pattern can be provided.
The display device can further include: a plurality of signal lines including the first and second signal lines; and second test patterns disposed on outer sides of two outermost signal lines of the plurality of signal lines.
The first test pattern can at least partially overlap the bending area.
A width of the bending area can be smaller than a length of the first test pattern.
The first signal line and the first test pattern can be disposed on the same layer.
The first signal line and the first test pattern can be disposed on different layers.
The first signal line and the first test pattern can at least partially overlap each other.
Each of the first and second signal lines can include first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines.
The first- and second-layer signal lines can be formed of titanium (Ti), and the second-layer signal line can be formed of aluminum (Al).
The first test pattern can include first-, second-, and third-layer test patterns.
The first- and third-layer test patterns can be formed of Ti, and the second-layer test pattern can be formed of Al.
The first test pattern can be U-shaped.
The first test pattern can include first and second sub-electrodes, which extend in one direction, and a bridge electrode, which connect the first and second sub-electrodes.
The bridge electrode can be disposed outside the bending area.
Another aspect is a method of testing a display device that includes: preparing a first substrate, which includes a display area, a non-display area that is disposed outside the display area, a bending area that is disposed in the non-display area, first and second signal lines that are disposed in the non-display area, and a first test pattern that is disposed between the first and second signal lines; and determining whether the first test pattern is disconnected.
Another aspect is a display device, comprising: a first substrate including a display area and a non-display area arranged outside the display area; a bending area arranged in the non-display area; first and second signal lines arranged in the non-display area; and a first test pattern arranged between the first and second signal lines.
In the above display device, the first substrate is flexible.
In the above display device, a first bending line and a second bending line are defined where bending of the first substrate begins and ends, wherein the bending area is defined between the first and second bending lines.
In the above display device, the first test pattern and the first signal line have substantially the same strength.
In the above display device, the first test pattern is formed of the same material as the first signal line.
In the above display device, the first test pattern includes a plurality of test patterns.
The above display device further comprises: a plurality of signal lines including the first and second signal lines; and a plurality of second test patterns arranged on outer sides of two outermost ones of the signal lines.
In the above display device, the first test pattern at least partially overlaps the bending area in the depth dimension of the display device.
In the above display device, the bending area has a width that is smaller than the length of the first test pattern.
In the above display device, the first signal line and the first test pattern are arranged on the same layer.
In the above display device, the first signal line and the first test pattern are arranged on different layers.
In the above display device, the first signal line and the first test pattern at least partially overlap each other.
In the above display device, each of the first and second signal lines includes first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines.
In the above display device, the first- and second-layer signal lines are formed of titanium (Ti), wherein the second-layer signal line is formed of aluminum (Al).
In the above display device, the first test pattern includes first-, second-, and third-layer test patterns.
In the above display device, the first- and third-layer test patterns are formed of Ti, wherein the second-layer test pattern is formed of Al.
In the above display device, the first test pattern is U-shaped.
In the above display device, the first test pattern includes first and second sub-electrodes, which extend in one direction, and a bridge electrode, which connect the first and second sub-electrodes.
In the above display device, the bridge electrode is arranged outside the bending area.
In the above display device, a portion of the bridge electrode is arranged outside the bending area.
Another aspect is a method of testing a display device, comprising: preparing a first substrate, which includes a display area and a non-display area arranged outside the display area, wherein the non-display area includes a bending area, first and second signal lines, and a test pattern that is arranged between the first and second signal lines; and determining whether the test pattern is disconnected.
In the above method, the determining includes i) connecting the test pattern to a testing device and ii) comparing an input resistance with the resistance of the test pattern.
The above method further comprises determining that i) the first and/or second signal line is disconnected when the test pattern is disconnected or ii) the first and/or second signal line is connected when the test pattern is connected.
According to at least one of the disclosed embodiments, it is possible to easily determine whether signals are disconnected.
In addition, it is possible to easily detect defects by determining whether signal lines are disconnected by bending.
FIG. 1 is a layout view of a display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I' of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the display device according to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an area B of FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II' of FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a display device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a display device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of a display device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III' of FIG. 8.
FIG. 10 is a plan view of a display device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 11 is a layout view for explaining a method of testing a display device, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
The aspects and features of the described technology and methods for achieving the aspects and features will be apparent by referring to the embodiments to be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the described technology is not limited to the embodiments disclosed hereinafter, but can be implemented in diverse forms. The matters defined in the description, such as the detailed construction and elements, are nothing but specific details provided to assist those of ordinary skill in the art in a comprehensive understanding of the described technology, and the described technology is only defined within the scope of the appended claims.
In the entire description of the described technology, the same drawing reference numerals are used for the same elements across various figures.
Although the terms "first, second, and so forth" are used to describe diverse constituent elements, such constituent elements are not limited by the terms. The terms are used only to discriminate a constituent element from other constituent elements. Accordingly, in the following description, a first constituent element can be a second constituent element.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the described technology will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In this disclosure, the term "substantially" includes the meanings of completely, almost completely or to any significant degree under some applications and in accordance with those skilled in the art. Moreover, "formed, disposed or positioned over" can also mean "formed, disposed or positioned on." The term "connected" includes an electrical connection.
FIG. 1 is a layout view of a display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I' of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a side view of the display device according to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an area B of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II' of FIG. 4.
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 5, the display device includes a first substrate 500, which has a display area DA, a non-display area NDA that is disposed outside the display area DA, and a bending area BA, which is disposed in the non-display area NDA. The display device also includes first and second signal lines SL_1 and SL_2, which are disposed in the non-display area NDA, and a first test pattern TP1, which is disposed between the first and second signal lines SL_1 and SL_2.
The first substrate 500 can be formed of a material with heat resistance and transparency. The first substrate 500 can be formed of, for example, transparent glass or plastic, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
The first substrate 500 can be formed of a flexible material. For example, the first substrate 500 can have flexibility. The first substrate 500 can be formed of, for example, polyimide (PI). However, the material of the first substrate 500 is not particularly limited, and any material that can impart flexibility to the first substrate 500 can be used to form the first substrate 500.
The first substrate 500 can include the display area DA and the non-display area NDA. The display area DA is an area in which an image is displayed, and a plurality of pixels PX can be disposed in the display area DA. FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which the pixels PX are arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, but the arrangement of the pixels PX is not limited to this example. The pixels PX can emit light of various colors. For example, each of every three adjacent pixels emits light of at least one of three colors, e.g., red, green, and blue, and the arrangement of the three colors is not particularly limited. For example, the pixels PX are arranged such that at least two of the three colors are alternately arranged along an x-axis direction or a y-axis direction, but the arrangement of red, green, and blue is not limited to this example.
Each of the pixels PX can include at least one transistor TR. The structure of the pixels PX will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 2.
The non-display area NDA can be disposed outside the display area DA. For example, the non-display area NDA can be disposed to surround the circumference of the display area DA. In a case in which the display area DA is rectangular, the non-display area NDA can be in the shape of a rectangle with a hollow center. FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which the display area DA is substantially rectangular, but the shape of the display area DA is not limited to this example. For example, in another example, the display area DA is polygonal or partially curved.
A plurality of signal lines SL for driving the display area DA can be disposed in the non-display area NDA.
In an exemplary embodiment, the signal lines SL are data fan-out lines. For example, first ends of the signal lines SL are connected to a data driver DD, which is disposed in the non-display area NDA, and second ends of the signal lines SL can be connected to the display area DA. In an exemplary embodiment, the signal lines SL are connected to data lines (not illustrated) in the display area DA. For example, the signal lines SL receive signals generated by the data driver DD and provide the received signals to the data lines in the display area DA. The pixels PX, which are disposed in the display area DA, can be driven by the signals provided by the signal lines SL, and as a result, a desired image can be displayed in the display area DA.
The bending area BA can be defined in the non-display area NDA. The bending area BA can be formed by bending at least part of the first substrate 500. For example, the display device according to the present exemplary embodiment includes the bending area BA, which is temporarily or variably bent, or permanently bent.
In an exemplary embodiment, the first substrate 500 is temporarily or variably bent or unbent, depending on the material thereof. In another exemplary embodiment, the first substrate 500 has a permanently bent portion, in which case, the material of the first substrate 500 is not necessarily be flexible.
For example, the bending area BA is defined as part of the first substrate 500 that is not flat but bent. The bending area BA can be disposed between two bending lines BL. For example, the bending lines BL are defined as lines at which the bending of the first substrate 500 begins and ends, respectively. For example, the bending of the first substrate 500 begins at a first bending line BL1 and ends at a second bending line BL2. For example, the first substrate 500 is flat on the outer sides of the first and second bending lines BL1 and BL2 and can be curved on the inner sides of the first and second bending lines BL1 and BL2, e.g., between the first and second bending lines BL1 and BL2.
Due to the aforementioned characteristics, the bending area BA can extend from the non-display area NDA in the x-axis direction.
One or more first test patterns TP1 can be disposed between every two adjacent signal lines SL. The first test patterns TP1 can be disposed to overlap the bending area BA. FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which one first test pattern TP1 is disposed between every two adjacent signal lines SL, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, more than one first test pattern TP1 are disposed between every two adjacent signal lines SL. This will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 4.
The first test patterns TP1 can comprise a metal material having conductivity. For example, the first test patterns TP1 have a single- or multilayer structure formed of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), titanium (Ti), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), aluminum (Al), beryllium (Be), niobium (Nb), gold (Au), iron (Fe), selenium (Se), or tantalum (Ta). Alternatively, the first test patterns TP1 can be formed of an alloy of the metal material and at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, zirconium (Zr), tungsten (W), Ta, Nb, platinum (Pt), hafnium (Hf), oxygen (0), and nitrogen (N).
In an exemplary embodiment, the strength of the first test patterns TP1 is the substantially same as the strength of the signal lines SL. For example, as will be described later, stress is applied to the first test patterns TP1 and the signal lines SL, and the resistance of the first test patterns TP1 against the stress can be substantially the same as the resistance of the signal lines SL against the stress. The first test patterns TP1 and the signal lines SL can be formed of the same material.
However, the material of the first test patterns TP1 and the signal lines SL is not particularly limited. For example, in another exemplary embodiment, the first test patterns TP1 and the signal lines SL are formed of different materials and have the same or similar strengths.
The first test patterns TP1 and the signal lines SL can be formed to have the same or similar strengths to determine whether the signal lines SL are disconnected based on whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected. For example, it can often be difficult to detect whether the signal lines SL are disconnected because of some structural and design reasons, in which case, it can be determined whether the signal lines SL are disconnected by inspecting the first test patterns TP1 for any disconnections.
In an exemplary embodiment, a plurality of first test patterns TP1 is provided. The first test patterns TP1 can be disposed among the signal lines SL. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the first test patterns TP1 can be sequentially disposed in the non-display area NDA along the x-axis direction, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Alternatively, the first test patterns TP1 can be disposed along the y-axis direction.
In an exemplary embodiment, second test patterns TP2 are disposed. The second test patterns TP2 can be disposed on the outer sides of two outermost signal lines SL (hereinafter referred to as the outermost signal lines SL-O) of the signal lines SL. The second test patterns TP2, like the first test patterns TP1, can be disposed to overlap the bending area BA.
In a case in which the first substrate 500 includes the bending area BA, stress can be generated in response to the first substrate 500 being bent, and as a result, at least some of the signal lines SL overlapping the bending area BA can be disconnected due to the stress. If some of the signal lines SL are disconnected, some of the pixels PX in the display area DA may not properly operate, thereby causing display defects. However, since the signal lines SL are not exposed, it can be difficult to directly inspect the signal lines SL at a complete-product- or half-finished-product-level.
Thus, as an indirect way of inspecting the signal lines SL, the first test patterns TP1, which have substantially the same strength as, or a similar strength to, the signal lines SL, can be disposed adjacent to the signal lines SL and can be inspected for any disconnections so as to determine whether the signal line SL are disconnected.
For example, the first test patterns TP1 are disposed among the signal lines SL, and thus, it can be precisely determined whether the signal lines SL, which are disposed among the first test patterns TP1, are disconnected. On the other hand, the second test patterns TP2 are disposed on the outer sides of the outermost signal lines SL-O, and thus, it can be approximately determined whether the signal lines SL in the bending area BA are disconnected. For example, in a case in which the first test patterns TP1 and the second test patterns TP2 coexist, the first test patterns TP1 and/or the second test patterns TP2 can be tested selectively or collectively, thereby making it possible to precisely determine whether the signal lines SL are properly connected.
The display area DA will hereinafter be described with reference to FIG. 2. As described above, the pixels PX can be disposed in the display area DA. The structure of the pixels PX will hereinafter be described, taking a single pixel PX as an example.
A semiconductor pattern layer 700 can be disposed on the first substrate 500. The semiconductor pattern layer 700 can be formed of amorphous silicon or crystalline silicon. In an exemplary embodiment, the semiconductor pattern layer 700 is formed of an oxide semiconductor.
In a case in which the semiconductor pattern layer 700 is formed of an oxide semiconductor, the semiconductor pattern layer 700 can be formed of zinc oxide (ZnO). The top of the semiconductor pattern layer 700 can be doped with at least one selected from the group consisting of gallium (Ga), indium (In), stannum (Sn), Zr, Hf, cadmium (Cd), Ag, Cu, germanium (Ge), gadolinium (Gd), Ti, and vanadium (V) ions. For example, the semiconductor pattern layer 700 can comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of ZnO, ZnGaO, ZnInO, ZnSnO, GaInZnO, CdO, InO, GaO, SnO, AgO, CuO, GeO, GdO, HfO, TiZnO, InGaZnO, and InTiZnO, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the type of the oxide semiconductor of the semiconductor pattern layer 700 is not particularly limited.
A first insulating layer IL1 can be disposed on the semiconductor pattern layer 700. The first insulating layer IL1 can be formed by mixing at least one selected from the group consisting of an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide (SiOx) or silicon nitride (SiNx) and an organic insulating material such as benzocyclobutene (BCB), an acrylic material, or PI.
A gate electrode GE can be disposed on the first insulating layer ILL The gate electrode GE can be disposed to overlap the semiconductor pattern layer 700.
A second insulating layer IL2 can be disposed on the gate electrode GE. The second insulating layer IL2 can be formed by mixing at least one selected from the group consisting of an inorganic insulating material such as SiOx or SiNx and an organic insulating material such as BCB, an acrylic material, or PI.
First and second contact holes CNT1 and CNT2, which partially expose the semiconductor pattern layer 700, can be disposed in the first and second insulating layers IL1 and IL2. For example, the first and second contact holes CNT1 and CNT2 can penetrate the first and second insulating layers IL1 and IL2 to expose the top surface of the semiconductor pattern layer 700.
A source electrode SE and a drain electrode DE can be disposed on the second insulating layer IL2. The source electrode SE can be connected to a data line (not illustrated) and can receive a data signal.
The source electrode SE can contact the semiconductor pattern layer 700 via the first contact hole CTN1.
The drain electrode DE can be spaced apart from the source electrode SE by a predetermined distance. The drain electrode DE can contact the semiconductor pattern layer 700 via the second contact hole CNT2.
The semiconductor pattern layer 700, the gate electrode GE, the source electrode SE, and the drain electrode DE can form the TFT TR.
A third insulating layer IL3 can be disposed on the source electrode SE and the drain electrode DE. The third insulating layer IL3 can be formed by mixing at least one selected from the group consisting of an inorganic insulating material such as SiOx or SiNx and an organic insulating material such as BCB, an acrylic material, or PI.
A third contact hole CNT3 can be disposed in the third insulating layer IL3. The third contact hole CNT3 can penetrate the third insulating layer IL3 to expose the drain electrode DE. A first electrode El can be disposed on the drain electrode DE. In an exemplary embodiment, the first electrode El is an anode electrode.
In an exemplary embodiment, the first electrode El is a transparent electrode. In a case in which the first electrode El is a transparent electrode, the first electrode El can be formed of indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO).
A pixel-defining layer PDL can be disposed on the first electrode El to partially expose the first electrode El. The pixel-defining layer PDL can partially expose the first electrode El and can provide space for an organic light-emitting layer EML that will be described later.
The organic light-emitting layer EML can be disposed on the pixel-defining layer PDL. The organic light-emitting layer EML can be formed of organic material layers such as, for example, an emission layer (EML), a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an electron injection layer (EIL), and an electron transport layer (ETL). The organic light-emitting layer EML can have a single-layer structure consisting of one of the organic material layers or can have a multilayer structure consisting of two or more of the organic material layers.
A second electrode E2 can be disposed on the organic light-emitting layer EML. In an exemplary embodiment, the second electrode E2 is a full-surface electrode covering the organic light-emitting layer EML and the pixel-defining layer PDL. In the exemplary embodiment where the first electrode El is an anode electrode, the second electrode E2 is a cathode electrode.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example in which the display device is an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, in another example, the display device can be a liquid crystal display (LCD).
FIG. 2 also illustrates an example in which one TFT TR is disposed in each of the pixels PX, but the number of TFTs TR disposed in each of the pixels PX is not particularly limited. For example, in another example, two or more TFTs TR having the same or different functions can be disposed in each of the pixels PX.
FIG. 2 also illustrates an example in which the TFT TR includes a single gate electrode GE, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, in another example, the TFT TR includes two or more gate electrodes GE.
A side of the display device according to the present exemplary embodiment will hereinafter be described with reference to FIG. 3.
As mentioned above, the first substrate 500 can be temporarily or variably bent or unbent. The bending area BA can be defined as part of the first substrate 500 that is not flat but bent. The bending area BA can be disposed between two bending lines BL. For example, the bending lines BL are defined as lines at which the bending of the first substrate 500 begins and ends, respectively. For example, the bending of the first substrate 500 begins at the first bending line BL1 and ends at the second bending line BL2. For example, the first substrate 500 can be flat on the outer sides of the first and second bending lines BL1 and BL2 and can be curved on the inner sides of the first and second bending lines BL1 and BL2, e.g., between the first and second bending lines BL1 and BL2.
Due to the presence of the bending area BA, the normal direction of the plane on one side of the bending area BA can differ from the normal direction of the plane on the other side of the bending area BA.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example in which the angle that the normal direction of the plane on one side of the bending area BA forms with the normal direction of the plane on the other side of the bending area BA is close to about 90 degrees, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, in another example, the angle that the normal direction of the plane on one side of the bending area BA forms with the normal direction of the plane on the other side of the bending area BA can be an acute angle or an obtuse angle. For example, the angle that the normal direction of the plane on one side of the bending area BA forms with the normal direction of the plane on the other side of the bending area BA varies depending on the degree to which the first substrate 500 is bent in the bending area BA.
Referring to FIG. 4, the first test patterns TP1 are disposed among the signal line SL. For convenience, one of the signal lines SL will hereinafter be referred to as the first signal line SL1, and the signal line next to the first signal line SL1 will hereinafter be referred to as the second signal line SL2.
The first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2 can extend in a lengthwise direction. In FIG. 4, the lengthwise direction is the y-axis direction.
A first test pattern TP1 can be disposed between the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2. The first test pattern TP1 can be spaced apart from the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2. The first test pattern TP1 can extend in the lengthwise direction of the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2. For example, the first test pattern TP1 and the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2 can be in parallel to one another.
The first test pattern TP1 can overlap the bending area BA. In an exemplary embodiment, a length 11 of the first test pattern TP1 is greater than a width w1 of the bending area BA. In a case in which the length 11 of the first test pattern TP1 is greater than the width w1 of the bending area BA, the first test pattern TP1 can fully receive the stress generated by the bending of the first substrate 500. For example, the first test pattern TP1 can fully receive the force applied to the first and second signal lines SL in the bending area BA. Thus, the precision of a test using the first test pattern TP1 can be improved.
First and second ends of the first test pattern TP1 can be disposed outside the bending area BA. For example, the first end of the first test pattern TP1 is disposed on the outer side of the first bending line BL1, and the second end of the first test pattern TP1 is disposed on the outer side of the second bending line BL2. For example, the first and second ends of the first test pattern TP1 are disposed not on the inside, but on the outside, of the bending area BA.
If the first and second ends of the first test pattern TP1 are disposed outside the bending area BA, the stress applied to the bending area BA can be fully transmitted to the first test pattern TP1. Thus, the precision of a test using the first test pattern TP1 can be improved.
Referring to FIG. 5, the first and second signal line SL1 and SL2 and the first test pattern TP1 can be disposed on the same layer.
For example, a first insulating layer IL1 is disposed on the first substrate 500. In an exemplary embodiment, the first insulating layer IL1 of FIG. 5 is the same as the first insulating layer IL1 in the display area DA. For example, the first insulating layer IL1 of FIG. 5 and the first insulating layer IL1 in the display area DA are formed at the same time by the same process, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the first insulating layer IL1 of FIG. 5 and the first insulating layer IL1 in the display area DA are formed independently of each other.
The first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2 and the first test pattern TP1 can be disposed on the first insulating layer ILL As mentioned above, the first test pattern TP1 can be disposed between the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2.
Display devices according to other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 10. In FIGS. 1 through 10, like reference numerals indicate like elements, and thus, descriptions thereof will be omitted or at least simplified.
Referring to FIG. 6, the display device differs from the display device of FIG. 5 in that first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2 are disposed on a different layer from a first test pattern TP1.
A second insulating layer IL2 can be disposed on the first insulating layer IL1 and the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2 to cover the first insulating layer IL1 and the first and second signal lines SL1 and SL2. FIG. 6 illustrates an example in which the second insulating layer IL2 has a single-layer structure, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, the second insulating layer IL2 has a multilayer structure consisting of two or more layers.
The first test pattern TP1 can be disposed on the second insulating layer IL2. FIG. 6 illustrates an example in which the first test pattern TP1 does not overlap the first and second signal lines TP1 and TP2, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example example, the first test pattern TP1 is at least partially overlap the first signal line TP1 and/or the second signal line TP2.
Referring to FIG. 7, the display device differs from the display device of FIG. 5 in that signal lines SL and a first test pattern TP1 have a multilayer structure.
In an exemplary embodiment, the signal lines SL and the first test pattern TP1 can have a multilayer structure consisting of two or more layers.
For example, each of the signal lines SL can include first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines SL_1, SL_2, and SL_3. The first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines SL_1, SL_2, and SL_3 can be disposed to overlap with one another. The first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines SL_1, SL_2, and SL_3 can be aligned with one another on the sides thereof. The first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines SL_1, SL_2, and SL_3 can be formed by etching three layers at the same time in a single etching process, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.
In an exemplary embodiment, the first-, second-, and third-layer signal lines SL_1, SL_2, and SL_3 can be formed of different materials. In another exemplary embodiment, the first- and third-layer signal lines SL_1 and SL_3 can be formed of the same material, and the second-layer signal line SL_2 can be formed of a different material from the first- and third-layer signal lines SL_1 and SL_3. For example, the first- and third-layer signal lines SL_1 and SL_3 can comprise Ti, and the second-layer signal line SL_2 can comprise Al.
In a case in which the signal lines SL have a multilayer structure, the first test pattern TP1 can also have a multilayer structure. For example, the first test pattern TP1 can include first-, second-, and third-layer test patterns TP1_1, TP1_2, and TP1_3, which overlap with one another.
As described above, in an exemplary embodiment, the first test pattern TP1 can be formed of the same material as the signal lines SL. For example, the first test pattern TP1 can be formed of the same material as the signal lines SL to have substantially the same strength as, or a similar strength to, the signal line SL. In the exemplary embodiment where the first- and third-layer signal lines SL_1 and SL_3 comprise Ti and the second-layer signal line SL_2 comprises Al, the first- and third-layer test patterns TP1_1 and TP1_3 can comprise Ti, and the second-layer test pattern TP1_2 can comprise Al.
FIG. 8 is a partial plan view of a display device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III' of FIG. 8.
Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the display device differs from the display device of FIG. 4 in that first test patterns TP1 overlap signal lines SL, respectively.
The first test patterns TP1 can fully overlap the signal lines SL, respectively.
The width of the first test patterns TP1 can be larger than the width of the signal lines SL, in which case, the first test patterns TP1 can fully cover the signal lines SL, respectively.
However, the present disclosure is not limited to the first test patterns TP1 fully covering the signal lines SL, respectively. For example, the first test patterns TP1 can partially cover the signal lines SL, respectively. In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 8 and 9, like in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4, both ends of each of the first test patterns TP1 can be disposed outside a bending area BA, thereby offering the same benefits as in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4.
Even in a case in which the first test patterns TP1 overlap the signal lines SL, respectively, the first test patterns TP1 and the signal lines SL can be insulated from each other. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, insulating layers can be interposed between the first test patterns TP1, respectively, and the signal lines SL, respectively. FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which the insulating layers are interposed between the first test patterns TP1, respectively, and the signal lines SL, respectively, but the present disclosure is not limited to this example. For example, any layers that can electrically insulate the first test patterns TP1 from the signal lines SL can be used.
Referring to FIG. 10, the display device differs from the display device of FIG. 4 in that a first test pattern TP1_U, which is U-shaped, is provided.
In an exemplary embodiment, the first test pattern TP1_U is horse shoe- or U-shaped. For example, the first test pattern TP1 includes first and second sub-electrodes STP1, which extend in a y-axis direction, and a bridge electrode BTP, which connect the first and second sub-electrodes STP1 and SPT2.
The first and second sub-electrodes STP1 and STP2 and the bridge electrode BTP are described herein as if they were separate elements, but can simply be parts of the same first test pattern TP1_U and can be integrally formed of the same material.
The bridge electrode BTP can be disposed outside a bending area BA. For example, the bridge electrode BTP may not overlap the bending area BA.
In an exemplary embodiment, the bridge electrode BTP is disposed between the bending area BA and a display area DA, as illustrated in FIG. 10, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the bridge electrode BTP can be disposed between the bending area BA and a non-display area NDA to electrically connect the first and second sub-electrodes STP1 and STP2.
In a case in which the first test pattern TP1_U is formed in a U-shape, the contact between the first test pattern TP1_U and a testing device can be facilitated. For example, routes for the contact between the first test pattern TP1_u and the testing device are diverse.
A method of testing a display device, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, will hereinafter be described with reference to FIG. 11. In FIGS. 1 through 11, like reference numerals indicate like elements, and thus, descriptions thereof will be omitted or at least simplified.
FIG. 11 is a partial layout view for explaining a method of testing a display device.
Referring to FIG. 11, the method of testing a display device includes: preparing a first substrate 500, which includes a display area DA, a non-display area NDA that is disposed outside the display area DA, a bending area BA that is disposed in the non-display area NDA, signal lines SL that are disposed in the non-display area NDA, and first test patterns TP1); and determining whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected.
The first substrate 500 can be substantially the same as its counterparts of the display devices according to the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and 10. Test targets, e.g., the first substrate 500 and a plurality of elements disposed on the first substrate 500, can be substantially the same as their respective counterparts of the display devices according to the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and 10, and thus, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.
Thereafter, it can be determined whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected.
In an exemplary embodiment, the step of determining whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected can be performed by a testing device TM. The testing device TM can include contact terminals TMC. For example, the contact terminals TMC of the testing device TM are placed in contact with the first test patterns TP1. Once the contact terminals TMC are placed in contact with the first test patterns TP1, the testing device TM can determine whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected. For example, the testing device TM determines whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected by comparing an input resistance with the resistance of the first test patterns TP1, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, a method to determine whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected is not particularly limited.
In response to it being determined that the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected, it can be determined whether the signal lines SL adjacent to the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected. For example, it can be determined whether the display device is defective by determining, in an indirect way, whether the signal lines SL are disconnected.
In an exemplary embodiment, it is determined whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected, in a state where the first substrate 500 is bent in the bending area BA. For example, by determining whether the first test patterns TP1 are disconnected, in a state where stress is applied to the first test patterns TP1, it can be determined whether the signal lines SL are damaged by the bending of the first substrate 500.
However, the effects of the described technology are not restricted to the one set forth herein. The above and other effects of the described technology will become more apparent to one of daily skill in the art to which the described technology pertains by referencing the claims.
While the inventive technology has been particularly illustrated and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. The exemplary embodiments should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. | 2019-04-24T23:52:16 | http://patents.com/us-20170301272.html |
0.999732 | is the th Fourier coefficient of . No natural ordering of Fourier coefficients exists, thus the definition of a multi-dimensional partial Fourier sum presents many problems and points of interest intimately connected to geometry and number theory.
taking into (or, equivalently, into ) is unbounded and measures the rate of divergence of the Fourier series.
This is strongly related to the behaviour of the Fourier transform of the indicator function of the summation domain . For known results on this subject, see, e.g., [a11], [a13], [a18].
The estimate from below has first appeared in [a14]; the method used there is the main tool for obtaining lower bounds for Lebesgue constants. Nothing is known about existence or non-existence of the limit of as ; this is the main open problem in the subject (as of 2000).
where . These natural assumptions provide the bound . It turns out that to satisfy the same estimate from below, only local information is needed ([a17]): Let the boundary of a domain contain a simple (non-intersecting) piece of a surface of smoothness in which there is at least one point with non-vanishing principal curvatures (cf. also Principal curvature). Then there exists a positive constant , depending only on , such that for large.
Actually, this was proved by E. Belinsky [a6].
There are two important problems concerning the polyhedral case. The first is: Can partial Fourier sums have Lebesgue constants with an intermediate rate of growth (i.e. between (a1) and (a2))? Some trivial solutions were suggested in [a26], where an intermediate growth is achieved by the product of the two mentioned situations. Of course, this is possible only for dimension three and greater. Thus, the problem is to find one for dimension two. It is clear that in this case the boundary can possess no point with non-vanishing curvature. On the other hand, any polyhedron matches (a2). Thus, the solution can only be a (convex) "polyhedron" with infinitely many specially located sides. Such a solution was constructed by A. Podkorytov [a21].
The next question also seems very natural: Is it possible to have a certain asymptotic relation instead of the order estimate (a2)? For rectangular partial sums some special cases were investigated by I. Daugavet [a9] and O. Kuznetsova [a15]. For the sequence of dilated summation domains, an unexpected result was obtained by Podkorytov [a22]. Here also causes the main difficulties. There are two main cases. In the first one, the polygons with sides of rational slopes are dealt with — then the estimates change insignificantly if only one considers instead of sums the corresponding integrals, that is, the Fourier transform of the indicator function of the -dilation of the corresponding set . This allows one to obtain logarithmic asymptotics; namely, the values , and are equivalent. When at least one of the slopes is irrational, the situation changes qualitatively: The upper limit and the lower limit of the ratio , as , may differ. In [a22] and [a20], quantitative estimates of this phenomenon as well as open problems are given.
The paper [a4] started the interest in various questions of approximation theory and Fourier analysis in connected with the study of hyperbolic cross partial Fourier sums (see, e.g., [a24] and Hyperbolic cross). The exact order of growth of their Lebesgue constants, , the same as in the spherical case, was established in the two-dimensional case independently in [a5] and in [a27], and afterwards was generalized to the case of arbitrary dimension in [a16].
Step hyperbolic crosses were introduced by B. Mityagin [a19] and are defined as follows (cf. also Step hyperbolic cross): for such that . These have many important applications too. Belinsky [a8] proved that there exist two positive constants and , , such that .
When is unbounded, it may happen that the operator is unbounded even for fixed . It is proved in [a3] that the Lebesgue constants are either of the usual order of growth or infinite for all values of the parameter , where is a hyperbolic cross, depending on whether the hyperbolic cross is turned at a rational or irrational angle, respectively. For , this was earlier obtained in [a7], which also contains similar results for the strip to be a summation domain.
For other results on Lebesgue constants and related topics, see [a1], [a2], [a10], [a12], [a18], [a23], [a28], [a29].
The ideas used to prove many of the results discussed above have also been applied to estimates of the Lebesgue constants of linear means of multiple Fourier series.
Some results are known for Lebesgue constants in more abstract settings, e.g., for spherical harmonics expansions or Fourier series on compact Lie groups. | 2019-04-26T15:57:51 | https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php/Lebesgue_constants_of_multi-dimensional_partial_Fourier_sums |
0.999993 | Read an example of the descriptive rhetorical mode.
As the sun hits my face and I breathe in the fresh air, I temporarily forget that I am at a sporting event. But when I open my eyes and look around, I am reminded of all things American. From the national anthem to the international players on the field, all the sights and sounds of a baseball game come together like a slice of Americana pie.
First, the entrance turnstiles click and clank, and then a hallway of noise bombards me. All the fans voices coalesce in a chorus of sound, rising to a humming clamor. The occasional, “Programs, get your programs, here!” jumps out through the hum to get my attention. I navigate my way through the crowded walkways of the stadium, moving to the right of some people, to the left of others, and I eventually find the section number where my seat is located. As I approach my seat I hear the announcer’s voice echo around the ball park, “Attention fans. In honor of our country, please remove your caps for the singing of the national anthem.” His deep voice echoes around each angle of the park, and every word is heard again and again. The crowd sings and hums “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and I feel a surprising amount of national pride through the voices. I take my seat as the umpire shouts, “Play ball!” and the game begins.
In the fifth inning of the game, I decide to find a concessions stand. Few tastes are as American as hot dogs and soda pop, and they cannot be missed at a ball game. The smell of hot dogs carries through the park, down every aisle, and inside every concourse. They are always as unhealthy as possible, dripping in grease, while the buns are soft and always too small for the dog. The best way to wash down the Ball Park Frank is with a large soda pop, so I order both. Doing my best to balance the cold pop in one hand and the wrapped-up dog in the other, I find the nearest condiments stand to load up my hot dog. A dollop of bright green relish and chopped onions, along with two squirts of the ketchup and mustard complete the dog. As I continue the balancing act between the loaded hot dog and pop back to my seat, a cheering fan bumps into my pop hand. The pop splashes out of the cup and all over my shirt, leaving me drenched. I make direct eye contact with the man who bumped into me and he looks me in the eye, looks at my shirt, tells me how sorry he is, and then I just shake my head and keep walking. “It’s all just part of the experience,” I tell myself.
Before I am able to get back to my seat, I hear the crack of a bat, followed by an uproar from the crowd. Everyone is standing, clapping, and cheering. I missed a home run. I find my aisle and ask everyone to excuse me as I slip past them to my seat. “Excuse me. Excuse me. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry,” is all I can say as I inch past each fan. Halfway to my seat I can hear discarded peanut shells crunch beneath my feet, and each step is marked with a pronounced crunch.
When I finally get to my seat I realize it is the start of the seventh inning stretch. I quickly eat my hot dog and wash it down with what is left of my soda pop. The organ starts playing and everyone begins to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” While singing the song, putting my arms around friends and family with me, I watch all the players taking the field. It is wonderful to see the overwhelming amount of players on one team from around the world: Japan, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Canada, and Venezuela. I cannot help but feel a bit of national pride at this realization. Seeing the international representation on the field reminds me of the ways that Americans, though from many different backgrounds and places, still come together under common ideals. For these reasons and for the whole experience in general, going to a Major League Baseball game is the perfect way to glimpse a slice of Americana. | 2019-04-18T23:18:49 | https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Book%3A_Writing_for_Success/15%3A_Readings%3A_Examples_of_Essays/15.04%3A_Descriptive_Essay |
0.999999 | Thousands of Berliners yesterday hailed their new cultural hero, Sir Simon Rattle, as he made his debut as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with a programme that immediately attracted controversy from Germany's musical traditionalists.
The concert programme, which included the contemporary British-born composer Thomas Ades' controversial Asyla and Gustav Mahler's more traditional but demanding Fifth Symphony, embodied the spirit the British conductor hopes to bring to the German capital in his new role at the helm of one of the world's greatest orchestras.
Described by Rattle as a combination of 'one of music's greatest love letters' - Mahler wrote the 5th for his fiancée, Alma - and 'deconstructed techno and recreational drugs music' - last night's programme upset the BPO's more traditionalist supporters, who complained to the orchestra's management and threatened to boycott Rattle performances.
Even the orchestra's members - some of whom played under the late Herbert von Karajan - were said by insiders to be 'struggling' with the modern rhythms of Ades in rehearsal.
But the programme delighted Germany's music critics, who have - unusually - been unanimous in their praise of Rattle and his plans for their cultural flagship.
Rattle, for whom risk-taking is a trademark, said his audiences should not expect him to bow to the traditionalists. 'I love a whole range of music and this is all part of our process of searching, of taking ideas and flying with them - the musicians have told me they want their repertoire not to change but to enlarge,' he told The Observer .
The 47-year-old, who fought Berlin's authorities for pay rises for his musicians plus the go-ahead to restructure the orchestra before signing his contract a year ago, admitted before the concert he was nervous. 'I'm scared, sure,' he shrugged and smiled.
The first Briton to take up the post as sixth chief conductor at the BPO, Rattle is following in the footsteps of such greats as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Von Karajan and Claudio Abbado.
Now he is in place - three years after he was first elected by the BPO musicians in a secret ballot - Rattle plans to take the orchestra to new artistic and social planes, visiting schools and becoming involved in social-regeneration projects, which is revolutionary for Germany.
As well as a project to gather school orchestras in a derelict Berlin warehouse for a huge performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Rattle has asked the jazz supremo Wynton Marsalis to write fusion pieces for the BPO and is also planning to compile a dance troupe whose members would be plucked from the streets.
The 44 concerts planned for the new season feature hardly any Mozart or Beethoven; instead there are pieces by modern composers such as Heiner Goebbels and Messaien. This month he will conduct Blood on the Floor by his compatriot Mark-Anthony Turnage, which conveys the tortuous death of the composer's brother from a heroin overdose.
Rattle will need a very open-minded audience, but feels that is exactly what Berlin already has, describing his new public as refreshingly quick and responsive. 'This is a city where you can see the emotion, smell the mood, and hear people listening - it's a very open audience,' he said. 'You can hear people reacting to what is different.' He said his appointment was the 'start of a thrilling journey', describing himself as an 'adaptor plug between the musicians and the audience'. | 2019-04-24T02:44:29 | https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/sep/08/arts.artsnews1 |
0.99999 | Fresh ginger adds a warm, spicy undertone to this stone fruit and berry pie, which is ideal for serving a crowd. The rectangular slab pie is baked in a jelly-roll pan, so it serves more people than a traditional round one.
To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar and salt until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 6 Tbs. (3 fl. oz./90 ml) of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out 1 of the dough disks into an 18-by-14-inch (45-by-35-cm) rectangle. Roll the dough around a rolling pin and unroll it into a jelly-roll pan. Gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan. Trim the edges, leaving a 1/2-inch (12-mm) overhang.
To make the filling, in a large bowl, toss together the peaches and blackberries. In a small bowl, stir together the honey, lemon juice, cornstarch and ginger. Add to the fruit mixture and toss until well combined. Transfer the filling to the dough-lined pan.
Roll out the remaining dough disk into an 18-by-14-inch (45-by-35-cm) rectangle and place over the filling. Fold the top crust underneath the edge of the bottom crust and press together to seal. Flute or decorate the edge of the crust as desired. Using a sharp knife, cut several slits in the top crust. Brush the crust with the beaten egg mixture and sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 1 hour and 10 minutes, tenting the pie with aluminum foil halfway through baking to prevent the top from browning too quickly. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the pie cool for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. Serves 12.
I am in middle of making this… in oven. However, what is the temp supose to be throughout baking? Certainly not 400F for 1 hour and 10 min?! I will turn down somewhat and just watch. Thanks.
Hi Gail, yes, the pie bakes at 400 degrees for an hour and 10 minutes. However, the recipe calls for tenting the pie with aluminum foil halfway through baking — it’s an important step to make sure the crust doesn’t burn.
Looks delish! Could this be made with just the top layer of crust? Would that turn out?
I’m seriously blog-crushing you here- every day I see something delicious! | 2019-04-20T11:14:32 | https://blog.williams-sonoma.com/gingered-peach-blackberry-slab-pie/ |
0.999997 | Trump's husband, White House adviser Jared Kushner Jared Corey KushnerImpeachment? Not so fast without missing element of criminal intent House Dem calls on lawmakers to 'insulate' election process following Mueller report Mueller considered charging campaign aides in Trump Tower meeting but lacked evidence MORE, also came under scrutiny last year after Politico reported that he used a private email account to conduct official White House business after the election. The Post report stated that Trump had used an email account from a domain that she shares with Kushner.
Rep. Elijah Cummings Elijah Eugene CummingsDem lawmaker: 'Quite clear' Trump committed impeachable offenses Cummings on impeachment: 'We may very well come to that' Democrats should be careful wielding more investigations MORE (D-Md.), the ranking member of the oversight panel and its likely chairman in the next congressional session, said in a statement later Monday that it had started a bipartisan investigation last year into White House staffers' use of personal email and whether they were in compliance with records law, "but the White House never gave us the information we requested."
"We need those documents to ensure that Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and other officials are complying with federal records laws and there is a complete record of the activities of this Administration," Cummings said. "My goal is to prevent this from happening again— not to turn this into a spectacle the way Republicans went after Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonImpeachment? Not so fast without missing element of criminal intent Former Bush assistant: Mueller report makes Obama look 'just plain bad' Seth Rich's brother calls for those pushing conspiracy to 'take responsibility' MORE."
President Trump Donald John TrumpImpeachment? Not so fast without missing element of criminal intent Feds say marijuana ties could prevent immigrants from getting US citizenship Trump approval drops to 2019 low after Mueller report's release: poll MORE and Republicans had repeatedly slammed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server to conduct government business. | 2019-04-21T10:49:30 | https://thehill.com/homenews/house/417603-house-oversight-dems-to-investigate-ivanka-trumps-personal-email-use?userid=57999 |
0.999669 | Are your friends happy? What about their friends? These people, new research suggests, will have a profound impact on your own personal satisfaction.
Like an influenza outbreak, happiness – and misery too – spread through social networks, affecting people through three degrees of separation. For instance, a happy friend of a friend of a friend increases the chances of personal happiness by about 6% (see graphic, right).
Compare that to research showing that a $5000 income bump ups the odds by just 2%, says James Fowler, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, who led the new study.
“Even people we don’t know and have never met have bigger effect on our mood than substantial increases in income,” he says.
He and colleague Nicholas Christakis, of Boston’s Harvard Medical School, made the connection by mining 53,228 social connections between 5124 people who took part in a decades-long clinical study.
As part of the Framingham Heart Study, participants updated researchers on their social contacts and health status, including happiness, as measured by a standard psychological questionnaire. Many participants listed several other study participants, allowing the researchers to connect social dots.
Fowler and Christakis took a similar approach to document how obesity and cigarette smoking permeated through the same social network.
Even more than smoking and obesity, happiness spreads best at close distances, they found. A happy next-door neighbour ups the odds of person happiness by 34%, a sibling who lives within 1 mile (1.6 kilometres) by 14%, and a friend within half a mile by a whopping 42%.
The effect falls off through the network, with friends’ happiness boosting the chances of personal happiness by an average of 15% and friends of friends by 10%. As with obesity and smoking, Fowler and Christakis detected no effect beyond three degrees of separation.
While there might be six degrees of separation between any two people, “there are three degrees of influence,” Christakis says.
Fowler theorises that beyond three connections, a kind of social dissonance saps the transmission of behaviour, almost like a wave.
In the case of happiness, dour sentiments contain its infective spread. Fowler and Christakis found that each happy contact increases a person’s odds of happiness by an average of 9%, while an unhappy contact decreases those odds by 7%.
The long-time collaborators even bet over which emotion would spread more potently.
“I think that happiness is more likely to spread because here’s an emotion that’s about social cohesion,” says Fowler. Visible and contagious happiness might have helped our ancestors maintain social cohesion.
Ruut Veenhoven, a sociologist at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands, editor of the Journal of Happiness Studies, and curator of the World Database of Happiness agrees. “Happy people are typically more involved, are nicer to their kids and their dog, and live longer,” he says. | 2019-04-23T23:55:10 | https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16194-happiness-spreads-like-the-plague/ |
0.998372 | What is the Uefa Nations League?
Uefa’s new competition has been described as the saviour of friendly matches in international football by giving them a competitive edge.
It will see all the European countries separated into leagues, based on their Uefa coefficient, and then drawn into pots so that they play games against equally ranked nations. This will supposedly ensure more evenly matched contests than say, official qualification campaigns, for the Euros or World Cups.
There will be promotion and relegation between the leagues, and they also serve as a potential route for qualification for Euro 2020.
The four group winners of the top-ranked League A will qualify for the Uefa Nations League finals in June 2019. For the remaining sides there is promotion and relegation to play for, not to mention a potential route to Euro 2020 (more on this below).
Interest in international football, particularly friendly matches staged in the middle of tense domestic campaigns, has been on the wane across the continent.
Already unpopular with increasingly powerful clubs, who resent losing their players for qualifying games for major tournaments, high-profile players were often deciding to remain with their clubs rather than report for international duty.
Although these fixtures will still be friendlies and are not classed as competitive games in terms of national caps, there is a competitive edge added with the winners of each league section given the chance to qualify for Euro 2020 before official qualification for that tournament begins late next year.
55 countries have been split into four leagues according to their position in the Fifa rankings.
The teams ranked 1-12 by Uefa are divided into four groups of three.
The four group winners contest the Uefa Nations League Finals (consisting of semi-finals, third-place match and final) in June 2019 to become the Nations League winners. One host country will be appointed for this mini-tournament in December 2018 from among the finalist teams.
The four sides that finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League B for the 2020 edition.
The top four-ranked League A teams that do not qualify for Euro 2020 will enter play-offs in March 2020, with one finals place on offer.
The teams ranked 13-24 by Uefa are divided into four groups of three.
The four group winners are promoted to League A, with the four sides that finish bottom relegated to League C.
The top four-ranked League B teams that do not qualify for Euro 2020 will enter play-offs in March 2020, with one finals place on offer.
The teams ranked 25-39 by Uefa are divided into one group of three and three groups of four.
The four group winners are promoted to League B, with the four sides that finish bottom relegated to League D.
The top four-ranked League C teams that do not qualify for Euro 2020 will enter play-offs in March 2020, with one finals place on offer.
The teams ranked 40-55 by Uefa are divided into four groups of four.
The four group winners promoted to League C for the 2020 edition.
The top four-ranked League D teams that do not qualify for Euro 2020 will enter play-offs in March 2020, with one finals place on offer.
So how does Euro 2020 qualifying work?
Qualifying for the Euros largely remains the same, at least until the play-offs. These were previously contested by teams that finished third in their group, but now they will be made up of the 16 group winners from the Nations League Groups.
If they have already qualified for the Euros by traditional means, they will be replaced by the next best ranked team in their Nations League group.
When do the matches and finals take place?
Uefa will confirm the fixtures, with dates and kick-off times, as soon as possible after the draw. Match weeks are below, though teams in Leagues A and B only play on four of them – they will still have friendlies on the other dates, presumably against nations outside of Europe.
Something needed to be done to invigorate international football outside of the major tournaments, because even qualification campaigns have, in the main, become dull with too many easy games for the most powerful countries. This an intriguing idea and should inject fresh enthusiasm into the tired friendly format, particularly when it comes to the top league.
The thought of a four-team mini tournament taking place in June next year, between the best four teams in Europe, will be far more tantalising than the usual summer schedule in the years between the World Cup and European Championships.
The carrot of Euro 2020 qualification is also sensible in all of the leagues and will ensure managers take the new competition seriously, at least at first. Relegation and promotion naturally brings a greater sense of drama. But perhaps the real benefits will be felt by teams in the weakest league who, rather than lose game after game in failing to qualify for major tournaments, will have a proper competition to compete in against alongside their fellow minnows, with significant rewards for the best of them. | 2019-04-20T07:27:07 | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/0/uefa-nations-league-explained-dates-will-england-face-euro-2020/ |
0.998651 | Defining surfaces with rectangular coordinates often times becomes more complicated than necessary. A change in coordinates can simplify things. The easiest examples are a sphere and a cylinder.
Graph the equation using the domain values of , and the range values .
Write the equation in spherical coordinates and then graph the equation.
Write the equation in cylindrical coordinates and graph it.
Looking at the three equations, which coordinates appears to give the simplest equation?
A sphere centered at the origin (as seen in the background) is a very simple equation in spherical coordinates. Now let's look at a sphere moved away from the origin.
Graph the equation using the domain values , and the range values .
Looking at the three equations, which coordinates appear to give the simplest equation?
In spherical coordinates change the values.
In cylindrical coordinates change the values. | 2019-04-20T04:18:45 | http://www.math.wpi.edu/Course_Materials/MA1024A08/coords/node1.html |
0.999999 | The US prison for alleged terrorists has detained suspects from all over the world for five years but how exactly does it work?
It is a US naval base on the eastern tip of Cuba that, for more than six years, has been used as a detention centre for suspected terrorists, mainly captured in Afghanistan during the US assault following the September 11 attacks.
Those held are suspected of fighting for the Taliban or being operatives for al-Qaida, and are considered "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war, meaning the US does not consider them subject to the Geneva convention.
Until recently, the Pentagon's policy has been to detain prisoners indefinitely without trial, something critics condemn as a legal black hole.
Who is currently detained at Guantánamo Bay?
At its peak, around 750 prisoners were held at the camp but hundreds have been released over the years.
According to a Human Rights Watch, there are currently around 270 detainees. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - the only organisation allowed to visit prisoners - says they come from about 40 countries in total, but most inmates are from Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Are there any Britons being held there?
No. Of the nine UK nationals detained, five were released in March 2004, and the final four - Moazzam Begg, Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar - were flown to London in January 2005.
In 2006, the UK government requested the release five of the nine British residents held there. Four were released. Among the UK residents still being held is Binyam Ahmed Mohamed, an Ethiopian educated in Britain. His lawyers want US documents - some of which have been seen by the British government - to be disclosed, saying they will reveal that Mohamed has been tortured.
What is the legal status of the prisoners?
Detainees have been denied their rights under the Geneva convention, although the US insists they are being treated humanely, in line with the protocols set out in the agreement.
During much of the camp's operation, American courts did not consider the Cuban base to be part of the US and they were denied rights guaranteed to criminals under the constitution, such as a presumption of innocence and a trial by jury.
The Bush administration has attempted to try prisoners by military tribunal. It introduced the Military Commissions Act 2006, which legislates for tribunals where evidence can be brought and permits indefinite detention without trial where it cannot.
In August 2008, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the first al-Qaida suspect to be tried at Guantánamo, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for supporting terrorism.
However, in June this year the US supreme court ruled that prisoners could challenge their detention.
Last month, a US judge ruled that five Algerians held at Guantánamo must be set free as there was no legal basis to keep them in prison. It was the first verdict in more than 200 habeas corpus petitions being brought before the US courts.
What is the international attitude to Guantánamo?
Many governments, as well as human rights groups, have demanded it be closed and the detainees charged or released immediately. Amnesty International has labelled the camp a "symbol for injustice and abuse".
The British government's stance has hardened. In October 2006, the then foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, used a speech on human rights to label the centre "unacceptable in terms of human rights", calling for it to be closed. Before leaving office, Tony Blair said Guantánamo Bay was an "anomaly" that would have to be "dealt with".
What is Barack Obama expected to do?
The president-elect, Barack Obama, has promised to close down the prison camp as soon as he takes office, saying that Guantánamo had "done much to besmirch the reputation of the United States".
Under plans drawn up by Obama's advisers, between 60 and 80 detainees would be put on trial in the US in a mix of civilian criminal courts and the court martial system. About 17 high-level detainees, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would also go on trial but before a new version of a national security court - not the Bush administration's much-criticised military tribunals.
Up to 200 detainees have no case to answer, but cannot be sent back to their home countries for fear they would be tortured or killed, according to lawyers. It is not clear whether they would be offered asylum in the US.
What is Camp Delta like for the prisoners?
Prisoners are held in four camps, in small, mesh-sided cells, for up to 24 hours a day. Cellblocks are made up of 48 cells. There is little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night.
Inmates are allowed half an hour of exercise between three and seven days each week in a caged recreation yard measuring 7.6 metres by 9.1 metres.
The ICRC visits prisoners, and arranges the exchange of letters between inmates and their families. US officials look over the contents of all correspondence with families, who are not allowed to visit. Many released prisoners have alleged they were beaten or mistreated in other ways, something US officials vehemently denied.
In 2006, dozens of inmates staged hunger strikes in protest at their detention. In June 2006, three prisoners committed suicide by hanging themselves with bed sheets.
Why does the US have a naval base on Cuba?
The base dates back to a treaty, signed in 1903 and renewed in 1934, which leases the Guantánamo Bay site to the US for $4,085 (£2,113) per year.
The treaty requires the consent of both governments to revoke or change it and, unsurprisingly, the US will not agree to that. In protest, Cuba has refused to accept the rent payments. | 2019-04-21T08:10:43 | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/10/guantanamo.alqaida |
0.999963 | Exercise cardio at home is an attractive option, there is also a way to provide convenience and save money and time. Fortunately, a good cardio workout does not require a ton of space or fancy equipment, and with a little creativity, you can put together a regular fitness cardio with a wide range of exercise that will tone the muscles, Calories burn, and help you lose weight. Below are some home cardio exercises that you can do anytime, anywhere.
Why: jumping jacks burn about 100 calories in 10 minutes and no special equipment or skill is required.
Precautions: Jumping Jacks are high impacts, which can tax on joints. They can also remind you of primary or high school gym classroom trauma.
In a cardio circuit: Use a jumping jack in a circuit, do them for 30-60 seconds and alternate them with other cardio exercises such as marching, jogging, jumping rope etc., each time repeating the circuit Try a different variety of jumping jacks. For 10-30 minutes.
In a Strength Circuit: Exercises such as squats, lungs, pushups and dips for 30-30 seconds with jumping jacks for 10-30 minutes.
In your regular workout: Add a high-intensity blast to your regular cardio or strength workout or add a workout or a minute or more jumping jack at the end.
Why: This is great cardio, it burns about 220 calories in 20 minutes. Jump ropes are cheap, travel well, no special skills are required, and anywhere you have access to the place.
Precautions: Jumping rope is high impact and requires practice. It sounds easy, but beginners can be pleased to have a pigeon-elephant elephant and travel. For best results, turn the wrist through the rope, not the weapon and the gently on the ground. Just jump high enough to clean the rope.
In a cardio circuit: Alternate alternative to 30-60 second jumping with other cardio exercises such as marching, jogging, jumping jacks etc.
In a Strength Circuit: 30-60 seconds for jump jump with strength exercises, such as squats, lungs, push-ups and dips.
Why: It is simple, accessible, increases heart rate, and is a great way to heat for more intense exercise.
Caution: This is a high impact, which can tax on joints, and it can be boring. Because there is no further movement, it is not as fast as strolling out.
As a warm up: Start by marching in place, then gradually change to a jog that can make your body ready for more rigorous exercise.
In a cardio circuit: Optional jogging with other cardio exercises, such as marching, jogging, jumping rope, step-touch etc. Do each for 30-30 seconds, repeat the circuit for 10-30 minutes.
In Strength Circuit: Make 30-60 second jogging optional for 10-30 minutes with strength exercises, such as squats, lungs, push-ups and dips.
As an active break: When you need an active break at work or at home, try jogging.
Why: This is a killer cardio exercise, burns 100 or more calories in 10 minutes (if you can stomach for 10 minutes of this exercise).
Precautions: They are, in fact, really tough.
Spartan: As mentioned above, they are, in fact, really hard, so speed yourself up.
In a cardio circuit: Include a 30-60 second brush every 3-4 minutes of cardio circuit, which includes other exercises, such as marching, jogging, jumping rope, step-touch etc.
In a Strength Circuit: Add 30-60 second skins, such as squats, lungs, push-ups and dips for 10-30 minutes for exercise with every 3-5 power.
In high-intensity interval training: Do 30-60 seconds of berth, relax for 30-60 seconds, and repeat for 10 or more minutes. You can also use burpees in a Tabata workout.
What: Runing knees inside and out from a push-up position.
Why: mountain climbers increase heart rate while building power and endurance in the core. No special skills are required.
Precautions: This practice can be taxed on wrists, hands and shoulders as well as on the core.
In Cardio Circuit: Add climbers to your cardio circuit, each time for 30-60 seconds.
In a Strength Workout: Combine climbers with push-ups or planks to add intensity.
In combinations: For high intensity, do a series of mountain climbers, alternatively push 10 with 10 climbers, or add them to bear crawl.
Why: Squat Jump is a Plometric Exercise that will increase heart rate, burn calories and increase strength in the legs. No special skills are required.
Precautions: This exercise has high impact and high intensity, and requires strong joints and strong heart. With any playo exercise, gently land for the protection of joints.
In cardio workout: Include 30-60 second squat jumps in your regular cardio workout or in cardio circuits, such as other exercises, such as marching, jogging, jumping rope, step-touch etc.
In Lower Body Workout: Add 30-60 seconds of squat junges after every 3-5 lo-body exercises, such as squats, lungs, or deadlifts to increase intensity, power and strength.
In high-intensity interval training: jump 30-60 seconds squat, relax 30-60 seconds and repeat for 10 or more minutes. You can also use a squat jump in a Tabata workout.
Why: They increase heart rate while building strength and endurance.
Precautions: This trick is difficult to see and intensity quickly increases.
In Cardio / Strength Workout: Insert the 30-60 second bears in your regular cardio workout or in other exercises such as marching, jogging, rope jumping, bupis, etc. in the cardio circuit.
In an upper physical workout: Add 30-60 second bear crawls to increase intensity, strength, and strength for each 3-5 upper body exercises such as push-ups, chest presses, or dumbel rows.
In high-intensity interval training: 30-60 seconds bear crawls, relax for 30-60 seconds, and repeat for 10 or more minutes, or alternate bear other high intensity exercises such as burps or squat jump Crawl with. You can also use Bear Crawl in a Tabata workout.
Why: Kickboxing can burn more than 100 calories in 10 minutes on the right intensity, no device is needed, and can help you to get out of your aggression.
Precautions: During punch and kick, spreading arms and legs whole-heartedly can tie joints.
Why: Walking on the stairs is an excellent cardio exercise and you can use the steps for many other exercises.
Precautions: See for cats, dogs, toys and children. Make sure there is a guardrail for safety.
In cardio circuit: If you have a long staircase (more than six stairs), then work it in cardio circuit: with optional 1-2 laps and other cardio exercises, such as jumping rope, jogging, jumping etc.
In High-Intensity Interval Training: Walk the stairs as soon as possible or run and repeat for 10 or more minutes to recover back. You can also use only one step: jump on the step with both legs and step down, or stand on the side with a leg on the foot and turn to 180 degrees, and get on the move with the other leg.
In Strength Workouts: Use a step for push-ups, lunks, dips, squats, step ups, etc. | 2019-04-24T22:52:00 | https://tourvilla.in/cardio/ |
0.997272 | Smoking bans are causing people to drive farther, to bars in jurisdictions that allow public smoking.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee have concluded that, for the moment, smoking bans are creating an increase in drunk driving and alcohol related traffic fatalities.
The researchers examined highway traffic fatality data involving drunken drivers, comparing the data from jurisdictions that had enacted smoking bans, with those that had not, and found a statistically significant increase in alcohol related traffic death in places with smoking bans.
The results surprised the researchers, who were expecting to see the opposite effect. Study author, Scott Adams, explained, "We thought we would see a reduction. Our first thought was, 'Throw it away, it must be wrong.' "
The researchers conclude that what has happened is that people are traveling farther to be able to drink in areas that have not enacted smoking bans and note that the fatality increases are greatest in areas bordering jurisdictions that do allow smoking in bars. People are spending more time in their cars, and driving farther home after a night out.
Anti smoking groups have called the study inconclusive, but the researchers maintain that the results should not be seen as an argument persuading against the enactment of smoking bans, but rather one that calls for the more universal application of these bans. Adams explains, "A well-enforced national smoking ban would get rid of the drunken driving increases related to smoke bans."
The study was not funded by any outside agency, and has been published in the Journal of Public Economics. | 2019-04-23T11:58:33 | https://www.choosehelp.com/blogs/tobacco/smoking-bans-linked-to-increase-in-alcohol-related-traffic-deaths.html |
0.998495 | Philip : [sees Clara looking at the bridge to the Fourth Realm] Halt!
Philip : Who goes there?
Clara : [startled] It's just me!
Philip : [misunderstands] State your purpose, Justme.
Clara : No, my name's Clara. And I must cross this bridge.
Philip : Impossible. Nobody crosses the bridge to the Fourth Realm without a direct order from the regents.
Clara : [confused] Fourth Realm? Where am I?
Philip : [puts away his sword] You're in the Christmas Tree Forest. But THAT is the Fourth Realm, which is currently at war with the other three realms.
Philip : That is correct, Miss Clara Justme.
Clara : [frustrated] No, my name isn't 'Clara Justme'. It's Stahlbaum. Clara Stahlbaum.
Philip : [surprised] Stahlbaum? Are you a relation to Marie Stahlbaum?
Clara : [nods] She's my mother.
Philip : [kneels] Forgive me, Your Majesty! I didn't recognize you, Princess Clara.
Clara : [surprised and amused] Princess?
Philip : [gets back up] Captain Philip Hoffman. At your service, Your Majesty.
Shiver : [shows Clara Marie's old throne room] This is your mother's throne, Your Grace.
Sugar Plum : Have you come to save us, Clara?
Clara : I'm sorry. I didn't even now this place existed before today. You see, I was looking for a Christmas present from my godfather.
Hawthorne : [delighted] Oh, I love Christmas!
Clara : Then I ran into this homeless mouse.
Clara : And that's when I met the captain.
Philip : [enters the throne room] We barely escaped Mother Ginger. And the Mouse King.
Sugar Plum : [gasps] You met Mother Ginger? Oh my dear Clara, you're lucky to be alive!
Hawthorne : You must promise never to go back to the Land of Amusements, Clara.
Sugar Plum : [frustrated] Hawthorne!
Shiver : [also frustrated] Its title has been restricted.
Hawthorne : Oh, of course. I meant the Fourth Realm.
Hawthorne : Apologies. I'm just so upset.
Hawthorne : Forget I ever mentioned the Land of Amusements.
Shiver : [to Clara, as she's attempting to escape the tower] My dear, that doesn't look very secure.
Hawthorne : [worried] You can't!
Hawthorne : It's not gonna work.
Clara : It's just the laws of physics. | 2019-04-20T22:55:07 | http://im.1nm.in/title/tt5523010/characters/nm3237775?ref_=tt_cl_t1 |
0.998268 | location1 Location where first VNET, Gateway, PublicIP and Connection will be deployed.
location2 Location where second VNET, Gateway, PublicIP and Connection will be deployed.
virtualNetworkName1 Name of the first VNET.
addressPrefix1 Address space for the first VNET.
subnet1Name1 Name of the first subnet in the first VNET. Please note, an additional subnet called GatewaySubnet will be created where the VirtualNetworkGateway will be deployed. The name of that subnet must not be changed from GatewaySubnet.
subnet1Prefix1 The prefix for the first subnet in the first VNET.
gatewaySubnetPrefix1 The prefix for the GatewaySubnet where the first VirtualNetworkGateway will be deployed. This must be at least /29.
gatewayPublicIPName1 The name of the PublicIP attached to the first VirtualNetworkGateway.
gatewayName1 The name of the first VirtualNetworkGateway.
connectionName1 The name of the first connection, connecting the first VirtualNetworkGateway to the second VirtualNetworkGateway.
virtualNetworkName2 Name of the second VNET.
addressPrefix2 Address space for the second VNET.
subnet1Name2 Name of the first subnet in the second VNET. Please note, an additional subnet called GatewaySubnet will be created where the VirtualNetworkGateway will be deployed. The name of that subnet must not be changed from GatewaySubnet.
subnet1Prefix2 The prefix for the first subnet in the second VNET.
gatewaySubnetPrefix2 The prefix for the GatewaySubnet where the second VirtualNetworkGateway will be deployed. This must be at least /29.
gatewayPublicIPName2 The name of the PublicIP attached to the second VirtualNetworkGateway.
gatewayName2 The name of the second VirtualNetworkGateway.
connectionName2 The name of the second connection, connecting the second VirtualNetworkGateway to the first VirtualNetworkGateway. | 2019-04-22T02:25:44 | https://azure.microsoft.com/zh-tw/resources/templates/201-vnet-to-vnet/ |
0.998946 | I can't speak for Mark Stahlman, but I don't imagine that anyone who can write so interestingly would dream of a world without machines. "Machines" should rather be taken as a metaphor for the organized attempt to reduce human beings to working on machines or like machines. Will machines serve people or people serve machines? At some risk of oversimplification, Marx's project was based on the observation that what matter in our world are people, machines and money. As things stood then and still do, money buys machines and people work on them. The political task is to reverse the order, to put people in charge of machines and money. Marx hoped that machine production might generate the social conditions for this revolution and so do we. Maybe we can dispense with the apparatus of party, classes etc, but that is history.
Philip Mirowski's cumbersome but essential book, Machine Dreams: How economics became a cyborg science, explains how operations research (OR) in World War 2 spawned a family of social models built on an analogy with machines: cybernetics, game theory, systems theory etc. These were incorproated into the management of production and of society more generally, nowhere more than in the United States. The economists, building on a mathematical revolution of the 1940s, launched by Tinbergen and Koopmans during the war, happily adopted this family of approaches. Their version of it was "rational expectations" theory or the "efficient market hypothesis" and we all know what happened next. In this sense the twentieth century, and especially its last half, saw the machines win.
But not irreversibly. Thomas Sargent was just interviewed about his Nobel prize this year. Even the economists are no longer triumphalist in the face of the damage done to the world economy by governments and corporations blindly following the dictates of the rational expectations model. Sargent admitted: “We experiment with our models, before we wreck the world.” If I share the aspiration to build a human economy fit for all of us, it would not be one without machines or money. It would just put human interests first.
You can read this long and interesting article from the Globe and Mail, "Economists have met the enemy and it is economics".
I guess the point I'm making is that we shouldn't waste a lot of time rehearsing complaints about an economics that is now, itself, in a state of creative ferment. The heirs of operations research have not given up their goals. They have, instead, upped their game. We anthropologists need to follow their example, at least in that regard.
John, that's a good point. Especially about the need to up the game rather than just repeat the same old critiques and complaints. Thanks for the sources too.
I now find myself reading a book that looks like a splendid complement to Machine Dreams, James Gleick, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. I have just read the chapter on Cybernetics that describes, among many other things, the meeting of a society formed in the early 1950s to consider the implications of computing and information theory on the human sciences and brought together such disparate figures as Margaret Mead and Claude Shannon. It is fascinating to revisit the zeitgeist of an era in which folks like Von Neumann, Norbert Weiner, and Shannon were public figures and shaping the context in which operations research developed.
That is true, John. I agree that anthropologists often waste their time beating up on a dead stereotype. The article explores some of the most impressive deviations of late. As I like to say, some of my best friends are economists. But look at the trend of the last three so-called Nobel prizes in economics. First Krugman who now rages impotently from the oped columns of the NYT; then Williamson (Orstrom was a fig leaf) for taking Coase's theory of the firm to the level of a program for corporate self-government; and now Sargent et al for coming up with the cause-effect model underpinning rational expectations (which is itself pure Newtonian metaphysics). Stiglitz won the prize 10 years ago when he was chief economist at the World Bank and now addresses OWS protestors, the French government and anyone else with a beef. A blog post generally has to be about one thing not many.
"But not irreversibly." That's an important point. Within the last few decades, economics has gone from rational expectations and the efficient markets hypotheses to the study of asymmetries in access to market information (for which Joseph Stigler won his Nobel prize), behavioral economics, which starts from the assumption that economic actors do not behave rationally, recognition of the importance of positive (as opposed to negative, equilibrium-inducing) feedback in markets (Brian Arthur and the Santa Fe Institute) and growing awareness of mathematical chaos and complexity (a good primer can be found in Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson (2004) The (Mis)behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin,and Reward). All of this work converges nicely with work on recognition-primed decision making (Gary Klein (2001) Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions), soft systems analysis (Peter Checkland and Jim Scholes (1990) Soft Systems Methodology in Action) and spin-offs like Peter Senge et. als "Fifth Discipline" thinking. This partly explains the excitement surrounding more recent announcements of neuroscience results indicating that emotional decisions drive reactions that take place before, not after, rationalizing thinking occurs. What's most important to me, when thinking about the current state of computational modeling of complex systems is John H. Miller and Scott E. Page's observation in Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life that most current agent-based simulations depend either on too-simple heuristics or too-sophisticated game-theoretic models, since how to model what goes on in human minds and brains falls somewhere in-between, in an awfully complicated middle ground that remains only poorly understood.
"If I share the aspiration to build a human economy fit for all of us, it would not be one without machines or money. It would just put human interests first."
Exactly, and the discipline of economics needs to start putting actual humans into their equations, rather than the ideal, virtual, hypothetical humans that fill their models and assumptions. But are they going to do this? Are economists going to actually change or rethink any of their methods? Are they going to start taking account of history again, and maybe actually reading what earlier economists wrote (like Smith)? This is where economic anthropologists have something to offer, whether the econs want to listen or not. We'll just have to start putting ourselves in the middle of the conversation, one way or another. | 2019-04-26T11:48:23 | http://openanthcoop.ning.com/profiles/blogs/did-the-machines-win |
0.998636 | What is the significance of this day? Some may see it as a sad time and see no reason to call it good. Others may say that Christ couldn't have died on Friday as that would be only two days to Sunday instead of the three days the scriptures say He was in the tomb. Others would seem to believe that Jesus died to establish as legalistic a church as what He sought to replace in the Pharisees interpretation of Judaism. Maybe not 613 laws as the Pharisee's had, but none the less still a bunch of rules and regulations to have to follow if we want to be "true" Christian. However is that the real message of Good Friday, or is there something else we are supposed to get from Good Friday?
Last Sunday we celebrated the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It is a festive time of the waving of palm branches, shoutings of Hosanna, meaning Lord save us. However there is also the complaining of the religious leaders about the adoration that was being given to Him. That complaining would continue to rise until culminating in the events of Good Friday.
Meanwhile we also celebrated Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday in some traditions), wherein we remember the Last Supper, Jesus washing the feet of His disciples, then His ultimate betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane. That brings us to Good Friday where Jesus is tried before the Sanhedrin, then Pontius Pilate, which then leads to His condemnation and death. Obliviously a total travesty of justice, as even Pilate himself said Jesus was not guilty of any crime, but still sentenced Him to death anyway. So how could all this happen? How could an innocent man be hung on a cross to suffer an excruciating death for crimes He never committed? In answering that question we will come to a better understanding of what Good Friday is about, and why it is still important for us to celebrate and remember today.
To me, Good Friday is a condemnation of organized religion and what can happen when organized religion and government combine together. For it was organized religion which nailed Jesus to the cross. They were the ones who got the ball rolling with the arrest of Jesus, trying Him before their supreme council, the Sanhedrin, condemning Him to death, which led them to take Him before Pilate. There they demanded the death of Jesus even when Pilate was determined to set Him free. Ultimately they stirred up the crowds to also demand the death of Jesus until Pilate, fearing a riot, was about to break out, accedes to their demands.
in order to vote for a verdict of guilty they had to have at least two witnesses to agree on what happened.
In Jesus' case the trial was at night in secret, He was allowed no witnesses to defend Him, and scripture tells, though they tried desperately, they could not come up with two witnesses to agree on anything. Therefore Jesus should have been found not guilty and released. However that was not what the religious leaders wanted.
So why didn't someone speak up and try to stop this travesty from happening? Where were the people who had heard Him preach, been healed and delivered from demonic powers by Him, saw, or perhaps been a part of the feeding of thousands with a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish. Where were they? Why weren't their voices heard to override the other voices and prevent the crucifixion from happening?
I believe there is a twofold answer here. First regards the religious leaders who were acting out of fear. According to the Apostle John, Jesus was winning more followers than the Jewish leaders were. They were afraid that everyone would soon follow Jesus, leading them to lose their influence and place in society. Therefore they made the decision to kill Jesus to prevent that from happening.[i] That led them to try Jesus before a kangaroo court, where the verdict was a foregone conclusion as they controlled what happened and what the ultimate verdict would be. Also, since it was done at night, in secret, it prevented the followers of Jesus from being able to rally to Him or try to mount some defense of Jesus that might have saved Him. However when they got to Pilate, that was another thing altogether. Here they were on Gentile territory, confronting a Roman governor with little or no interest in the Jewish religion who only wanted peace, and he would go to any lengths to preserve that peace.
Why then did someone from the crowd not speak up in defense of Jesus or protest the unfairness of what was happening? St Matthew says that the religious leaders persuaded the people to ask for the release of Barabbas.[ii] How did they do this? St. Mark tells us that the religious stirred up the people.[iii] That is they got the people excited. The word used here in the Greek for stir comes from two Greek words which refers to repetition, and the other a Greek word to rock, and to cause to tremble with fear. I suspect one of the religious leaders began to chant Barabbas and demand his release and the crucifixion of Jesus. Soon others began to do the same thing, and soon the whole crowd is doing it. At this point they have stopped thinking and are simply robots being manipulated and used by the religious leaders for their own purposes. Even when confronted with definite proof and evidence of Jesus' innocence, including a "not guilty" verdict from Pilate himself, they still persisted in calling for the death of Jesus and the release of Barabbas. Finally when they were ready to riot to get what they wanted, Pilate gave in and granted their wish.[iv] The interesting thing is that they killed the very one they were supposedly looking for. The religious leaders had it all figured out how the Messiah would come, and exactly what he would do. When Jesus didn't meet those expectations they rejected him outright, killing him in the process.
Many religious leaders today are promoting fear of Muslims, gays, immigrants, Liberals and just about anyone they feel threatens their religion, their way of life and their religious beliefs. They want to build walls rather than bridges of understanding. They want to deport people they consider undesirable, rather than welcome the stranger with the love of Christ in action to them. They want the right to discriminate based on their religious beliefs and understanding of the Bible, and to force their own beliefs on others. In their fears of losing all they hold dear they want to turn us into a "Christian" nation, and they come with a political agenda that they feel must be passed and adopted to save America from God's wrath and bring "revival" to our land. Seemingly lost in all this is Jesus' command to love one another, and the very people they condemn are the very people Jesus would have hung out with and associated with - i.e. the marginalized and outcasts of society.
In conclusion, Good Friday shows us what organized religion can do, which is leave us with a dead Jesus in a cold tomb, powerless and without life. However Easter is on its way and with it the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. However He was not raised from the dead to establish a new legalistic religion of rules and regulations. Neither was He raised from the dead for a few chosen, frozen, predetermined at some point to be saved, while everyone goes to hell. Instead Jesus was raised from the dead to set us free from the shackles of organized religion, and the man made rules and regulations and pride, that lead to events like Good Friday and Calvary. Instead, He was raised to empower us to go and embrace the entire world in His love. That is the Good News of the Gospel. That is also the message of the kingdom of God that will bring peace to the entire world, and a cessation to all war and violence. It is also the message which will bring prosperity to our planet, ending hunger, disease etc. It is the good news that a new day is dawning and the old is passing away. It is the call to a new and better way.
This leaves us with two choices. We can be like the crowd that condemned Jesus by refusing to believe anything that would have contradicted what they believed at that moment, and thereby ended killing the very One that could have helped them, in favor of a false messiah/leader Barabbas, who really couldn't do anything for them. On the other hand we can believe the truth, stand with Jesus, and take his love to all the world, embracing everyone with it, and seeing the beginning of the true kingdom of God brought to earth and God's reign extended over the entire planet. Which will we choose?
I am Catholic and a firm believer in apostolic succession, the ordained ministry of deacon, priest and bishop. However everyone's voice should be heard and everyone have a say. That goes in accordance with the spirit of the communion my church belongs to, the Communion of Synodal Catholic Churches, which is governed by council made up of laity, priests and bishops, where all can be heard and we can work together to build consensus where all can be winners. It also agrees with the spirit of St. Benedict, who says when you have a problem call a meeting of the brethren, and then starting with the youngest or newest let everyone speak and then when everyone has spoken then come to a decision.
I hope this proves a blessing, even though you will be getting this a day late, and the views expressed here are strictly my own and do not necessarily reflect my churches or my community's views. Any comments or thoughts are always welcomed. | 2019-04-25T10:50:46 | https://blog.christiangays.com/what-is-good-friday/ |
0.999688 | Discuss the following points on how to write good dialogue: Dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. Dialogue is essential to fiction writing. Dialogue brings characters to life and adds interest. Dialogue must do more than just duplicate real speech. Writing dialogue consists of the most exciting, most interesting, most emotional, and most dramatic words. Brainstorm people that... Write Meaningful Dialogue Labels “John asked nervously” is an example of “telling.” The author could write “John asked very nervously” or “John asked so nervously that his voice was shaking,” and it still wouldn’t make the story any more effective.
Good examples are found in Jim Thompson’s noir novel The Grifters. In the first pages, the character Roy Dillon chisels some money out of a shopkeeper, a stranger. But the shopkeeper catches on and beats him up, setting off an entire chain of events surrounding Roy’s recovery.... A good quit plan addresses both the short-term challenge of stopping smoking and the long-term challenge of preventing relapse. It should also be tailored to your specific needs and smoking habits. It should also be tailored to your specific needs and smoking habits.
Write Meaningful Dialogue Labels “John asked nervously” is an example of “telling.” The author could write “John asked very nervously” or “John asked so nervously that his voice was shaking,” and it still wouldn’t make the story any more effective.
A good quit plan addresses both the short-term challenge of stopping smoking and the long-term challenge of preventing relapse. It should also be tailored to your specific needs and smoking habits. It should also be tailored to your specific needs and smoking habits.
Good examples are found in Jim Thompson’s noir novel The Grifters. In the first pages, the character Roy Dillon chisels some money out of a shopkeeper, a stranger. But the shopkeeper catches on and beats him up, setting off an entire chain of events surrounding Roy’s recovery. | 2019-04-25T07:00:20 | http://mleb.net/queensland/how-to-write-good-fucking-dialogu.php |
0.998409 | Is Roger Federer the greatest tennis player of all time?
Former world number one Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic at the 2017 Wimbledon to win his 19th Grand Slam.
The Swiss holds more records in tennis than any other male player in the history.
Let us have a look at some of the records of the current third ranked player which would be tough, if not impossible, to break.
Roger Federer has won 19 Grand Slam titles, an all time record in men's tennis. He has won five Australian Open and US Open titles, eight times Wimbledon Championship and one French Open title.
Between 2004 and 2008, Roger Federer held the number one rank in the men's singles for 237 consecutive weeks, breaking a 31-year old record of Jimmy Connors, who held the spot for 160 consecutive weeks.
Apart from that, he has held on to the number 1 rank for a total of 302 weeks, way ahead compared to any other player.
While his career has been hit with injuries over the years, Federer is one of the few players who has never retired from any match, and he has played a total 1352 matches in his career. This is an almost impossible record to beat.
Winning three Grand Slams in a year is a tough job, but 10 players have done it so far.
However, Federer has achieved the feat not once, but thrice in his career.
He won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open first in 2004 and repeated the feat in back to back seasons of 2006 and 2007.
Given his love for the green court at the All England Club, it may not come as a surprise if we tell you that Roger Federer has won the Wimbledon five consecutive times from 2003 to 2007.
However, he is the only player to achieve the same feat in US Open, winning the tournament consecutive five times from 2004-2008.
Roger Federer holds the record of reaching 28 Grand Slam finals, 10 of which came back-to-back. He also holds the record of reaching 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals.
Legendary tennis player Roger Federer celebrates his 36th birthday today.
Winner of 19 Grand Slams, and the most successful male player in the tennis history, is currently in Montreal to play the Montreal Masters tournament.
The world number three is eyeing the US Open, to win his third Grand Slam title this year after the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Do you know these facts about MS Dhoni?
Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni turns 36 today.
Do you know these facts about Wimbledon?
The 2017 edition of the Wimbledon Championship kicked off on 3rd July in London.
After leading Pakistan to their maiden ICC Champions Trophy title, Sarfaraz Ahmed has been named as the captain of Test team by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). | 2019-04-19T08:46:12 | https://www.newsbytesapp.com/timeline/Sports/8619/49073/roger-federer-s-unbreakable-records |
0.999278 | 2. What are the three main categories of each environmental risk assessment matrix?
A. Mission, enemy, and time.
B. SOPs, training performance standards, and rehearsals.
C. Air pollution, noise pollution, and water pollution.
D. Risk impact value, environmental area, and unit operation.
A. Base decisions on laws in a similar environment.
B. Apply laws that are average for the area.
C. Assume that the toughest laws apply.
D. Apply the laws from the nearest location.
A. Newspaper, aluminum cans, and corrugated cardboard.
B. Piston film, fire hoses, and propeller wash.
C. Booms, pads, and water skimmers.
D. Instructions, gloves, and solusorb solvent absorbent. | 2019-04-24T08:33:48 | http://armyquartermaster.tpub.com/QM5092/Lesson-6-Practice-Exercise-45.htm |
0.999999 | Daniel Ortega's ruling Sandinistas Front is using strong-arm tactics to limit opposition, observers say.
MANAGUA -- Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is allegedly dipping into hefty Venezuela-funded coffers to bribe, buy and scatter the weakened opposition as part of his push for a second term, lawmakers and analysts say.
And when money doesn't work, Ortega's ruling Sandinista Front is using strong-arm tactics to silence the opposition, including the removal of four democratically elected mayors in the past month, the analysts say.
Several opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly have accused the Sandinistas of offering substantial sums of money to reach the 56 votes -- or 60 percent of lawmakers -- needed to reverse the constitutional ban on consecutive reelection and legitimize Ortega's 2011 candidacy. Sandinista lawmakers deny the allegations.
A Sandinista-controlled division of the Supreme Court ruled last year that the reelection ban doesn't apply to Ortega, who is already advertising his candidacy on billboards across the capital. But to eliminate doubt about whether his candidacy is legal, Sandinistas are moving to reform the constitution and strike the reelection ban altogether, analysts say.
José Pallaís, a lawmaker with the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC), told The Miami Herald that he and four other lawmakers were offered money, cabinet positions and judgeships in exchange for their votes.
``I was offered a seat on the Supreme Court if I went against my party and voted with the Sandinistas,'' he said.
The congressman said he rejected the offer ``immediately'' and reported the alleged bribe to his party, led by former President Arnoldo Alemán. The PLC has publicly denouned the alleged bribe attempts, but has not filed any complaints or sought an official investigation.
Pallaís said the PLC's 20 lawmakers in the 92-seat assembly will remain firmly behind a ``wall of dignity'' to avoid Sandinista temptations to cross party lines.
He said the Sandinistas are still 16 votes shy of the 60 percent majority needed to reform the constitution. ``We're focusing on passing laws that have consensus,'' Castro said. ``I don't know who is talking about constitutional reforms.'' Since returning to power in 2007, Ortega has received about $1.1 billion in aid from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, according to the Central Bank. Accusations that Sandinistas have offered bribes have caused rifts and suspicions among the opposition.
The accusations of bribery are not limited to congress. The Sandinistas have also been accused of buying opposition mayors and city council members.
The government's use of state institutions and finances for party recruitment is yet another example of the Ortega administration's comingling of state and party, according to analysts.
The Sandinistas have reduced government institutions to instruments of ``blackmail and bribery,'' said Carlos Tünnermann of the civic group, Movement for Nicaragua.
Congressman Wilfredo Navarro, vice president of the PLC, said his party's mayors and city council members have reported widespread allegations of Sandinista bribery attempts.
Some critics said Ortega's plans for a single-party system in Nicaragua are already further advanced than many people might admit.
``In practice, it's already a single-party system. The Sandinistas are using Chávez's money to buy the opposition to grow their political monopoly,'' said Luciano García, a Managua city council member for the minority Conservative Party.
García blames the private sector for acting as accomplices to Ortega's political aspirations by ``accommodating themselves to the single-party system'' and becoming ``minority partners'' in the new Sandinista economy.
Sandinista dissident Sergio Ramírez, Ortega's former vice president from the 1980s, says he believes Ortega is going for a different look from Cuba.
The Sandinistas, he said, want a system where they are the ``dominant group'' but have smaller minority parties that act ``submissively'' while providing the image of multiparty system. | 2019-04-20T07:52:23 | https://able2know.org/topic/153563-1 |
0.999938 | Is via-in-pad a solution for dense flex boards?
Question: I just designed a flex circuit with six layers and very high density on the outer layers, which limits fan out. I have used via-in-pad on similar rigid designs, and it has worked very well. Can this strategy also be used on flex circuits?
Via-in-pad is a great tool to free some PCB real estate, but there are a few things to know about using this construction with flex. I assume that on the rigid design, vias in the SMT pads were filled with a nonconductive resin and then planarized. This leaves a really smooth surface for the assembler to work with and process normally. I would not go so far as to say via fill and planarization are easy on rigid PCBs, but I will say they are much easier on a rigid PCB than on flex. The biggest reason for the added difficulty is the uneven topography of a flex compared to a rigid PCB.
On rigid PCBs, vias are typically filled after the initial interconnect copper plating and before the final cap plating. At this point, a rigid panel is typically very smooth and planar, and the outer surfaces have almost no topography. Rigid laminates and prepregs used in rigid construction act to fill between internal etched features. The via fill operation usually involves a process similar to screen printing. Some fill material is always left on the surface of the panel where it is not wanted.
Unremoved, the residue will get plated over during cap plating and will result in an etch flaw when final etch is performed. To remove this unwanted residue, rigid PCB panels are run through a sanding machine that removes the hardened fill residue and also a small amount of surface copper. Since the surface of a rigid PCB is so flat, the amount of surface copper removed can be accurately regulated.
On a flex circuit, all the dielectrics and adhesives are very thin films. When a multilayer flex circuit panel is laminated, you can clearly see a lot of the circuitry from the internal layers embossed on the outer surface. This topography really throws a wrench in the works for a flex fabricator when filling vias. When fill material is applied to a flex panel, it fills the vias and also many of the low spots on the surface (e.g., between adjacent conductors). It is really difficult to remove hardened resin in the panel’s low areas without removing a lot, or all, of the surface copper in the “high” areas. As such, often operators must go over every single panel and scrape the excess resin in the low areas by hand with an Exacto knife or similar means. You can imagine how that will add to the cost of the flexible PCB.
A more common strategy for using via-in-pad on multilayer flex is to fill the vias with copper plating. Many flex suppliers have special copper fill plating lines that will preferentially plate via holes and effectively fill them without adding a significant amount of plated copper on the panel surface. Excess surface copper plating can make it very difficult to define the very small features on the outer layers that typically go hand in hand with designs that require via-in-pad. Since vias are selectively plated with only copper and there is no resin fill, there is no need for a subsequent sanding operation; hence, the uneven topography of the flex circuit is a non-issue. The downside to this process is the “filled” vias are almost never completely filled. There is typically a very small dimple on the SMT pad surface where each via is located. On larger SMT pads (FIGURE 1) this is usually not an issue, but on very small pads such as 01005 chips and small BGAs (FIGURE 2) these dimples can pose challenges for the assembler. Sometimes the component assembler must modify their tools and processes to deal with the small depressions (e.g., adding slightly more solder paste to pads that contain a dimple).
Figure 1. Small dimples in larger SMT pads typically do not pose issues during component assembly due to the relatively small area they cover on the pad.
Figure 2. Small dimples on very small pads can cause some assembly headaches since the dimple occupies a large portion of the pad surface.
Everything I have covered to this point assumes multilayer flex. Rigid-flex can also utilize via-in-pad and, depending on the application and material stack, the fill method can vary by design. For instance, if the rigid cap layers on a rigid-flex are relatively thick (~0.010"+), they may be filled with resin and planarized like a rigid PCB. Thinner outer cap layers (0.003" or less) may use the copper fill option. For everything between 0.003" and 0.010", it is probably best to get your flex supplier’s input on the best option for your application. | 2019-04-18T12:16:12 | https://pcdandf.com/pcdesign/index.php/current-issue/243-flexperts/11259-the-flexperts-1612?tmpl=component&print=1 |
0.998284 | Japanese encephalitis, West Nile, Usutu and Murray Valley encephalitis viruses form a tight subgroup within the larger Flavivirus genus. These viruses utilize a single-polyprotein expression strategy, resulting in ~10 mature proteins. Plotting the conservation at synonymous sites along the polyprotein coding sequence reveals strong conservation peaks at the very 5' end of the coding sequence, and also at the 5' end of the sequence encoding the NS2A protein. Such peaks are generally indicative of functionally important non-coding sequence elements. The second peak corresponds to a predicted stable pseudoknot structure whose biological importance is supported by compensatory mutations that preserve the structure. The pseudoknot is preceded by a conserved slippery heptanucleotide (Y CCU UUU), thus forming a classical stimulatory motif for -1 ribosomal frameshifting. We hypothesize, therefore, that the functional importance of the pseudoknot is to stimulate a portion of ribosomes to shift -1 nt into a short (45 codon), conserved, overlapping open reading frame, termed foo. Since cleavage at the NS1-NS2A boundary is known to require synthesis of NS2A in cis, the resulting transframe fusion protein is predicted to be NS1-NS2AN-term-FOO. We hypothesize that this may explain the origin of the previously identified NS1 'extension' protein in JEV-group flaviviruses, known as NS1'.
The genus Flavivirus (see [1–3] for reviews) includes species such as Dengue virus, Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Tick-borne encephalitis virus and Yellow fever virus. Also within the family Flaviviridae are Hepatitis C, Hepatitis G and the Pestivirus genus. The Japanese encephalitis group includes JEV, WNV, Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV), Usutu virus and St Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV). These important human pathogens are transmitted by mosquitoes and can cause potentially fatal encephalitis. The single-stranded positive sense genomic RNA is ~11 kb in length and contains a single long open reading frame, translated as a polyprotein that is cleaved by virus-encoded and host proteases to produce ~10 mature proteins.
Inspired by the 'suppression of synonymous site variation' (SSSV) statistic of ref. , we decided to investigate conservation at synonymous sites in the Flaviviridae family. For a given species or group within the family, the polyprotein coding sequences (CDSs) were extracted, translated, aligned with CLUSTALW , and back-translated to nucleotide sequence alignments. Beginning with pairwise sequence comparisons, conservation at synonymous sites (only) was evaluated by comparing the observed number of base substitutions with the number expected under a neutral evolution model. The procedure takes into account whether synonymous site codons are 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- or 6-fold degenerate and the differing probabilities of transitions and transversions (full details are available on request from the authors). Statistics were then summed over a phylogenetic tree as described in , and averaged over a sliding window.
When this procedure was applied to the JEV group (excepting SLEV; see below), two striking peaks in synonymous site conservation were found – one within the capsid CDS (very 5' end of the polyprotein CDS) and one at the 5' end of the NS2A CDS (Figure 1A). The peak within the capsid CDS is a common feature of flavivirus genomes, with this sequence region playing important roles in replication and, for some species, translation initiation (reviewed in ). On the other hand, the peak within the NS2A CDS was either not present, or not so pronounced, outside of the JEV group. One unexplored possiblity is that this second highly conserved region plays a role in packaging. However, based on the particular features of the sequence in this region, and on relevant previously published data, we hypothesize an alternative role.
Conservation at synonymous sites in Japanese encephalitis and related viruses. Conservation at synonymous sites was calculated for an input alignment comprising the polyprotein CDSs from the seven JEV-group sequences listed in the caption to Figure 2. (A) Panels 1–3 show the positions of stop codons (blue triangles) in the three forward reading frames. The +0 frame is the polyprotein frame and is therefore devoid of stop codons. Alignment gaps are indicated in green. Panel 4 shows the difference between the expected number (assuming neutral evolution) and observed number of base substitutions at synonymous sites, summed over a phylogenetic tree, and averaged over a 25-codon sliding window. Panel 5 shows the estimated standard deviation for the statistic in panel 4 – major dips tend to correspond to alignment gaps (fewer pairwise sequence comparisons to sum over), while the rise at each end of the alignment corresponds to the shorter terminal windows over which statistics are averaged. Panel 6 is an approximation of the p-value corresponding to the statistic in panel 4, albeit subject to the assumption of normal distribution. Panel 7 shows a map of the JEV genome, indicating the position of the putative -1 ribosomal frameshift site, and the putative transframe protein which may equate to NS1'. (B) Zoom-in of the region corresponding to the conservation peak in the NS2A CDS with a 15-codon sliding window. Note the highest level of conservation corresponds precisely to the region covered by the predicted pseudoknot.
Many viruses harbour sequences that induce a portion of ribosomes to shift -1 nt and continue translating in the new reading frame . The -1 frameshift site typically consists of a 'slippery' heptanucleotide fitting the consensus motif N NNW WWH, where NNN are any three identical nucleotides, WWW represents AAA or UUU, H represents A, C or U, and spaces separate zero-frame codons. This is followed by a 'spacer' region of 5–9 nt, and then a stable RNA secondary structure such as a pseudoknot or hairpin. Inspection of the conserved sequence at the 5' end of the NS2A CDS in the JEV group revealed the potential to form a GC-rich stable pseudoknot structure (Figure 2) in the region precisely corresponding to the peak in synonymous site conservation (Figure 1B). The predicted pseudoknot is well-supported by a number of compensatory mutations, including three separate instances of an A:U pair being replaced by a G:C pair. Furthermore, where stem 1 is destabilized in one sequence by a G:A mispairing, stem 2 is lengthened by an extra base-pairing. Positioned 5' of the pseudoknot, and separated from it by a 5 nt spacer, is a conserved Y CCU UUU heptanucleotide, where Y represents C or U, and spaces separate polyprotein-frame codons. Allowing for G:U anticodon:codon repairing at position 1 of the heptanucleotide (when Y = U), the combination of the Y CCU UUU heptanucleotide and the 3' pseudoknot fit the consensus motif for -1 frameshifting.
Putative stimulatory elements for ribosomal -1 frameshifting. (A) The slippery heptanucleotide and predicted 3' RNA pseudoknot structure for JEV [GenBank:NC_001437]. (B) Sequence alignment of different JEV-group sequences, showing the conserved presence of a slippery heptanucleotide (Y CCU UUU; orange) and potential to form a 3' RNA pseudoknot. Base-pairings in stem 1 are indicated with '()'s and yellow background while base-pairings in stem 2 are indicated with ''s and green background. Base substitutions that preserve base-pairings or the slippery heptanucleotide are highlighted in red. Viruses: Japanese encephalitis (JEV) – [GenBank:NC_001437]; West Nile (WNV; lineage I) – [GenBank:NC_009942]; West Nile (WNV; lineage II) – [GenBank:NC_001563]; Kunjin – [GenBank:AY274504]; Murray Valley encephalitis (MVEV) – [GenBank:NC_000943]; Alfuy – [GenBank:AY898809]; Usutu – [GenBank:NC_006551].
The -1 frame ORF (termed foo, for "Flavivirus Overlapping ORF") comprises 45 codons. Such short out-of-frame ORFs are not well-represented amongst known cases of programmed ribosomal frameshifting, but this may be more a consequence of the difficulty in finding such cases rather than any inherent rarity. Indeed we recently demonstrated the occurrence of -1 frameshifting, at a level of 10–18%, into a short ORF overlapping the 6K CDS in the Alphavirus genus .
The combination of slippery heptanucleotide, 3' pseudoknot, and 45-codon -1 frame ORF is conserved in all five RefSeqs (listed in the caption to Figure 2), and essentially all their GenBank 'genome neighbours' as of December 2008 (223 sequences). The only exceptions are seven sequences – four with single mispairings in stem 1 of the pseudoknot, one with a shortened stem 2, and two with a truncated -1 frame ORF. At least three of the seven are annotated as attenuated.
The putative shift site is located at codons 8–9 of the NS2A CDS. Thus frameshifting would result in a 52 amino acid NS2AN-FOO fusion peptide (where NS2AN represents the N-terminal nine amino acids of NS2A). Previous work has demonstrated that, at least in Dengue virus, cleavage at the non-standard NS1-NS2A cleavage site requires translation of substantial (≫ 9 amino acids) parts of NS2A [10–12]. Thus NS2AN-FOO is likely not cleaved from NS1, i.e. the predicted mature transframe protein is NS1-NS2AN-FOO.
On protein gels, NS1 typically migrates as a cluster of bands, partly due to differing degrees of glycoslyation which can add ~6 kDa to the NS1 mass [13–15]. NS1 also forms multiple disulfide bonds and migrates with a substantially lower apparent molecular mass under non-reducing conditions . In JEV, MVEV and WNV, however, the existance of an elongated form of NS1, termed NS1', has been demonstrated [13–15, 17–19]. NS1' is N-terminally coincident with NS1 but extends into NS2A, as demonstrated by the presence of an epitope not present in NS1 but present in polyprotein sequence overlapping the carboxy terminus of NS1 [15, 17, 18], and by the necessity of NS2A coding sequence for NS1' expression . Thus, NS1' has been proposed to result from cleavage at an alternative site within NS2A. However, sites proposed by ref. are too far downstream to account for NS1' , and attempts to localize the cleavage site by determining the carboxy terminal sequence of NS1' have been unsuccessful . Pulse-chase experiments have demonstrated that NS1' is not simply a precursor of NS1 but is, instead, a stable end product [13, 15].
We hypothesize that, in JEV-group viruses, NS1' may in fact correspond to NS1-NS2AN-FOO. This putative product contains sufficient NS2A sequence to potentially provide the polyprotein-derived epitope not in NS1. Furthermore, although early estimates of the mass difference between NS1 and NS1' are inconsistent with the hypothesis (e.g. unglycosylated masses of 42 kDa and 52 kDa, respectively, in JEV ), more recent estimates put the mass difference in a plausible range (7–8 kDa) for the mass of NS2AN-FOO (5.3–5.7 kDa), especially if it is post-translationally modified, or migrating more slowly than expected due to its high proline content (4–6 prolines; Figure 3).
Peptide sequences for the putative transframe extension of NS1. Predicted peptide sequences for NS2AN-FOO – the putative transframe extension of NS1 – for various JEV-group viruses. The shift-site amino acids are indicated in the orange rectangle, and the foo termination codon is represented by an '*'. See caption to Figure 2 for virus names.
For example, working with JEV, ref. estimated masses for glycosylated NS1 and NS1' of 48 kDa and 55 kDa, respectively, while for unglycosylated NS1 and NS1' the masses were 42 kDa and 49 kDa. Thus, for JEV, the mass of the C-terminal extension in NS1' is ~7 kDa. Similarly, working with MVEV, ref. estimated masses of 45 kDa and 53 kDa for glycosylated NS1 and NS1', and 39 kDa and 47 kDa for unglycosylated NS1 and NS1'. Thus, for MVEV, the mass of the C-terminal extension in NS1' is ~8 kDa. Similar results were obtained by ref. .
Consistent with our hypothesis, when ref. expressed what they supposed to be an approximatation of JEV NS1' from a plasmid containing NS1 and the first 60 amino acids of NS2A (hereafter NS1-NS2A1..60), they appeared to obtain an NS1' doublet – consistent with a mixture of the zero-frame (NS1-NS2A1..60) and the predicted transframe (NS1-NS2AN-FOO) products. No such doublet was observed in controls comprising lysates from JEV-infected cells. Assuming the product that comigrates with wild-type NS1' is NS1-NS2AN-FOO, then the other product corresponds to a fainter, more rapidly migrating band. This is plausible if the high proline content of FOO causes it to migrate more slowly and if the artificial product NS1-NS2A1..60 is more rapidly degraded. The data do not fit a cleavage hypothesis (as then the uncleaved NS1-NS2A1..60 would be expected to migrate more slowly than wild-type NS1') and an impaired glycosylation explanation seems unlikely (since the doublet appears to be present even in a sample treated with endoglycosidase F). No NS1 was produced from the NS1-NS2A1..60 plasmid (consistent with NS1-NS2A cleavage requiring synthesis of NS2A; see above) and no NS1' was produced from a plasmid just expressing NS1 (consistent with NS1' requiring the 5' end of the NS2A CDS).
A corresponding frameshift stimulatory motif was not found in SLEV – the most divergent of the six JEV-group RefSeqs but, interestingly, there was a long (89–165 codons) -1 frame ORF overlapping the boundary between NS1 and NS2A, so it is possible that frameshifting also occurs in SLEV at a non-canonical site, possibly further 5' such as within the NS1 CDS. No evidence for frameshifting was found in Dengue or Kokobera viruses – consistent with the apparent absence of NS1' in these species . In contrast to JEV-group NS1', the elongated NS1 product (NS1-2A*; ) seen in Yellow fever virus apparently results from cleavage much closer to the carboxy terminus of NS2A [22, 23] and, in any case, NS1-2A* appears to be simply a precursor of mature NS1 rather than a stable end product in itself, as demonstrated by pulse-chase analyses .
This work was supported by an award from Science Foundation Ireland and by NIH Grant R01 GM079523, both to JFA.
AEF carried out the bioinformatic analyses and wrote the manuscript. Both authors edited and approved the final manuscript. | 2019-04-24T12:49:55 | https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-422X-6-14 |
0.845007 | Jerusalem What caused leprosy a widely dreaded disease in medieval Europe to fade from the scene? By the 16th century, the scourge had practically disappeared there.
The reason seems to be, say researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in London, that tuberculosis, a far more deadly disease, overtook leprosy, killing millions throughout Europe.
Their conclusion is based upon the examination of DNA from human remains from the ancient and medieval periods in Israel and Europe. In these examinations, the scientists found traces of both leprosy and tuberculosis bacteria in 42 percent of the cases.
The findings on the relationship between leprosy and tuberculosis were reported in a recent edition of the British Royal Society Proceedings B by Dr. Mark Spigelman, a visiting professor at the Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine and of the University College London; Prof. Charles Greenblatt of the Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine; and Dr. Helen Donoghue of University College London.
The earliest case of co-infection of both leprosy and tuberculosis was found by the researchers in the DNA from a body discovered in a 1st century CE burial cave in Jerusalem. This prompted the investigators to re-examine DNA samples from other ancient sites that they and their colleagues had worked on previously. In doing so, they found leprosy and tuberculosis bacteria in remains from a 4th century CE Egyptian shrine that was known to have been visited by lepers, from a 10th century burial ground in Hungary, and from a Viking-age cemetery in northern Sweden. | 2019-04-22T22:24:38 | http://news.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-3/Once-dreaded-leprosy-replaced-by-tuberculosis--say-researchers-8822-1/ |
0.999996 | Why does every business need a website?
Did you know that in a recent survey by Inc. Magazine that over 75% of consumers search online for a local company to service their needs? And that other surveys put the percentage even higher than that! When was the last time you used the phone book to locate a local company? Even the phone book companies are building an online directory because they know that the days of the phone book are numbered.
Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY (maybe not grandma but everybody else), searches online these days. Either through their home computer, smart phone or tablet. If you are not online (your competitors are trust me) than you are missing out on all of that business that is looking for your type of company.
People I talk to tell me that even if a friend or relative refers a company to them they still go online and check them out. If there is no website then that company loses credibility. For some business's, credibility means everything.
Your website is your storefront. If you don't have a traditional brick and mortar store then your website becomes your only storefront. If you do have a traditional brick and mortar store then your website becomes your virtual storefront. When I used to run a retail store for a large floor covering chain we learned soon enough that the outside of the store was the "first impression" that the customers got when they approached the front doors. This "first impression" would carry over into their buying decisions when they entered the store. The same goes for your online storefront. If it looks great. If it is simple to navigate. If it shows well to the consumer then you have a great chance of getting that customer to actually call you or come to your store.
Have a website! Have a great looking website! Generate more business! Easy, huh??
Having a site map for your website is a great idea.
There are two main reasons to have a site map. First, a site map helps visitors navigate around your website. They can pull up a static site map that is on your website and find where they want to go very easily. A static site map should be comprised of every area that is on your website so visitors can see the structure of your whole site on one page, right in front of them. Of course, the site map should be linked so the visitors can just click on the area that interests them and go right to the page.
Secondly, a site map that is a great way for Google and the other search engines to be able to index your site. Submitting a site map to Google will get you indexed faster. You won't have to wait for Google to stumble upon your site because you are letting Google know that you are there.
Site maps are a great idea and should be used for just about every site.
Okay, so you have a website for your new company. Now what?
This is the second article in my new series on a new company's online presence and continued interaction with consumers and potential clients on Internet related services.
Having a website is a great start but where do you go from there? You need to get yourself found on the Internet. Google wants all of it's search results to be relevant to the searcher. People search for all kinds of things on the Internet and Google wants to be your preferred search engine. So it is important to Google to present relevant results when people search for things.
So Google has provided certain information to webmasters to insure that rules are followed thus insuring quality search results for their customers. Having a website is not enough. You need to be aware of what Google wants so that you can optimize your site to conform to those wants.
One important thing to remember is Google wants high quality fresh content on websites. If you are providing fresh content on your website, Google's search bots will find this when they crawl your site and rank you accordingly. This is one of the myriads of ranking factors involved when ranking your site albeit an important one. Probably the most important ranking factor!
So having unique, new and quality content is very important to where you will show up in search results (of course this also takes the most work).
Also, when writing your unique and high quality content it would be wise to know which keywords are important (and words you would like to rank for) and populate your content with these words. Google will add importance and relevancy to any content that provides a higher keyword density score (You can overdo this so be careful. Too high of a keyword density score and Google will assume you are trying to game the system and will penalize your site and thus your rankings!).
To sum up: New high quality content, keyword rich content and ever changing content is an important factor in whether you will show up in search results! This cannot be understated.
CMS stands for content management system. It is a software based system for creating a website.You can either code a website from scratch or you can use a CMS.
Coding a website from scratch can be a very arduous and expensive way of creating a website. Everything must be coded from scratch. Whereas, a CMS created website you can leverage the structure of existing templates and the software core to have a jump start on the coding. You start from a base and customize from there.
CMS has allowed the website creation companies to be able to create affordable websites for smaller companies! No longer do websites cost 10's of thousands of dollars. You can have a very creatively designed website now for just hundreds of dollars.
Site speed. Or loading speed. In other words, how fast your website loads.
Google is putting more emphasis on how fast a website loads. They feel that a faster loading web site enhances the user experience. And Google is all about the end user experience. Google has come to realize that people don't/ won't wait for a slow loading website to appear. If a site takes too long to load, most people will just exit out and go to another site in the search results.
You don't want this to be your site. A website that loads too slowly and hence provides a low quality user experience. If your site is slow, Google will lower your rankings. Lowering your rankings will cost you in the search results. Of course site speed is not the only factor in site ranking but it is becoming increasingly important to Google and plays a big part in where you will be found in search results.
current SEO strategies. Also, increasing your site speed will be an ongoing task. You won't just optimize your site once and figure all is good now. We need to constantly monitor our sites to make sure they are still loading at a fast pace.
There are a couple of online tools that can be used to look at your site speed. Google developers will use page speed insights. There is also Yahoo's YSlow and GTMetrix which will test both for you. | 2019-04-24T04:30:31 | https://lmswebsiteservices.com/website-blog |
0.999705 | Avalon Keyed Entry Lever in Satin Nickel is rated 4.7 out of 5 by 24.
Rated 5 out of 5 by AKmom from Great ease of use! I like levered door knobs because they are good for people with joint issues. You can open an unlocked door with your elbow.
Rated 5 out of 5 by PaulCoMat from Love every aspect of it Had old ugly brass round knobs and hard to work with hands full. This looks great and works perfect. I goofed when setting to my key but Kwikset sent me a new tumbler and it reset perfectly. Now everything uses the same key.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Master Ko from terrific warranty and customer service. This was installed when house was built. After about 10 years, the door latch wore out. Called Kwikset and they sent a replacement that was received in 3 - 4 days. I live in Hawaii so was very pleased. Lock is very ADA friendly and has a nice feel.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Goat Cop from Touch of class They were warranty replacements for 11 year old handles/locks. Kwikset was easy to deal with and promptly shipped the replacements.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Dropitow from Love the quality and brand reputation This company really backs their products and I appreciate how easy it was for them to fix my problem. Will definitely buy from them again.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Tom J M from Life time warranty I caaled about the Kwikset being broken. Sent photos of the lock & got back the exact one I needed. I marches all of my othere doors. It was easy to replace & works great!
Rated 5 out of 5 by Nickel Handle VA from Well-crafted. Impressive appearance. This smart key handle is installed on a patio door that receives much use. Impressed with the consistency of operation.
What happens when you can't get the set screw out? Installed 14 years ago. Want to paint door. Can't get the lever off. The set screw just turns, never backs out or goes in. What is next?
I had this same issue and this answer helped a lot (thank you). Tighten the exterior lever set screw. It's way in there, but will fix this issue.
I have a Kwikset door lever, and the set screw fell out, and of course, the lever falls off. I bought this several years ago, and don't see it on your website. I understand there is a lifetime warranty...what is my next step?
My 6 year old exterior use Avalon lever Kwikset assembly is not working. The bolt will not retract. I've removed and can't seem to determine why the bolt will not retract despite rotating the levers. The installation instructions do not address this.
my screw fell out and handle won't stay on. Where can I get a screw. I think this is the style I have. It is key entry. I tried to take the screw out of one that doesn't have a key lock, but it is too large.
I have bought Eight (8) Avalon locks and one key can open all eight. is that a factory fault ? | 2019-04-20T08:16:56 | https://www.kwikset.com/products/details/door-levers/740avl-15-smt.aspx |
0.99991 | 1. PLACE MUSHROOMS AND ONION in a food processor and puree.
2. Melt the butter on a skillet and add the puree, thyme, salt and pepper.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is completely dried out.
This recipe contains potential food allergens and will effect people with Butter, Mushroom, Onion allergies. | 2019-04-24T20:46:07 | http://www.recipekey.com/therecipes/Duxelles |
0.998805 | I do see the messages, so I know these functions are being called. However, the pop3-delete-on function seems to completely disable that server somehow.
If you don't use :prescript and :postscript, and set pop3-leave-mail-on-server to t, does everything work? E.g., does it fetch mail and leave it on the server? If this doesn't work either, and doesn't retrieve any mail, I'd say the p-l-m-o-s feature is broken. Andy? Maybe we should create a XEmacs epop3 package and leave support of it to the author of the epop3 package. AFAIU the author of pop3.el do not want to answer questions on the version in XEmacs because it has been modified quite a lot.
Is the value of pop3-leave-mail-on-server cached somehow? Is there some other way I could code this to get the desired effect?
Try deleting all POP3 related buffers and see if it helps.
Peter Davis <pdavis(a)pageflexinc.com> writes: > I do see the messages, so I know these functions are being called. > However, the pop3-delete-on function seems to completely disable that > server somehow. If you don't use :prescript and :postscript, and set pop3-leave-mail-on-server to t, does everything work? E.g., does it fetch mail and leave it on the server? If this doesn't work either, and doesn't retrieve any mail, I'd say the p-l-m-o-s feature is broken. Andy? Maybe we should create a XEmacs epop3 package and leave support of it to the author of the epop3 package. AFAIU the author of pop3.el do not want to answer questions on the version in XEmacs because it has been modified quite a lot. > Is the value of pop3-leave-mail-on-server cached somehow? Is there > some other way I could code this to get the desired effect? Try deleting all POP3 related buffers and see if it helps.
I'll try and take a look when I have time. Part of the problem is that setting up the test environment is very painful, since I basically build a pop server under cygwin and run it locally - I don't tend to try and debug using my own mail account :) andy At 08:06 PM 3/4/02 +0100, Simon Josefsson wrote: >Peter Davis <pdavis(a)pageflexinc.com> writes: > > > I do see the messages, so I know these functions are being called. > > However, the pop3-delete-on function seems to completely disable that > > server somehow. > >If you don't use :prescript and :postscript, and set >pop3-leave-mail-on-server to t, does everything work? E.g., does it >fetch mail and leave it on the server? If this doesn't work either, >and doesn't retrieve any mail, I'd say the p-l-m-o-s feature is >broken. Andy? > >Maybe we should create a XEmacs epop3 package and leave support of it >to the author of the epop3 package. AFAIU the author of pop3.el do >not want to answer questions on the version in XEmacs because it has >been modified quite a lot. > > > Is the value of pop3-leave-mail-on-server cached somehow? Is there > > some other way I could code this to get the desired effect? > >Try deleting all POP3 related buffers and see if it helps. | 2019-04-21T03:16:42 | https://list-archive.xemacs.org/archive/list/[email protected]/thread/HCTBZSY2PYJWIM52YRDSE57OP5WYVVSB/?sort=date |
0.999314 | Ideas that are false are ideas that are capable of being tested, have been tested, and have failed the test.
Thus, the purpose of science is to devise experiments which bring ideas out of the ambiguous realm of the "Unfalsifiable," to be classified as either "falsifiable but not falsified" (to be tentatively accepted as true) or "false" (To be rejected).
The important thing to note here is that an idea's being unfalsifiable does not mean that it is false. It means it may be true or may be false, but it simply cannot yet be tested. Thus it is a non sequitur and self-contradictory to argue that "Because an idea is unfalsifiable, it is false."
Evolutionists often mistakenly credit Karl Popper with devising the concept of falsifiability. Actually, the idea was articulated earlier by G.K. Chesterton, a creationist and author, in 1925, while Popper was still studying for his PhD, and nine years before Popper wrote Logik der Forschung.
Despite the obvious philosophical usefulness of a functional definition of falsifiability, many prominent evolutionists regularly misuse the concept in obvious and self-contradictory ways (see Logical fallacy).
There are two more subtle alternative definitions of "Falsifiable," and much of the debate between creationists and evolutionists revolves around these definitions.
Ideas are falsifiable when there is some experiment which can be conducted under present scientific knowledge to test them.
This definition, while most widespread, is a conceptual failure. If we adopt the first definition, an idea is falsifiable if some conceivable experiment could test it, then we run into a major problem: Which experiments are conceivable?
First, if the history of science has shown anything, it's that scientists are capable of devising new and ingenious experiments to test ideas. For thousands of years, the Greek and Pagan geocentric Ptolemaic system was adopted by the Church as truth, until Copernicus and Galileo found means to test it. An experiment may be inconceivable one day and conceivable the next. The only difference is the presence of a scientist to conceive of a new experiment to solve the problem.
I can conceive of an experiment to test for creation vs. evolution. I can build a time machine, travel 6,000 years in the past, and see if there is a Garden east of Eden with two naked people in it (as predicted by creationism), or countless tribes of nomadic men and women settling into agriculture. This would certainly falsify creationism or evolutionism once and for all. But the experiment cannot be conducted, because I don't have a time machine. Consequently, although this experiment is conceivable, the ideas are still not falsifiable, because the experiment cannot be conducted.
First, scientists conceive of new experiments that were once inconceivable on a daily basis, thus making unfalsifiable ideas falsifiable. Unfalsifiable ideas are in fact the lifeblood of science, because they are the fuel that drives the experiments of tomorrow.
Second, the definition is not useful because it leaves the criteria for "science vs. non-science" entirely in the imagination of the scientist. For while many experiments may be conceived, they are not useful unless they can be conducted.
This leaves us with the second definition: "Ideas are falsifiable when they are capable of being tested under today's scientific knowledge." This leaves us with a much better defined list of ideas which are falsifiable and those which are unfalsifiable. Falsifiable ideas can be tested today, and unfalsifiable ideas cannot be tested today. There is no ambiguity. Nothing is left to our imagination. The experiment either can be conducted or cannot be conducted.
This leads us to a second point: Unfalsifiable ideas are not necessarily false. We simply can't test them. If we adopt the first definition of falsifiability, that we must be able to "conceive" of an experiment to test the idea, then unfalsifiable ideas are useless, because they can never be tested and thus never become science.
But if we adopt the second definition of falsifiability, that we must be able to perform the experiment to test the idea, then we acknowledge that things which are not testable today may become testable tomorrow, and the goal of science becomes to expand the range of human knowledge by finding ways to test what is not yet testable. Under this definition, unfalsifiable ideas become the lifeblood of science, because it is from them that new experiments are tested, new discoveries made, and new science developed.
So in review, when we define as falsifiable ideas which may "conceivably be tested," we call things unfalsifiable and unscientific when we cannot "conceive" of an experiment to test them, and call things falsifiable and scientific when we can conceive of such an experiment. But no actual experiments need be conducted. Therefore there is no objective test to determine whether or not an idea is scientific. The whole process takes place in our imagination, and is subject to the scope of our imagination. And if a person is incapable of imagining a test for an idea, then that idea becomes eternally unfalsifiable and unscientific, never to be tested. Ideas which may be true are tagged as unscientific simply because scientists cannot yet test them.
In the end, a superficial definition of falsifiability is used to exclude those ideas which, although possibly true, do not fit into the scientist's "paradigm."
But when we define as falsifiable those ideas which may "be tested today," we call things unfalsifiable when we cannot test them and falsifiable when we can test them. Consequently, there is an objective test to determine which are falsifiable and which are not; it does not depend on our imagination, it depends on objective science. Further, unfalsifiable ideas are not seen as a roadblock to science, but as the future of science, as scientists develop and improve their ability to experiment, and turn unfalsifiable ideas into falsifiable ones.
This page was last modified on 15 April 2017, at 07:30. | 2019-04-25T22:02:43 | http://en.creationwiki.org/Unfalsifiable |
0.999998 | What are the statistics on the life expectancy of left-handed people?
Life expectancy of left-handers and right-handers are the same.
There was a controversial study done in 1980 by Halpern & Coren that suggested left-handed people had an average life expectancy of 9 years less than right-handed people. However, data was based on second-hand information: surveys from the next-of-kin of recently deceased persons asking about right/left handedness and age of death. They found left-handed average age of death was 66; right-handed average age was 75.
Unfortunately, the Halpern & Coren study keeps getting quoted even though others have disputed the notion that left-handed people die earlier (Aggleton, et. al., 1994; Harris, 1993).
Second hand survey data used in the Halpern & Coren analysis is not a sound methodology. In addition, if a study reports a higher mortality rate (or any other "problem") in left-handers, then it's very important to look at the research design and how the data was analyzed. Simply checking the sample sizes will give a good indication of whether it was a real significant difference. If the sample sizes are large, and most studies have sample sizes of 1,000 or more, then there will be a "statistically" significant difference between groups (i.e.: Left versus Right) even if the amount of variance explained by the two groups is very small, which means there is no clinical significance. A statistical significant difference does not mean it has clinical or meaningful significance. Many statistical tests will give a significant difference only because of large sample sizes. Therefore, the measure of explained variance needs to be computed because it is unaffected by sample size.
The study by Aggleton, Bland, Kentridge, & Neave in the British Medical Journal had disputed the notion that left-handed people die earlier. | 2019-04-19T22:52:52 | http://www.drdaveanddee.com/left.html |
0.999831 | Jill Brown is the managing editor of Managed Care Week, the industry's leading newsletter on the managed care industry. Published by Atlantic Information Services, Inc., it contains timely news and data on HMOs, PPOs, POS plans, new managed care products and markets, and government initiatives that are changing the face of managed care.
Jill has also served as the editor of News and Strategies for Managed Medicare and Medicaid, Inside PPMCs and Physician Partnership Report, also published by Atlantic Information Services. Prior to joining AIS, Jill was a health care consultant with Arthur Andersen LLC's New England Healthcare Consulting practice, where she worked on a variety of projects focusing on physician staffing ratios, health care operations redesign, IS implementations and Y2K compliance. Jill also worked as a provider relations representative for a mid-Atlantic HMO.
Jill earned a Master of Health Sciences in Health Finance and Management from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, and a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University.
Question 1 - Hello Jill and welcome.
"bounce" from the policy change, physicians' enthusiasm has lessened.
authorization hurdle would simply be replaced with clinical profiling. Although physicians no longer have to request approval for treatments, they still must notify UnitedHealth of their treatment plans. It may not be as infuriating for some providers, but it's still a time-consuming requirement.
the data to counsel physicians who exhibit practice patterns outside the norm -- with the threat of ultimately removing some outliers from its network.
To date, other health plans haven't followed UnitedHealth's lead wholeheartedly. Aetna has also been working to improve its relationships with physicians on a state-by-state basis. It began in its home state of Connecticut, eliminating a few referral requirements for lab tests and other services.
Answer 2 - The most sweeping change has been newly launched e-commerce strategies that streamline communications between payors and providers. Encouraged by HIPAA regulations governing electronic claims submission, security and privacy guidelines, health plans are Web-enabling their consumer and provider relations structures.
authorizations and check member eligibility and benefits.
requirements on physicians' time and lowering overhead.
Answer 3 - There's no question that health plans have had it rough over the past year, and their misfortune has translated into both good and bad news for contracting physicians and hospitals.
How does this affect provider relations?
possible. Health plans can no longer take their entire book of business from one hospital to its competitor down the street if contract negotiations break down, since employers demand wide provider networks.
stampede of health plans eliminating bureaucratic hassles.
Answer 4 - The media (and this forum) have been dominated by reports of fractious relationships between providers and payers. But while economic forces dictate that providers and plans are on opposite sides, with physicians trying to increase reimbursement while health plans are working to lower it, it is possible for the two to develop more collaborative relationships.
to comply with regulations or improve business processes.
2. Listen to physicians' concerns and respond to them.
acknowledge that issues have been heard.
Answer 5 - Local, state and national medical groups are increasingly turning to lawsuits to resolve disputes with managed care firms. The charge has been led by the American Medical Assn.'s AMA/State Medical Society Litigation Center, which has over 20 cases currently pending in federal and state courts dealing with reimbursement, coverage and other issues.
were unlawful and fraudulent business practices.
� Member eligibility and benefits checks. Medical groups and other providers can log onto a secure server to confirm that a patient is a current health plan member and ensure that benefits are covered. By entering one member's ID number, office staff can view a list of the insured and all dependents, the assigned primary care physician for each, effective dates of coverage and other information. Ideally, the database is updated in real time, ensuring that information is as current as it would be if medical office staff called the plan.
confirm that a referral was processed.
send in claims electronically, then track the claim through the system to find out whether it's been paid, is being adjudicated, or has been sent back for more information.
Answer 7 It's been well-publicized that health plans can save anywhere between $4 and $7 in administrative expenses for each transaction they can automate on the Internet.
getting physicians on board and online so they start moving their interaction from call center-reliant to Internet-reliant. To do that, health plans have to make sure the new technology benefits providers as much as it benefits the plan. Providers are going to be unwilling to change administrative procedures if the new system requires investing in new equipment and training staff without gaining anything like faster reimbursement or lower overhead.
Answer 9 - I think HIPAA implementation and compliance will drive payer and provider technology advances over the next few years. The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act dictates how information is shared, how transactions are conducted and how plans, providers and other health care organizations' operations handle data.
cost three to four times that spent on Y2K efforts.
of e-commerce applications like electronic claims submission, authorization requests and other transactions.
Answer 10 - Office staff are often the first line of defense with an insurance company. Although the payor contracts with the physician, frequently the office's structure, staffing and management can have a huge impact on the payor/physician relationship.
benefits each time he or she comes to the medical office.
Answer 11 - Managed care has been under a great deal of criticism lately because of the financial incentives, treatment constraints and other mechanisms it uses to contain costs. But simply put, as long as health care costs continue to increase - and they will - these mechanisms will continue to be necessary.
are likely here to stay.
restrictions, lower premiums and higher cost-sharing.
Answer 13 - Absolutely. Both the payer and provider are working to care for enrollees, and secondarily to attract consumers to sign up for services with the plan or physician.
payers can work together to improve performance and outcomes data -- in tandem with employers, ideally -- consumers will begin to recognize the value of those services and be more willing to pay for them. | 2019-04-20T14:15:35 | http://www.healthbond.com/news.php?viewStory=6840 |
0.999999 | How would I describe financial markets in one word? Fragile. US stock markets have their toes over the edge of a very steep drop off and each day they are inching closer and closer to tipping over the edge. In fact, they were over the edge and gone when Wall Street opened for business Tuesday with the Dow Jones down over 500 points at the market open. It managed to claw its way back higher and recovered as the trading day progressed closing down around 100 points. Asian markets have not crept to the edge and jumped, they ran and jumped yesterday with the major Asian indexes falling between 2% and 3% across the board and now into correction territory with the Nikkei in Tokyo well below its 200 EMA that I have been referencing.
Traditionally when US stock indexes fall sharply so does the Aussie and Kiwi Dollars but what is holding them up at the moment is the US 10 Year Treasury Yield. Every time the 10 Year Yield drifts back lower so does the US Dollar and that supports the AUD v USD and NZD v USD. But the 10 Year Yield going lower I don’t think will save the AUD and NZD against the greenback if we see accelerated selling pressure on US stock markets. US stock markets are fragile but the buyers haven’t given up their fight and are doing whatever they can to hold on. Personally, I don’t think they will be able to hold on and will give up that fight in coming days and weeks and a substantial move lower is imminent in my view. The FTSE in London closed down 1.25% and the DAX in Germany was down 2.17%.
From a price action perspective, currency values were up and down like a yo-yo Tuesday and across the board are back to roughly where they were this time yesterday. I suspect the rally on the Pound was due to Mark Carney’s comments when he spoke at 2.20am AEST. Whatever he said did not have any sustained impact on the Pound as it is now moving back lower against all its major rivals as I write today’s report. Theresa May is under mounting pressure to get a deal done over Brexit and the sell-off on the Pound in the last few hours is due to reports Theresa May is under mounting pressure and a challenge to her leadership may be getting some real traction. If that was the case it would cause political uncertainty for the UK and the Pound would be sold off.
At 1.00am AEST Thursday morning the Bank of Canada will issue its October policy statement with traders expecting a rate hike of 0.25% from 1.5% to 1.75%. The rate hike has already been priced into the Canadian Dollar but the devil will be in the detail of the statement and any mention of further interest rate adjustments will see traders buy or sell the Caddie. If you are currently in a Caddie trade then you need to be very mindful of the BOC’s statement as you can expect increased volatility on the Canadian Dollar in the moments leading up to and after its release. | 2019-04-21T12:55:59 | https://www.ltggoldrock.com/todays-key-market-drivers-24th-october-2018/ |
0.999124 | My daughter (12 years old) was told by her coach (summer league) that she is a great oufielder because she can catch a fly ball & cover a lot of area. However, my daughter also likes and wants to pitch & her pitching coach (has had total of about 10 or more pitching lessons only so far)says she can be a really good pitcher with practice. My daughter is very athletic even at a younger age, she can run fast, she is left handed. So my question is, can she do both: Outfielding & pitching? Or should I let her concentrate on 1 position? She is also getting very good at hitting. My daughter's coach (not pitching coach) suggest I let her concentrate more on batting & keep her in the outfield more. I want an honest, unbiased opinion from softball coaches & softball pitchers if possible.
Thanks for your question. I do not see why she cannot do both. When you say she is working with a pitching coach, I assume that means outside the team's practice schedule and with a private pitching coach. Most players, particularly at a younger age, play more than one position. My daughter was a pitcher and second baseman. It will mean a lot more time to softball, meaning private lessons outside of the team's practice schedule. So to give you an idea what I am talking about, she had private hitting lessons, private pitching lessons and then also had the team(s) (travel and school teams) practices. In addition, she would practice her pitching at the team practice, but that was generally outside of the larger team practice. We would have the pitchers and catchers come a little early to get their throws in.
If she is developing her hitting as well, I would think that the coach would want her to know more positions than just pitching so he had the flexibility to play her when she wasn't pitching. To learn to play the outfield, she will need to know how to judge a fly ball, know where to throw the ball (this means properly aligning her feet when the ball is in the air and ready to throw upon catching the ball) and when to hit the cut off vs. throwing to the base directly. In addition, backing up is also extremely important. You will find that against the better 12U teams and certainly at 14U, outfield is extremely important ... last line of defense.
So, in short, I would have her do all three: learn to pitch, to see if she can turn into a strong pitcher (you can't have enough pitchers, especially left handed); learn a field position, in this case the outfield; and in either case, practice hitting, this will keep her in the starting line up.
You don't know how relieved I am in your comment. Yes, she has a private pitching coach and you don't know how excited her pitching coach gets when she sees my daughter pitch to her (when she pitches a strike). So I will continue for her to get pitching lessons all throughout the year as long as she's interested so she'll be ready for next year. In the meantime, my husband, who used to play baseball when he was younger, will cont to work on her hitting & we can also take her to a batting cage. Thank you so much, I appreaciate it.
I am glad to hear that. They usually teach a new pitch a season so that the pitcher has full control over it before moving on to the next. Don't want to confuse them. I am sure your pitching coach has full cntrol over this. And BTW, most focus on speed initially and then adjust the release point to bring in the strikes. It is all about repetition.
As far as hitting, I hope your husband does not teach her the "rear elbow up" method I was taught as a youth (I am guessing he is younger than me) for baseball. Most hitting instructors will teach elbows down for softball. This is because the plane of the pitched ball. With elbows up, the batter has a tendency to drop the rear elbow through the swing. This is wasted motion if you start with elbows down. You don't want wasted motion when the pitch is coming from only 40 feet away. Second, elbows up can also lead to a swoop in the swing which will only lead to pop ups.
Good luck to your daughter. Hopefully she maintains her passion and goes on to many happy years of playing softball! | 2019-04-21T10:18:31 | https://www.fastpitch-softball-coaching.com/both-a-pitcher-outfielder.html |
0.998889 | This is the fourth episode in the series of posts reporting on the work we are doing to build text-to-speech (TTS) systems for low resource languages. In the first episode, we described the crowdsourced acoustic data collection effort for Project Unison. In the second episode, we described how we built parametric voices based on that data. In the third episode, we described the compilation of a pronunciation lexicon for a TTS system. In this episode, we describe how to make a single TTS system speak many languages.
Developing TTS systems for any given language is a significant challenge, and requires large amounts of high quality acoustic recordings and linguistic annotations. Because of this, these systems are only available for a tiny fraction of the world's languages. A natural question that arises in this situation is, instead of attempting to build a high quality voice for a single language using monolingual data from multiple speakers, as we described in the previous three episodes, can we somehow combine the limited monolingual data from multiple speakers of multiple languages to build a single multilingual voice that can speak any language?
Building upon an initial investigation into creating a multilingual TTS system that can synthesize speech in multiple languages from a single model, we developed a new model that uses uniform phonological representation for all languages — the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The model trained using this representation can synthesize both the languages seen in the training data as well as languages not observed in training. This has two main benefits: First, pooling training data from related languages increases phonemic coverage which results in improved synthesis quality of the languages observed in training. Finally, because the model contains many languages pooled together, there is a better chance that an “unseen” language will have a “related” language present in the model that will guide and aid the synthesis.
We applied this multilingual approach first to languages of Indonesia, where Standard Indonesian is the official national language, and is spoken natively or as a second language by more than 200 million people. Javanese, with roughly 90 million native speakers, and Sundanese, with approximately 40 million native speakers, constitute the two largest regional languages of Indonesia. Unlike Indonesian, which received a lot of attention by the computational linguists and speech scientists over the years, both Javanese and Sundanese are currently low-resourced due to the lack of openly available high-quality corpora. We collaborated with universities in Indonesia to collect crowd-sourced Javanese and Sundanese recordings.
Since our corpus of Standard Indonesian was much larger and recorded in a professional studio, our hypothesis was that combining three languages may result in significant improvements over the systems constructed using a “classical” monolingual approach. To test this, we first proceeded to analyze the similarities and crucial differences between the phonologies of these three languages (shown below) and used this information to design the phonological representation that allows maximum degree of sharing between the languages while preserving their crucial differences.
Joint phoneme inventory of Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese in International Phonetic Alphabet notation.
The resulting Javanese and Sundanese voices trained jointly with Standard Indonesian strongly outperformed our corresponding monolingual multispeaker voices that we used as a baseline. This allowed us to launch Javanese and Sundanese TTS in Google products, such as Google Translate and Android.
Next, we focused on the languages of South Asia spanning two very different language families: Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Unlike the languages of Indonesia described above, these languages are much more diverse. In particular, they have significantly smaller overlap in their phonologies. The table below shows a superset of the languages in our experiment, including the variety of orthographies used, as well as modern words related to the Sanskrit word for “culture”. These languages show considerable variation within each group, but also such similarities across groups.
Descendants of Sanskrit word for “culture” across languages.
In this work, we leveraged the unified phonological representation mentioned above to make the most of the data we have and eliminate scarcity of data for certain phonemes. This was accomplished by conflating similar phonemes into a single representative phoneme in the multilingual phoneme inventory. Where possible, we use the same inventory for phonologically close languages. For example we have an identical phoneme inventory for Telugu and Kannada, and another one for West Bengali and Odia. For other language pairs like Gujarati and Marathi, we copied over the inventory of one language to another, but made a few changes to reflect the differences in their phonemic inventories. For all languages in these experiments we retained a common underlying representation, mapping similar phonemes across different inventories, so that we could still use the data from one language in training the others.
In addition, we made sure our representation is driven by the phonology in use, rather than the orthography. For example, although there are distinct letters for long and short vowels in Marathi, they are not contrastive in a linguistic sense, so we used a single representation for them, increasing the robustness of our training data. Similarly, if two languages use one character that was historically related to the same Sanskrit letter to represent different sounds or different letters for a similar sound, our mapping reflected the phonological closeness rather than the historical or orthographic representation. Describing all the features of the unified phoneme inventory is outside the scope of this post, the details can be found in our recent paper.
Diagram illustrating our multilingual text-to-speech approach. The input text queries are processed by language-specific linguistic front-ends to generate pronunciations in a shared phonemic representation serving as input to the language-agnostic acoustic model. The model then generates audio for the respective queries.
Our experiments focused on Indian Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. For most of these languages, apart from Bengali and Marathi, the recording data and the transcriptions were crowd-sourced. For each of these languages we constructed a multilingual acoustic model that used all the data available. In addition, the acoustic model included the previously crowd-sourced Nepali and Sinhala data, as well as Hindi and Bangladeshi Bengali.
The results were encouraging: for most of the languages, the multilingual voices outperformed the voices that were constructed using traditional monolingual approach. We performed a further experiment with the Odia language, for which we had no training data, by attempting to synthesize it using the South Asian multilingual model. Subjective listening tests revealed that the native speakers of Odia judged the resulting audio to be acceptable and intelligible. The resulting voices for Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam built using our multilingual approach in collaboration with the Speech team were announced at the recent “Google for India” event and are now powering Google Translate as well as other Google products.
Using crowd-sourcing in data collections was interesting from a research point of view and rewarding in terms of establishing fruitful collaborations with the native speaker communities. Our experiments with the Malayo-Polynesian, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families have shown that in most instances carefully sharing the data across multiple languages in a single multilingual acoustic model using deep learning techniques alleviates some of the severe data scarcity issues plaguing the low-resource languages and results in good quality voices used in Google products.
This TTS research is a first step towards applying speech and language technology to more of the world’s many languages, and it is our hope is that others will join us in this effort. To contribute to the research community we have open sourced corpora for Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Khmer, Javanese and Sundanese as we return from SLTU and Interspeech conferences, where we have been discussing this work with other researchers. We are planning on continuing to release additional datasets for other languages in our projects in the future. | 2019-04-25T05:19:16 | https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/09/text-to-speech-for-low-resource.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FgJZg+%28Google+AI+Blog%29 |
0.884946 | How tight should a wetsuit be?
Question: How tight should a wetsuit be?
There is a world of difference when you put on a wetsuit that is just the right amount of tightness. Whether you are a triathlete, surfer, or scuba diver a wetsuit should not fit so tight that it is restricting movement.
Modern technology has enabled wetsuit manufacturers to produce stretchy and high-performance wetsuits. Since modern materials are stretchy, many people solve issues of fit by sizing down. Sizing down brings down the insulating properties of a wetsuit and shortens the life of the wetsuit. This myth of downsizing is not the correct way of wearing a wetsuit and in fact it lowers your overall performance.
A wetsuit should not hinder your movement or restrict breathing. It should feel like a good pair of shoes. Snug, but not so tight that it cuts off circulation.
The wetsuit acts as a second skin. It should be as close as possible to your skin with the slightest squeeze.
When you're putting on the wetsuit, does it feel challenging to get your arms through the armholes and wrists? If you're struggling to put your limbs through the wetsuit, it's a clear indication that your wetsuit is too tight for you.
The neoprene gives you more buoyancy and the layer of neoprene acts as a protective barrier from other swimmers. A wetsuit should never feel uncomfortable and a person should not get used to being uncomfortable. If you are wearing a wetsuit that feels uncomfortable it's not the right wetsuit for you no matter what activity you are doing in a wetsuit.
Try on your wetsuit and observe the area right above your buttocks where your tailbone is. If the wetsuit lifts off your lower back and forms a little trampoline like area, it means the length of the torso is too short. This causes the material to stretch and lift off your body, instead of resting on your skin. The wetsuit should be flush against your skin for maximum contact. This also applies to your entire body, so make sure there aren't any areas of your body that are causing the wetsuit to lift off your body.
Zip up your wetsuit and move your arms in a slow paddling motion. A wetsuit that fits correctly should have the tiniest bit of restriction, but your arm movement should not be hindered. A tight chest, shoulders, and arms can attribute to this. Sometimes your breathing can also be altered if the wetsuit is too tight. Make sure you're not having trouble breathing and if it is we highly advise you not to use it as it could become dangerous.
The lower half of the wetsuit is an area that is often overlooked. When you have your wetsuit on, lift your knee up. If you feel a pulling sensation around your hips and thighs, the circumference around your thighs and hips is too tight. Each time you move your leg in the water, that added tension is slowly drawing more energy from you. Each movement will add up and your performance will drop.
3. So why not go tighter if it doesn't restrict my movement?
With modern technology, manufacturers have created new neoprene that stretches very well. We previously said that many surfers and triathletes will downsize their wetsuits. The problem with this is as you stretch neoprene it becomes thinner. A 3mm wetsuit can become 2mm if the materials are stretched enough. If you're purchasing a 3mm wetsuit and getting 2mm warmth out of it why downsize?. Each stroke and kick you take in a tighter wetsuit will draw more energy from you while you try to fight the wetsuit. The point of having a wetsuit is to maximize your time and performance in the water. So keep in mind this - a snug fit is good but not so snug that it's restricting your movement. Have fun out there in the water and enjoy all the possibilities our ocean brings us.
Every wetsuit is built differently and companies have their own unique size charts and fit models. The traditional way of ordering wetsuits is to go into a wetsuit retailer and try on as many sizes and brands as possible to find the one that fits correctly. We do things differently at 7TILL8 Custom Wetsuits. We work directly with each customer to learn what issues they have to correct them. Every wetsuit we build is custom made to their specific owners. We don't have size charts because all of our wetsuits are custom made to your measurements.
I have hand arthritis and have a difficult time getting into and out of wetsuits. Any suggestions? | 2019-04-21T02:07:01 | https://7till8.com/blogs/updates/howtightshouldawetsuitbe-answer |
0.996312 | What is the criteria for “too many incorrect reviews”?
I got the following message when I tried to access the reviews section today.
I'm not sure how common these types of messages are, but I am a little confused because my reviews appear to be in line with what other reviewers are voting, I haven't failed questions that check that I'm paying attention, and I have only missed a single audit question from 120 triage reviews.
Additionally, the linked question that has been provided has been deleted, and my answer is the same as the other reviewers.
What should I change in my reviewing behavior so that I can keep my reviews in line with what the expectations are?
I happened to be reviewing a variety of things and came across this question which is terribly broad and just awful. I deleted it and I checked to see how this wound up sticking around for days without being closed, etc. I found that this went through Triage but none of the reviewers felt this was an unsalvageable question which sort of concerned me because I found this to be a bad question.
This ban did not happen because you failed an audit, it happened because I spotted checked several reviews and found quite a few things that were marked as "Looks Ok" or "Should Be Improved" when they should have been "unsalvageable" and flagged for closure. It's only 3 days and you'll be back to reviewing in no time.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged support review triage .
Why did I get suspended from reviewing for 7 days instead of 2 without any explanation? | 2019-04-21T18:22:59 | https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/298916/what-is-the-criteria-for-too-many-incorrect-reviews |
0.999992 | When you need to write something longer than a text or an email, whether it’s a class assignment, a report for work, or a personal writing task, there’s work to be done before you dive in and begin writing. This phase is sometimes called prewriting (even though some types of prewriting involve actual writing).
Note that even though instructors may describe a writing process as having steps that seem to go in order, writers usually skip back and forth between those steps as they work toward a final draft. While you’re in the early stage of prewriting, you might use freewriting (a technique for generating text that you’ll learn more about in the section titled “Strategies for Getting Started“) but then use that technique again after revising your first draft. When instructors describe writing as “recursive,” this process is what they are talking about. The techniques described for prewriting may come in handy later in your own writing process.
If you’re working on a class assignment, you may get to select your own topic or a topic may be assigned to you.
If you get to choose your topic, be sure that you understand the kinds of topics that will fit the assignment. For example, if your instructor asks you to write an argument about a local problem in your community, you wouldn’t choose to write about the national debt–that’s not a local problem, but a national one. You might try some of the techniques in this resource, like freewriting, listing, or clustering, to discover topics you are interested in. You might use your library’s online databases to search for interesting topics, especially databases that give pros and cons for current issues.
But even if the instructor assigns the topic, you can find ways to make it your own.
Summarize: If you are asked to write a summary of something you’ve read, you will be giving the main points and the supporting points from the text. A summary usually does not include your personal opinion.
Respond: When you are asked to respond to a text, you can give your opinion in a variety of ways. You might talk about the quality of the text, connections you made with the text, or whether you agree or disagree with the author’s ideas. You may need to incorporate a little bit of summary so that the reader has enough background to understand your response. The summary might be in the form of a single paragraph after your introduction, it might be a few sentences within your introduction, or it might be incorporated in multiple paragraphs in a sentence or two.
Analyze: An analysis breaks something down into parts in order to understand the whole. See discussions of sentence-level analysis and paragraph analysis in the “Writing about Texts” section.
Synthesize: A synthesis combines two or more ideas into a larger whole. For more on synthesis, see “Drawing Conclusions and Synthesizing New Ideas” in the “Writing about Texts” section.
Compare and contrast: When you are asked to compare and contrast (or sometimes the instructor will just say compare, but mean both), you will be looking at two items and stating how they are alike and how they are different.
Reflect: A reflection asks you to deeply consider something, often on a personal basis. For example, you might be asked to write a personal reflection about your own writing or about your progress during a course. Or you might be asked to reflect on how a particular issue affects you.
Other terms: There are many possible verbs that you might find in an assignment. If you are unsure what the assignment calls for, be sure to ask your instructor.
For some assignments, you may be able to write about a topic that is personally significant to you. Being able to write about a topic like this can improve your motivation. Be wary, though, of just writing opinion without backing up your ideas with reasons and evidence that your readers will find convincing. If you want to write about a deeply personal topic, be sure that you are willing to share that with others and also consider whether or not your readers want to know that information about you.
One way to narrow your topic is to decide what you DON’T want to write about. What ideas or subtopics could you eliminate?
Another way to narrow your topic is to do some preliminary research–not the kind of research you would include in an essay, but rather quick online research to inform yourself about the topic. This is one example of when it’s okay to use a simple Google search or use Wikipedia. Once you see what other people are writing about your topic, it can help you see areas that are interesting to you, and it can also help you understand what people, in general, agree on and what is still undecided and needs to be further explored.
Want to try some preliminary research? Try searching for these topics in Google and Wikipedia, for general information.
Search for “gravity hill” in Google.
How many of the sources on the first page of results are from Wikipedia?
Where is the gravity hill in South Dakota located?
Search for T. Rex, the band, in Wikipedia.
What later bands and musicians made explicit references to T. Rex?
What is the first source listed in the “References” section at the end of the Wikipedia article?
Informative: if your purpose in writing is to inform your readers, what are topics that you already know a lot about? What are some interesting topics that you could easily research?
Persuasive: if your purpose is to persuade readers to think a certain way or to take an action, what are some topics that you feel strongly about? What are some topics that are currently under discussion that you could explore and form an opinion on?
Reflective: if your purpose is to reflect on a personal experience or on your learning process, you can explore your knowledge and experience.
Analytical: if your purpose is to analyze something (usually a text of some kind), is there an assigned list or a specific text? If you get to choose, what books, essays, poems, films, songs, etc. have you recently been exposed to that you could analyze? | 2019-04-23T00:36:56 | https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/wrd/chapter/selecting-and-narrowing-a-topic/ |
0.999958 | The nation's capital is grappling with the problem of how best to protect against terrorist attacks while maintaining the freedom and openness essential to American democracy. The issue arises as security guards, policemen, and government workers here remain on a heightened state of alert in the aftermath of the United States bombing attacks on Libya last month. American law enforcement officials have been on the lookout to detect signs that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi might try to make good his earlier threat to export terrorism to the US.
Though there have been no terrorist incidents or arrests here, more than 175 bomb threats were recorded in Washington alone in the two weeks following the attack on Libya, according to local police officials. Twenty such threats were made against the US Capitol, according to Capitol police.
Across town, the US Park Police reports that bomb threats against American monuments and memorials are up by 40 percent.
Security officials believe that disgruntled former employees, outraged citizens, and emotionally disturbed persons make the majority of the bomb threat calls. To date, no actual bombs have been recovered, police said.
The proliferation of bomb threats presents federal security officials with a dilemma: How to maintain free access in government buildings while keeping the buildings free of planted bombs.
``We are dealing with public buildings and it is important to us that they remain that -- public buildings,'' says Randy Lash, director of the federal protection and safety division of the General Services Administration. ``If we shut [them] down, then that is what the terrorists want us to do, to shut down the operations of government,'' he says.
Major Richard Susick of the US Park Police adds that his agency has no intention of restricting access to parks and monuments in Washington because of bomb or other threats. ``People should have access to their monuments and memorials. These are symbols of a free society, so we are not going to close them off and arm them like forts,'' Major Susick says.
On Capitol Hill, Congress is considering circling itself with a tall, wrought iron fence to help keep terrorists away from the Capitol building. The structure would be similar to the fence that already surrounds the White House, including such high-tech extras as infrared and seismic sensors to detect warm bodies or soft footsteps of people attempting to sneak over the fence on a foggy, moonless night.
Some congressmen complain that fences make for bad government.
But other lawmakers, such as Sen. Alan Cranston (D) of California and Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R) of Wyoming, maintain that the fence may ultimately contribute to a freer atmosphere in the halls of Congress than at present.
Following a series of bomb scares and threats culminating in an actual bombing on Nov. 7, 1983, certain hallways in the Capitol have been declared off limits to unauthorized persons.
The plan, according to Simpson and Cranston, is that metal detectors and other security equipment currently jamming the entrances of the Capitol building, would be located instead at the gates of the perimeter fence. The projected cost of the security project is $15.5 million.
Terrorism experts indicate that because of the size and military strength of the United States, foreign terrorists seeking to strike at the US would probably attempt to attack symbolic American targets such as the Statue of Liberty, the US Capitol building, the White House, or the Pentagon.
Secret Service officials are well aware of the symbolic importance of the White House. Secret Service spokesman Jack Taylor says at least once a year someone decides the time is ripe to ram his or her car into the executive mansion's reinforced iron driveway gate.
Plans are also underway, officials say, to replace the thick concrete barriers that ring the White House with hefty, but more attractive, concrete planters. Such planters are expected to be equally effective at preventing Beirut-style car and truck bombings.
But in a city widely perceived as being chock-full of terrorist targets, the Secret Service agent and other security officials point out that it is impossible without carefully investigating each threat to seperate the crank callers from real terrorists armed with real bombs.
Is Khorasan a real threat – or a way to avoid a vote on US military action? | 2019-04-25T02:44:34 | https://www.csmonitor.com/1986/0506/awall.html |
0.999999 | Who can contest a stall count? Is it only the player with the disc or anyone on the filed in the vicinity of the handler/marker?
1. Player A threw the the disk into the end zone. The disc was caught by his teammate for a point.
2. Player B - who was marking player A - called turnover believing that he counted to stall 10 before the throw was made.
3. Player C, who was the dump for player A, disagreed, explained the stall count rule and stated that player A released the disk before player B uttered the "t" of ten.
4. Player B's teammate intervened saying that only player A can contest the call.
5. Player C disagreed stating that all players on the field are referees and that anyone on the field can share their perspective regarding infractions.
6. The outcome of the dispute was to redo the play; Player A got the disk at stall 8.
"The thrower may contest a stall call in the belief that the disc was released before the first utterance of the word "ten"."
The rule only mentions the thrower, but does not state whether other players can share their perspective or contest the call. Is it only the thrower who may contest the call?
Sorry for the late reply to this. Let me start by saying it sounds like the outcome was correct - a contested stall, disc comes back at stall 8.
It's really only Player B that matters. If anyone on the field can convince them they have made the wrong call, Player B may retract their call and the point would stand. If it were me, I'd have a hard time believing anyone other than the thrower telling me when I said the "T-" of ten relative to the throw being released.
Other players can explain rules, but players A and B are the ones with best perspective here. It's hardly credible for the receiver, for instance, to argue that they heard the stall count while watching exactly when the disc released.
More common is, for example, the dump letting the thrower know they think the marker sped up and it's therefore a fast-count. But the thrower should consider it themselves and make the call accordingly. | 2019-04-23T06:48:28 | https://www.vul.ca/post/contesting-stall-countl-call |
0.994268 | The big choice: US or China?
In 2015, Australia and Oceania, as well as South-East Asia, were still influenced by the processes specific to the Asia-Pacific region. Two major forces, US and China, are fighting for influence in this part of the world. After the finalization of forming of a multipolar world, Beijing and Washington will be the main centers of attraction for the region.
One of the most important events for the region in 2015 was the agreement on the establishment of a new economic association - the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). In fact - it is nothing but a continuation of the expansionary economic policy of Washington, seeking by all means to stop the points of economic growth that have the potential of going out of the control of the hegemon. This transnational elite does not take into account the position of US producers who can not compete with the fast-growing Asia-Pacific countries that have tremendous human resources and growing technical potential. TPP supposes gradual reduction or elimination of duties and other barriers to the movement of goods, services and capital. The agreement involves Australia, Brunei, Vietnam, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the United States, Singapore, Chile and Japan. Interest to join the TPP has been shown by Indonesia and South Korea. In this case the signing of a formal agreement will be a further step towards the erosion of borders and globalization, which is one of the main goals of the liberal elite.
In 2015, Singapore held important elections. The state that for decades has been showing excellent dynamics of economic growth, has shown itself as a stable society: the party "People's action", created by Lee Kuan Yew, who has spearheaded the creation of a modern state, won 83 of the 89 seats in parliament. At the moment, the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, is the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yu. The leading opposition party that adheres to the liberal ideology has received the remaining 6 seats. In other words, the Singapore people demonstrated unanimity in commitment to traditional values laid down by the founders of the modern state.
Elections in Myanmar, by contrast, showed the opposite trend to Singapore: the parliamentary elections were won by the "National League for Democracy." While this does not mean immediate removal from power of the military leadership, trend for gradual change of regime in the country is obvious.
Myanmar is bordering both with India and China and has its own exit to the Indian Ocean, essential for many players, primarily the United States. The defeat of the conservative "Union for Solidarity and Development" in the elections may indicate the activation of the pro-American forces and US special services in this area.
On the other hand, the leader of the "National League for Democracy," Aung San Suu Kyi, shortly before the election, visited China and met with the political leadership of the country. Given the difficult Sino-Myanmar relations in recent years, many analysts do not rule out that Beijing also supported the opposition party in opposition to Myanmar's ruling military junta.
At the regional competition between India and China, Myanmar has chosen Delhi as a priority focus. In 2013, India had provided a loan to Myanmar for 500 million dollars. In 2016 the construction of the transport corridor will be completed, which will connect India and Thailand through Myanmar.
To a large extent the development of events in the countries in the region as a whole depends on China. The Indo-Chinese conflict can be used by extra-regional forces to weaken the multipolar alternative to a unipolar American hegemony. The political turn of Myanmar could trigger an escalation of instability in the region, where the main beneficiary of this will be transnational liberal elites who are interested in the destabilization of the poles of a multipolar world (in this case - India and China).
Vietnam has received six Russian submarines of "Kilo"-class. In addition, Hanoi, in 2015, made a number of statements about the intention to develop their military, particularly naval cooperation with Washington. Another regional player, Indonesia, also said that in the near future it plans to acquire some Russian-made submarines in order to strengthen its military presence. The leadership of Thailand also voiced similar intentions. In addition, major regional players such as Australia and Japan also have increased their military budgets.
To a large extent this is due to the unresolved conflict concerning the ownership of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The erection of Chinese military infrastructure is pushing the region toward a closer union with the United States.
Last year Tokyo continued the line of military cooperation with the United States. In 2015, a new agreement on military alliance between Japan and the United States was signed (in fact the first major change in the treaty of 1960, signed by Nobusuke Kishi - grandfather of the current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe), for which Japan had the right to defend regional allies, who were attacked. Through such a formulation the Japanese defense system will be able to intercept missiles fired at the United States. Obviously, a potential opponent in this scenario is North Korea, and possibly China. Importantly, the Japanese parliament approved an agreement that in fact means a revision of the military doctrine of the state. In the summer of 2015, appropriate amendments to the legislation of the country were approved by Parliament. Before, Tokyo could only defend itself, responding to aggression from outside. Now, military forces can be used to protect their "allies". In addition, the Japanese government decided to intensify the participation in peacekeeping operations around the world. Also in 2015, a record high defense budget (42.1 billion. dollars) was approved. The southern borders have also been strengthened as Tokyo has territorial disputes with Beijing in this region. Also, construction of the submarine type "Soryu" - one of the largest in the world – continued.
Many circles of the population have negatively received the militarization of the country. According to opinion polls the majority of the inhabitants of the islands of Japan are opposed to this decision. One of the driving forces behind the protest was the student structure SEALD (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy). It is significant that a number of features formed during the demonstrations of the protest movement - support for young people, ultra-liberal rhetoric, accusations of Abe's nationalism, shifting attention to the dangers of the Japanese armed forces in the interests of the United States on blurred "pacifism". The widespread use of clichés and methods specific for of color revolutions in other regions of the world indicates that the Atlanticists are trying to control the situation in the country, including with the help of protest movements.
Atlantisists have blackmailed Abe, who at some point may become too independent, with threats of a color revolution.
Indonesia and the Philippines have continued to struggle against groups of Islamic extremists hiding in the jungle of the islands. Of particular importance is the growing influence of Islamic radicalism in Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world. We should recall that in 2014, Indonesia was the only country in the world outside the self-proclaimed Caliphate, which had open demonstrations in support of ISIS. Indonesian militants have made a number of statements in the past year. The activities of the Indonesian security services show that they are afraid of serious terrorist attacks under the banner of the ISIS in the coming year.
In 2015, countries of the region faced a migration crisis related to the relocation of tens of thousands of ethnic Rohingya people from Myanmar and Bangladesh. These Muslims are second-class citizens in Buddhist Myanmar, and try to move to other countries, especially to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines. It is expected that in the first few months of 2015 illegal carriers transported more than 25 thousand Rohingya. The exact number of migrants that have moved in 2015 is unknown. Over 32,000 Rohingya arrived in Bangladesh; local authorities have decided to settle them on a remote island. Several hundred drowned in the Molluca Strait and Andaman Sea.
The arrival of foreigners has caused a mass protest from local people and helps to destabilize the situation in the countries of Southeast Asia. As in Europe, the United States insists on taking refugee by the countries of the region, but most states refuse to do so.
Australia in 2015 continued the policy of "stop the boats” with migrants, mostly from countries of Oceania and Southeast Asia. They were caught near the Australian coast and sent to special camps in neighboring countries, primarily in Papua New Guinea.
Australia is a key state in the southern part of the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the Anglo-Saxon world, this state is certainly an ally of the United States and holds a pro-American policy on all major issues, in 2015 this trend continued. It signed a major trade agreement with Japan, which reduces import duties on high-tech products. Tokyo, for its part, did the same for the Australian agricultural products. In addition, Canberra marked efforts to intensify trade relations with China, but the pressure from Washington and the bias of most media outlets did not allow the development of this trend. In the summer of 2015, the leadership of Australia announced plans to develop and strengthen their Navy and Air Force. In particular, it was announced that the program of construction of new warships would be started soon. The military budget of the country increased to 32 billion dollars. Many members of the army leadership of Australia, with the help of the media, have made a number of statements that highlight the opinion that the Australian army needs a numerical increase in personnel and the modernization of weapons.
In 2015, a trend of weakening ties between Australia and its neighbor New Zealand, on the one hand, and Britain on the other appeared. On September 15, 2015 Malcolm Turnbull became the new Australian Prime Minister. He replaced Tony Abbott on the post of Liberal Party leader. Abbot was known for his radical anti-Russian stance. The current leadership of Australia is more restrained in statements, while generally holding the same policy.
Unlike Abbott, a supporter of constitutional monarchy (the formal head of state is still the Queen of England), Turnbull in the past was known as a supporter of the transformation of Australia into a republic, although this does not mean an immediate implementation of its plans.
In 2015 New Zealand began the process of changing the flag of the country. In a referendum in November-December 2015, an alternative to a flag where the upper left part displays the flag of Great Britain was chosen. It is expected that in 2016 the inhabitants of the country will have to choose between the British colonial flag with symbols and signs, and a flag without indication of the country's membership of the former British Empire.
This year the region felt even more the affection by the growing contradictions between Washington and Beijing. Despite the fact that the Chinese leadership, in light of the weakening economy, is unlikely to take drastic steps in the current year, it will continue to strengthen its positions in Southeast Asia and in Australia and Oceania. This process will meet resistance from Washington, who considers the region one of the keys to keeping the status of the hegemon. States involved in this multi-level confrontation between the two superpowers will find it more difficult to maneuver and maintain the appearance of neutrality. The formation of a multipolar world will continue to grow and, therefore, countries in the region will need to choose which pole of power they consider a priority.
The growth of military budgets of key regional players, continued confrontation between Beijing and Washington, as well as the strengthening of militarist sentiment in Japan, promotes military spending in 2016. Many regional conflicts will also contribute to strengthening the militarist sentiment in the countries of the region. It is important to note that the vast majority of states do not have the necessary production base for the creation of modern types of weapons. So in 2016 the region will see increased competition between leading weapons producers, primarily the US and Russia for the right to arm one country or another.
In January 2016, the first meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investments Bank will take place. It is designed to be an alternative to the International Monetary Fund. China, Russia and India are the three largest shareholders of the new financial institution. In fact, this event will signal real steps to the deconstruction of the financial hegemony of the West. The vast majority of regional players also participated in the creation of AIIB, and therefore the financial realities of these countries will change in the first place. This will mean a new round of formation of a multipolar world.
The trend for the strengthening of radical Islamist organizations will continue. First of all we are talking about the branches of ISIS. We should expect terrorist attacks in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia.
The migration crisis will continue. The problem with Rohingya is not solved, and will add to the new wave of immigrants. This will cause a nationalist backlash primarily in non-Muslim countries, such as Thailand, where Muslim immigrants, mainly Uighurs, are already threatening the country's security. In particular, Uighurs conducted terrorist attacks in Bangkok on August 18, 2015.
Australia and New Zealand will continue the policy of distancing from the United Kingdom. New Zealand in 2016 finally will remove the Union Jack national flag. Australia will reduce the activity within the British Commonwealth of Nations, focusing instead on maneuvering between the US and China. It is likely that for the first time in a long time the question on the form of government in Australia will be raised once again. | 2019-04-23T21:01:47 | https://www.geopolitica.ru/en/article/south-eastern-asia-and-pacific-trends-and-forecast-2016 |
0.999992 | By 2018, the UK is expected to have the highest share of online retailing in the world, with online sales accounting for 21.5% of the retail sales overall.
With fewer and fewer physical retail outlets around, and the proliferation of devices and connectivity to effectuate online purchases, online support is now often the first port of call for customers. Far from being a nice to have, it is increasingly becoming a defining channel for the customer experience.
Without direct personal contact to the customers, online support is challenging at the best of times. It is not unusual for a consumer tech company, for example, to have hundreds of thousands of support pages covering every possible scenario. No wonder customers often get lost in the maze of information.
This applies to customer support as much as the overall customer journey.
Online support can be a win-win for both sides: customers get immediate attention and, ideally, a quick resolution to their problems and companies can save a lot of money, which they would traditionally spend on contact centres.
But as with the latter, it is critical to ensure that customers are getting the best service. However, many businesses are struggling to figure out how to measure the effectiveness of online customer care. Why is that?
With call centre support, there is a clearer, natural diagnosis and feedback loop. A phone call determines the issue a customer is facing and helps analyse customer records to establish if the issue was resolved, what solution was recommended, and whether there was a follow up required.
In case of online platforms, businesses only get information about people visiting the support section of the website but not necessarily what drove them there and whether their problem was resolved.
Despite the millions of pages with searchable FAQ sections and self-care drop-down menus, the insights gleaned remain limited or potentially untapped. It may have a survey, but less than one per cent of people actually fill it in. So, how do businesses ascertain the effectiveness of their online support?
The other challenge is that traditional web analytics – clickstreams, visitors, time spent on site – are often used to analyse online support. This may seem like a no-brainer but this approach suffers from two serious limitations – not being able to discern the customer’s intent and not being able to confirm resolution easily.
People use the online platform for a variety of reasons – be it for research, comparing prices, evaluating feedback, and perhaps making a decision. However, there could be a wide variety of intentions for customers to use a support site, depending on the issues they are facing. Therefore, online support does not follow the traditional sales funnel in the same way that an ecommerce site may do.
If a customer encounters a problem with a product they may not go directly to the supplier’s or retailer’s website. The customer might try to Google a solution first, and failing that, move on to the company’s site. In this case, the company will have no visibility of the customer’s previous Google searches. All they will see at this point is that somebody has visited their site and looked at certain content pages. They won’t know what the customer searched for previously, what steps led him to the site, and what the customer’s problem was in the first place.
Furthermore, clickstream data only reflects the pages a customer visited, not the particular content they may have viewed on these pages. Nor is there any way of ascertaining whether the content helped the customer resolve their issue,- beyond maybe a short feedback question at the bottom of the page.
Big Data capabilities such as text analytics and unstructured data analysis enable us to reverse-engineer the customer journey on a support site. Big Data tools can help analyse all the content on the pages, all the keywords customers used to search, and the topics they searched for. Based on these insights, we can deduce what the original problem might have been and the solution that the customer found on the website.
By simulating the user experience and figuring out the problem, it is possible to identify the user’s original intent when visiting the site, improve the content provided on the site to better match common customer issues, and optimise the visitor path to make site usage more effective.
Traditional contact centre metrics such as first time resolution can be adapted to the online world by measuring repeat visits and tracking the online resolution rate, meaning the percentage of visitors who have their issues resolved online. Since this metric cannot be directly measured online, attempts must be made to decipher information by collecting the device details, tracking at which point the customer goes to the contact page, etc. The site can also have a provision to display a dedicated support number to users who have spent time trying to resolve an issue.
Once the necessary resolution rate is understood, the content on the site can be audited to see if it matches up in response – in terms of time and relevance. The results can then be compared to what the company’s call centre would offer under the same situation.
We can also look at whether the ‘right’ content is available to solve some of the most common problems. This can be achieved by simulating typical problems (such as how the visitor would use the search option, the keywords, the clicks and navigation).
Another line of investigation would be to assume that the right content is available on the site, and explore the ease with which customers can access it. In this scenario, variance analysis is used to compare the paths customers take to find the right content. The results of such analyses often perplex the companies concerned – even if it is large Fortune 500 firms – as they realise how lost visitors get on their support site.
If it is indeed taking customers a long time to get to the content they are looking for, examining where and why they are getting lost could help. It may come down to using the wrong keywords in their search, or clicking on the wrong links. Accordingly, search terms and links can be amended and moulded to the most common customer navigation paths through the site, and content can be revised to make site usage more effective for the user.
The question arising is whether Big Data analytics can contribute to the creation of automated web self-care analytics, which can be deployed and adapted on an ongoing basis? The answer is that it certainly can.
The best-practice approach would be to build an analytics framework that measures the support site continuously and channels results into an easy-to-use analytics dashboard that will flag up areas of concern.
In setting up a real-time measurement framework, organizations should go beyond tracking URL visits alone. To get the complete picture, they will need to revisit customer intent using text analytics tools, improve on-site resolution rates by adjusting the content provided, and optimize visitors’ navigation paths continually.
A cohesive and integrated customer support mechanism, monitored by real-time analytics, can go a long way toward strengthening a brand - beyond e-tailing peak periods like Christmas. | 2019-04-21T23:45:08 | https://internetretailing.net/guest-comment/guest-comment-why-great-online-customer-support-is-so-important |
0.999228 | Much has been said that university is a microcosm of a society. Hong Kong is no exception. A chain of clashes erupted in the city's university campuses recently over Hong Kong independence, the death of the son of a deputy education minister and late mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia say volume of the state of the society. They have, again, laid bare a host of complex and deep-rooted contradictions among the seven-million populace.
The latest unrest in universities was unfolded with the appearance of banners that carried with four Chinese words, 香港獨立, which mean Hong Kong independence, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong when the new academic year commenced ten days ago.
It reignited a debate about whether such acts as putting on a banner or poster with the "four-word" slogan are unlawful. And even putting that aside, whether an expression of the four words should fall within the ambit of freedom of expression allowed under the Basic Law.
The debate was put on the society's public spotlight when former chief executive Leung Chun-ying singled out a student union publication of the University of Hong Kong, Undergrad, for attack in his 2015 Policy Address. He called on public vigilance against the growth of advocacy for Hong Kong independence, citing an edition of the publication that featured independence.
Leung's warning was followed by a blitz of intensified jibes by the central and Hong Kong government and their supporters against separatist thinking.
Top mainland officials have hinted at a resumption of the enactment of an anti-subversion law, known as Basic Law Article 23. During his visit to Hong Kong in July, President Xi Jinping has set out the "bottom-lines" for Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" framework. In short, they can be boiled down to a No to Hong Kong independence.
Apart from verbal warning against separatist thinking, the Government has stepped up acts against advocacy for pro-independence, in both deeds and words. One major initiative was to kick out pan-democrat legislators who deviated from the oath-taking ordinance when they were sworn in. A total of six pan-democrat lawmakers were disqualified after the Government challenged the validity of their oaths.
Pro-independence groups were given warnings that their activities might breach the law. Schools were cautioned by the education authorities not to hold discussion on independence in classrooms.
It is against the background of a hard-hit approach by the mainland and Hong Kong governments to stifle public discussion on the issue of Hong Kong independence that those posters had been put on, presumably by students.
It is unclear whether those who posted the pro-independence are seriously contemplating the idea of seeking Hong Kong independence. It is obvious that their acts could also been seen as a show of defiance against the authorities' move to muzzle any talk about independence.
To students, their universities campuses could perhaps be the last corner in the city where they can discuss anything freely without any restrictions.
The row between students and the management of universities over the room for free debate in campuses when it comes to the issue of independence is a prelude to sharper conflicts in the months to come.
The storm whipped up at the Education University of Hong Kong by a poster that congratulated deputy education minister Christine Choi on the death of her son represents an outburst of anger towards the authorities in some quarters of the society.
Although those insulting remarks have been widely criticised as inappropriate, the high-profile concerted efforts by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, education officials and university heads to condemn the act have been seen as excessive and politically-motivated.
The Government, some argued, should also be blamed for being "callous and insulting" in their deeds and words over a range of political and policy issues.
The right and wrong of the act of two unidentified people who put up the poster to ridicule Ms Choi over the death of her son at the Education University have become muddled at a time when the society is still sharply divided.
The return of the issue of Hong Kong independence to public limelight has flared up fresh conflicts between mainlanders and Hongkongers. A stand-off between a mainland student and Hong Kong students at the Chinese University over a pro-independence poster put on the "Democracy Wall" has run viral on social media.
Universities have emerged as the battlefields of highly-sensitive political ideas and sharply-conflicting values. They have never been a quiet and peaceful days. But like our society, they will be getting more noisy and chaotic. | 2019-04-20T08:25:31 | https://www.hkcnews.com/article/6818/hong_kong_independence-%E6%B8%AF%E7%8D%A8-6818/universities-now-battlefields-of-politics-not-ideas |
0.999891 | Attempting to answer the question, "Is Indian agriculture moving to a market determined economy?," this book demonstrates that, in the last quarter century, as the economy grew faster and liberalized, the nonfood grain sector of Indian agriculture responded to price signals in a decisive manner. Building its arguments on agricultural economics theory and supported with detailed quantitative verification--based on trends of agricultural output and productivity and on farmers' market behavior--this analysis also conducts policy simulations. Academics and policymakers alike will benefit from this discussion.
Munish Alagh is a former professor, with more than 10 years of experience, in the management department of Ahmedabad University. He is the recipient of the CBP Award for the best research paper at Gujarat University. | 2019-04-26T02:25:27 | https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/agricultural-prices-in-a-changing-economy-an-empirical-study-of-indian-agriculture/9788171888108 |
0.996993 | Band's Paramour Sessions album dropped Tuesday.
Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rick Rubin's Laurel Canyon estate or Incubus and Malibu's Morning View house, Papa Roach have a special relationship with the Paramour Mansion, located in another Southern California area: Silverlake.
"As soon as we stepped on the property we knew there was something bigger there waiting for us to show up," drummer Dave Buckner explained.
P-Roach lived on the grounds from October to May, writing and recording what they consider their finest work yet, an album aptly titled The Paramour Sessions (see "Papa Roach Singer Says New Album Is 'Like A Meat Locker' "). The LP dropped Tuesday (September 12).
"It was frickin' amazing," singer Jacoby Shaddix said of the house. "That was the catalyst for what pushed our music so far forward and so far sideways and so far just out there at times."
In recent years, the Paramour Mansion has been home to both "Rock Star: INXS" and "Rock Star: Supernova," and movies "Scream 3" and "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later." Gwen Stefani and Fiona Apple have also recently recorded at the place, which has a storied past.
The home, which Buckner said is at the highest point inside Los Angeles' city limits, was built in the early 1920s by silent film star Antonio Moreno and his wife, Daisy Canfield Danziger. The oil heiress died in a car accident the following decade and is buried on the grounds. Like Rubin's "Houdini mansion" (as it's commonly known), the Paramour is said to be haunted, most likely by Danziger's spirit.
"We were recording a song called 'Crash,' and every time I would sing the chorus, 'I'm going to crash,' the computer and PA would crash," Shaddix recalled. "We were just connected deeply to this house."
The connection, however, was mostly a positive one, and Shaddix found himself writing most of the lyrics while sitting at Danziger's grave. "It just flowed out of me," he explained.
That said, The Paramour Sessions is not necessarily a dark album. In fact, with some personal situations aside, the band had never been in a better place.
"With Getting Away With Murder, we were coming back from the dead," Shaddix said of P-Roach's last album. "That was definitely a trying time for a band, but we survived it. This time around, it's not going to be served up on a silver platter; it's still gonna be a fight, but at least we're above ground. We locked down a solid fanbase. And we regained some confidence and took that in with us and I think it shows on the songs."
"We were fortunate and also cursed by that 'next big thing' stigma, but we rode the ride and we made it to this other place," Buckner added. "Those minor ripples in the pond don't affect us anymore. I'm looking at all the other next big things and saying, 'Good luck, see you over here ... if you make it.' "
With their newfound confidence, Papa Roach set out to make a record that paid homage to the bands that got them into music: Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin and Poison, or as Buckner described them, "Hair bands, but the bands, not so much the hair."
"There's a saying in the band and it's, 'We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're bringing it back,' " Buckner added.
"It's not like it sounds like we're trying to rehash some retro sh--. It's current," Shaddix clarified.
It's also not exactly how it was meant to be.
"We wanted to make this four to the floor, nasty, savage rock and roll record, and we were writing that and then we discovered all these other sounds, these musical styles that we can explore," Shaddix added. " 'Forever,' 'The World Around You,' 'Roses on My Grave,' 'My Heart Is a Fist,' some of those songs are just so different from anything we've ever written. We had to explore them because that's what this band's always been about, always trying to evolve and push things forward."
The first single is the aggressive "... To Be Loved," and the band shot the circus-like video last month at a theater in downtown L.A.
"It's basically just a huge rock and roll freak show," Buckner said. "But it backs up the sentiment that everyone just wants to be loved. And Steve Perry's video for 'Oh Sherrie' was shot in the same place!" | 2019-04-21T12:30:06 | http://www.mtv.com/news/1540756/papa-roach-clip-a-freak-show-lp-inspired-by-oil-heiress-ghost/ |
0.999994 | facing the fire: Marathon runners not a source of CO2 to atmosphere -- shocker!
Marathon runners not a source of CO2 to atmosphere -- shocker!
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has developed what is arguably the broadest (non-tax-oriented) jurisdiction of any Congressional committee. Today, it maintains principal responsibility for legislative oversight relating to telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health, air quality and environmental health, the supply and delivery of energy, and interstate and foreign commerce in general. This jurisdiction extends over five Cabinet-level departments and seven independent agencies--from the Energy Department, Health and Human Services, the Transportation Department to the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, and Federal Communications Commission — and sundry quasi-governmental organizations.
Which is to say, this is a pretty powerful committee. They get to advance (or squelch) a lot of potentially important legislation. And Barton, as ranking member, is a powerful guy within this powerful committee. So it matter that he thinks crazy things, like that marathon runners could be considered a source of pollution. Yeah, didn't you read that article? It goes back to the EPA's decision that carbon dioxide can be considered a pollutant, and as such can be regulated. Barton thinks that people are point sources of carbon dioxide, and I guess because marathons are a large group of heavily exhaling people, Joe thinks that means a large source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
The point Barton is trying, and failing, to make is that carbon dioxide is difficult to regulate because it is a naturally occurring substance that is a basic part of all life on Earth. The reason he is trying to make this point is because he doesn't want to believe that the EPA has the right to regulate carbon dioxide. There are two reasons he doesn't want to accept that. First, because he's a Republican, and that party has decided to oppose regulation of nearly any kind. (Examples, regulating financial institutions like AIG or energy brokers like Enron.) Second, as part of Barton's ideology, he can't accept that humans affect the Earth adversely, so he emotionally reacts to climate change by denying it.
The point I want to make is that Barton is wrong about marathon runners. They aren't a source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, even though they do exhale carbon dioxide. The reason is that humans are part of the terrestrial biosphere, which is part of the global carbon cycle, which is basically in balance except for the perturbation from burning fossil fuels. To see this, think about that air you just exhaled, which is relatively enriched in carbon dioxide. Note, you don't breathe in pure oxygen, and you don't exhale pure carbon dioxide. How did that CO2 get into your breath? It is a byproduct of your physiology, mostly it come from breaking down sugars, which provides you with energy. So that means we're a source! No, wait a minute, where did those sugars come from? You ate them! This is exactly why we eat, to ingest the nutrients that will supply us with energy. So think about that for a second: we eat foods that have carbon in various organic molecules, which we break down to get energy, and CO2 is made as a byproduct and respired.
But that means humans (and all animals) make CO2 and put it into the air.
Yeah, but it all comes from somewhere. Let's take me as a simple example, or a cow. The point being, the cow and I are vegetarians, so most of the CO2 we respire comes from breaking down plant matter. Where does the carbon in that plant matter come from? Remember what we all learned as kids, plants breathe in CO2 and breathe out oxygen. Yes, plants take the CO2 right out of the air. They take CO2 from the air, water from the soil, and sunlight, and perform photosynthesis, which is to say 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2. Like magic, isn't it. On the right side are just 6 molecules of oxygen along with a sugar molecule that is holding onto some carbon and oxygen, which I'll eat and break down for energy, releasing CO2. Magic.
So there's a balance... like a cycle of carbon in the biosphere. This is why, in principle, biofuels should be carbon neutral. Breaking down plant matter moves CO2 around, eventually expelling it into the atmosphere, but eventually it is sucked back into the biosphere by autotrophs like plants and phytoplankton.
So what's the problem with burning fossil fuels? Well, that takes carbon from the lithosphere and suddenly introduces it to the atmosphere-biosphere-ocean system. There is normally exchange between the lithosphere and the rest of the climate system, but that is a very slow process, which combustion accelerates. There's no where for that extra CO2 to go because each part of the cycle only has so much wiggle room. The result is a build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere, where it enhances the greenhouse effect, and chaos ensues. Carbon dioxide isn't a pollutant like CFCs, then, but the carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels is basically the same. Whatever oil, coal, or natural gas is pulled out of the rocks needs to be accounted for, because that is the potentially harmful carbon. | 2019-04-23T04:00:44 | http://climateboy.blogspot.com/2009/05/marathon-runners-not-source-of-co2-to.html |
0.99979 | India has started its innings at the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on an aggressive note by calling for a probe into the nuclear proliferation link between North Korea and Pakistan. Joining the dots seems to be a calculated move on India's part. It is designed to tap into the global anxiety over Pyongyang's rapidly proliferating nuclear weapons programme and also highlight the fact that Pakistan is a destabilising force not just for Asia, but for the entire world.
At the UN Human Rights Congress, India used its 'right to reply' to Pakistan's slur on Kashmir by calling it the "face of international terrorism" and accused it of trying to achieve "perverse political objectives" by raising a bilateral issue repeatedly at UN forums.
While these reactions are on expected lines and are aimed at securing the diplomatic isolation of Pakistan, India must guard against appearing as a squabbling twin of Islamabad — a policy which has outlived its usefulness and now serves to not only restrict India's geopolitical influence in Asia Pacific, but also deny it the leadership that it deserves.
The world has moved beyond the 1990s. Struggling to cope with terrorism and radical Islamism, it now has less and less time for Pakistan's shenanigans. Kashmir's violent insurgency movement — fuelled by cross-border terrorism and pan-Islamic assertiveness — now raises deep wariness. Two other global churnings have come to India's aid.
First, the scale and size of India's market economy have prompted Western powers to put commercial interests ahead of morality. As Carnegie India director C Raja Mohan puts it in The Indian Express, "The rise of India has encouraged the US and its European allies to put commercial and geopolitical imperatives above proclaimed concerns on human rights and non-proliferation."
Second, Donald Trump has led the US to summarily shed its moral burden of being the voice of global conscience. America's waning has coincided with a curious turn of events more than two decades into the post-Cold War era where western liberal democracies and its institutions are trying unsuccessfully to cope with the rapid rise of authoritarian influence emanating from despotic powers.
In his essay in Foreign Affairs on how liberal democracies are being undermined by the likes of Russia and China, director of Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute Thorsten Benner writes: "In recent years, authoritarian states have boldly sought to influence Western democracies. They have done so to strengthen their own regimes, to weaken Western states’ ability to challenge authoritarianism, and to push the world toward illiberalism."
In this context, as a liberal democracy, world's fastest-growing large economy and an adherent and promoter of international rules-based order, India is in a position to lead by example but first it must avoid getting hyphenated with a failed state.
Pakistan may not have a choice because its very existence is defined by anti-Indianness and Kashmir is central to that problem, but India may and must snap out of the reflexive need to tie its destiny with Pakistan. It may appear as counter-intuitive, but each time India feels compelled to respond to Pakistan's barbs on Kashmir, it plays into Islamabad's hands and gives the failed state the attention that it desperately seeks.
According to PTI, Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who arrived in New York on Tuesday, will again try to raise the Kashmir issue at the UNGA address. Does it surprise anyone?
All that Pakistan — a Chinese vassal state tottering on the brink of failure — wants is to be recognised as India's troublesome 'other'. And each time India gives a "stinging reply", the combined media heat generated in both nations is enough to drag the failed state till the next opportunity.
It is no longer incumbent on India to call upon Pakistan to "shut down its terrorist manufacturing units and bring the perpetrators of terrorism to justice". That issue was settled when Trump rebuked Pakistan for giving "safe haven to agents of chaos, violence and terror". Islamabad is still to get over the shock. India must use this opportunity — where it doesn't need any more to showcase Pakistan for the charlatan that it is — to put forward some constructive ideas at global forums.
Pakistani nuclear physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy recently narrated to German media how his country provided "indirect assistance" to DPRK. Dismissing the notion that AQ Khan acted on his own, Hoodbhoy told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle: "It is very hard to believe that A Q Khan single-handedly transferred all technology from Pakistan to North Korea, Libya and Iran as it was a high-security installation in Pakistan and guarded with very fearsome amount of policing and military intelligence surrounding it. Moreover, the centrifuge weighs half a ton each and it is not possible that these could have been smuggled out in a match box, so certainly there was complicity at a very high level."
This was stressed upon in India's statement following external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj's trilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono on the sidelines of UN summit on Monday. The emphasis that DPRK’s "proliferation linkages must be explored and those involved be held accountable" is well taken.
Once again, however, India would do well not to press the issue. At the UNGA, Swaraj must lay down the groundwork for India's terms of engagement with the world and seek a greater share of responsibility. If India seeks to become a great power, it must accept the great responsibilities. Eternal bickering with Pakistan won't take it anywhere. | 2019-04-22T22:04:18 | https://www.firstpost.com/india/unga-meet-india-should-conduct-itself-like-an-emerging-global-power-and-deny-pakistan-the-attention-it-seeks-4059715.html |
0.998038 | 1. ) The possibility of loss on an investment.
2. ) Risk is the probability that the actual return of an investment will be different from the expected return. Higher the risk, higher will be the probability of gain or loss on the investment. | 2019-04-26T02:24:16 | http://www.dailystocks.com/glossary_words/RISK.htm |
0.999743 | Dear sir, I have great difficulty in determining onyomi and kunyomi of each and every kanji. The only thing was to memorize them but it takes too long period. Is there is any useful and simple method to determine onyomi and kunyomi of each kanji?
Please help in this matter. For ex: san - onyomi, yami - kunyomi. We use "san" while in the combination with another kanji (fuji san), while "yama" in separate used words. But how the onyomi-san, kun yomi-yama, each kanji's onyomi and kunyomi was determined. Please give answer. Thank You.
Frankly speaking, I don't think there's any simple way to determine onyomi and kunyomi of each kanji.
As you know, 音読み (onyomi), which literally means "sound reading", is the Chinese reading of kanji. 訓読み (kunyomi), on the other hand, is the Japanese reading of kanji.
It's a reading based on the pronunciation of a native Japanese word. Most kanji have both readings, just like 山 (san for onyomi, yama for kunyomi) you mentioned in your question.
Some of them have only one type of reading. For example, this kanji 秒, which means second (as in hour, minute and second), has only onyomi byou.
Whereas most kanji created by Japanese have only kunyomi. For example, this kanji 畑 which means field (field of crops) has only kunyomi hatake.
However, even in onyomi and kunyomi, there're multiple on and kun readings for the same kanji. For example, this kanji 日, the onyomi can be にち (nichi) or じつ (jitsu), the kunyomi can be ひ (hi), び (bi) or か (ka).
With so many different readings, there're really no specific hard rules that you can use to find out which reading to use in different situations.
All I can say is that you have to keep on practising and get familiarized with the Japanese kanji vocabulary. You'll then know which to use in different situations.
I've consulted my native Japanese teachers on this issue when I was studying my Japanese. Even as native speakers, they sometimes also have problems determining which one to use for certain kanji.
They did show me some general guidelines in determining when to use onyomi or kunyomi. Unfortunately, these guidelines are only true to certain extent because there're just too many exceptions where these guidelines can't be applied.
Just like you, I also don't like to memorize kanji by hard. But as you know, language is not like mathematics where you can apply one rule and get the answer straightaway.
There're many things like culture, history, etc, that influenced how the language of a country developed in such a way.
I hope I have not scared you in learning the different readings of kanji with the above reasons. Below are some general guidelines to determine when to use onyomi or kunyomi.
These guidelines are some helpful aids that may speed up your learning on different readings of kanji.
But they are not hard rules as there're many exceptions.
Kunyomi is always used in a single kanji followed by okurigana, which are hiragana characters forming part of the word. These are commonly seen in verbs and adjectives.
For example, in this verb 食べる (taberu), the kanji 食 (shoku - onyomi) is pronounced as "ta" in kunyomi (べる is the okurigana). In this adjective 白い (shiroi), the kanji 白 (haku - onyomi) is read as "shiro" in kunyomi.
Kunyomi is normally used for a standalone kanji without hiragana attached to it. For example, the words for the 4 directions - north, south, east and west, are pronounced as 北 (kita), 南 (minami), 東 (higashi), 西 (nishi) respectively, all in kunyomi.
Onyomi is mostly used with 2 or more kanji in a Japanese word. For example, 2-kanji compound words like 法律 (houritsu), 家族 (kazoku), 衣服 (ifuku). 3-kanji compound words like 警察官 (keisatsukan), 銀行員 (ginkouin), 低気圧 (teikiatsu).
4-kanji compound words like 四字熟語 (yojijukugo) are also usually read using onyomi. For example, 一石二鳥 (issekinichou), 前代未聞 (zendaimimon) and 危機一髪 (kikiippatsu).
But there're many exceptions where kunyomi is being used for multi-kanji compound words. For example, this 2-kanji compound words 手紙 (tegami) is read using kunyomi.
Although names of native Japanese are written in multiple kanji, they are pronounced in kunyomi most of the time (though there're still exceptions).
Some examples are family names like 水野 (mizuno), 高松 (takamatsu), 木村 (kimura) and 藤井 (fujii) which are read using kunyomi. But exceptions like 伊藤 (itou), 佐藤 (satou) and 陣内 (jinnai) are read using onyomi.
Name of Places in Japan are mostly read with kunyomi. For example, 長野 (nagano), 青森 (aomori), 熊本 (kumamoto), 旭川 (asahikawa) and 箱根 (hakone). However, there're still some exceptions like 東京 (toukyou) and 北海道 (hokkaidou) which are read using onyomi.
Even with the above guidelines, I think you may still be confused with how to determine which reading to use.
Due to the multiple readings in both onyomi and kunyomi, even a native speaker may not always know how to read a kanji without prior knowledge, especially the names of people and places.
In summary, the only way (you may disagree) that I find most useful in determining onyomi and kunyomi of kanji is to keep on reading and studying more kanji.
The more you read and study, the more kanji you'll know and how they're being read and used. I know this method will take a long time before you actually see some results.
But why not think in a different perspective. Learning a new language usually takes us years to really master it. Think about how you studied your own native language. How long did you take to fully master it?
You might want to refer to the section on "When to use which reading" in this wikipedia page for reference.
Comments for How to determine onyomi and kunyomi of each kanji character?
I agree... reading is so important. I started learning Kanji through memorization and became overwhelmed very quickly. Once I decided to just start reading (using Kanji dictionaries for words I didn't know) I was amazed at how quickly I started recognizing words. Read Japanese blogs, websites, find Japanese friends on FB, anything you can do to get ever-changing reading material in front of you. You will be amazed at how quickly this enhances your ability to read and recognize one of the biggest obstacles in learning Japanese.... Kanji.
I forgot to mention, the thing I find the most helpful in reading is to watch Japanese DVDs with the Japanese subtitles at the bottom. That way, you're seeing the word while you're hearing a native speaker say the word. Tremendous help!
Thanks for your comment. From my own experience, I realized that my kanji knowledge impoved after learning Japanese for few years. It's not so obvious in the beginning and you always feel like you keep forgeting the kanji you've learned. And that's when people started to quit when they see no improvement. Perseverance pays.
Same here, reading is more important than to know a therm. Right know I am at the time where I have to fill gaps in sentences to fully read and understand. First I began to know the vocabulary then the grammar. If I read a sentence with a couple kanjis I do not know, then I can mostly figure out automatically what word it is and its 訓 by getting the context. Although names in 音読み are hard.
Make sure you have a basic grasp of of the grammar and vocabulary before focusing on kanji. I tried learning kanji at the beginning of my Japanese studies and it was hard because I was trying write words and concepts that I hadn't really learned before.
After studying Japanese for awhile, learning kanji became much easier because I was learning to write kanji for words I had already memorized. Also, by that time, I recognized quite a few kanji and that made things easier too.
I was searching for a way to understand onyomi and kunyomi and i think i got it here. I hope it will help and shall bookmark this place to be sure to remember it afterward.
I'd like to add that in Google Chrome, you can double click on kanji, hiragana, katakana words/letters and it will show you the definition for it. And there is a great extension you can install for Chrome called "Yomichan" that's really helpful for learning alongside Anki.
After some initial confusion about this subtlety of the Japanese written language, this description is the first relatively complete and comprehensible one that I have found anywhere on the web. | 2019-04-22T20:37:48 | https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/how-to-determine-onyomi-and-kunyomi-of-each-kanji-character.html |
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