text
stringlengths 8
5.77M
|
|---|
Some Related Sentences
Federally, Santa Fe Springs is located in California's 38th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D + 20 andisrepresentedby Democrat Grace Napolitano, whose office is also in thecityof Santa Fe Springs.
To the far western side ofthecity lies theFederally Administered Tribal Areas abbreviated to FATA making Tank the gateway to the no-mans land as the FATA is commonly perceived.
Federally and is
The share ofFederally managed roads in good quality improved from 14 % in 1995 to 31 % in 2002 as a result of this program,and to 89 % in 2009 the road density increased from 21 km per 1000 km < sup > 2 </ sup > ( in 1995 ) to 889 km ; per 1000 km < sup > 2 </ sup > ( in 2009 ) however, this is much greater than the average of 50 km per 1000 km < sup > 2 </ sup > for Africa.
Federallythe town is within theridingof Saskatoon — Rosetown — Biggar, whose current MP is Kelly Block oftheConservative Party of Canada.
Federally,theriding elected the NDP again in 2011 after a few years of voting Liberal andisrepresentedby MP Matthew Kellway.
Federally,theriding was representedby New Democrats from 1965 until 1988 ; past MPs include Bob Rae ( 1978-1982 ), who resigned to become leader ofthe provincial NDP,and was later Premier of Ontario in the NDP majority government of 1990-1995.
Federallytheriding, known for many years as Broadview and then Broadview — Greenwood, has been representedby New Democrats from 1962 ( the first federal election after the party was formed ) until 1988, when Liberal Dennis Mills won the seat. |
This disclosure relates in general to determining information about a location of a mobile device and, but not by way of limitation, to transmitting such real-time information to an public safety answering point (PSAP) amongst other things.
Nearly all locations within the United States and Canada are now served by “911” emergency telephone service, and many other countries have similar services that can have a different telephone number. In the 911 system, calls to the telephone number 9-1-1 are specially routed to a PSAP, where a specially-trained dispatcher can assess the nature of the emergency, offer assistance, dispatch emergency services or law enforcement personnel to the source of the call, or provide other services. Many PSAPs are interconnected to allow routing calls and other information between them.
The 911 service facilitates rapid response by the appropriate authorities in cases of emergency. However, sending the appropriate authorities to the scene of an emergency requires information about the location of the emergency. While a call from a land line can be easily attributed to an address associated with the number. It is less certain that a call from a mobile device can be traced to a particular address, and accountholder address is certainly less accurate at any given moment than that for a land line.
The location finding technology available to PSAPs is not generally accessible to other third parties that might be called or even to application layer software on the phone. Tracing the location by a third party is not possible today. If the individual is unable to sufficiently articulate and describe his location, the third party cannot determine where to send emergency personnel. |
In the recent edition of Table Talk, Scott Sauls wrote an article on the seventh commandment that contained many true and valuable observations, and which at the same time revealed the profound faint-heartness of contemporary Reformed evangelicalism.
Here’s a sample.
“As once taboo expressions of sexuality become mainstream, and as colleagues, friends, and even family members share news of a pending “no-fault” divorce or same-sex or cohabiting heterosexual relationship, more and more Christians -– especially when friendships and family ties hang in the balance -– feel an urgency to sympathize instead of condemn, to support instead of separate, to affirm instead of deny. And yet, we are still left to wrestle with the biblical text.”
The entire problem is one of orientation. This being the kind of situation it is, let us call it our textual orientation.
In the world of the New Testament, wrestling does go on, but it is not with the text, not like this. We wrestle, for example, with principalities and powers (Eph. 6:12). If we continue to follow the example of the apostle Paul, we buffet our bodies (1 Cor. 9:27, NASB).
“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:26–27).
The Christian life is in fact strenuous and challenging. “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Tim. 2:5, ESV).
We wrestle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. These are the adversary. We do so in accordance with the rules. We do not whine about the selection of the judges, and we do not wrestle with the rules. We do not go and lie down in front of the judges’ table in order to writhe on the ground.
In short, the text is not the problem. We are the problem. When we first see that the ways of the world are radically inconsistent with the ways of God — and what a shock that was, let me tell you — we tend to look for ways to adjust the Word to the world, instead of the other way around. We want workarounds in the text. We want to wrestle with the text. It is time for an original Greek word study!
This is because we are all tyros, novices and pikers. We have not yet resisted to the shedding of blood (Heb. 12:4). When we have resisted to the shedding of blood, we will then be in a position to imitate the Lord Jesus when He wrestled with the text. Jesus wrestled with the Scriptures (that cannot be broken), because those Scriptures foretold His agonizing death on the cross. Scripture could not be broken, but Christ’s body could be.
When we have skin in the game, then we may wrestle with the text. But it is not safe to even think about trying it before then. |
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked part of new North Carolina law that requires abortion providers to show women an ultrasound and describe the images in detail four hours before having an abortion. The law also requires doctors to offer women... |
Abstract Background and aim. In patients with fluid retention, the total plasma clearance of (51)Cr-EDTA (ClP) may overestimate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The present study was therefore undertaken in order to compare ClP with the urinary plasma clearance of (51)Cr-EDTA (ClU) in patients with cirrhosis with and without fluid retention. Material and methods. A total of 136 patients with cirrhosis (24 without fluid retention, 112 with ascites) received a quantitative intravenous injection of (51)Cr-EDTA followed by plasma and quantitative urinary samples for 5 hours. ClP was determined from the injected dose relative to the plasma concentration-time area, extrapolated to infinity. ClU was determined as urinary excretion relative to the plasma concentration-time area up to voiding. Results. In patients without fluid retention, the difference between ClP and ClU (ClP - ClU = ClΔ) was mean 4.5 mL/min/1.73 m(2). In patients with ascites, ClΔ was significantly higher (17.6 mL/min/1.73 m(2), p < 0.0001). ClΔ increased with lower values of GFR (r = - 0.458, p < 0.001). Repeated measurements of ClU in a subgroup of patients with fluid retention (n = 25) gave almost identical values. Different types of corrections of one-pool clearance were almost identical with ClP, except for higher clearance values, which were somewhat underestimated by the former. Conclusion. In patients with fluid retention and ascites ClP and corrected one-pool clearance overestimates GFR substantially. Although ClU may underestimate GFR slightly, patients with ascites should collect urine quantitatively in order to obtain a reliable measurement of GFR. |
Q:
Woocommerce update sku of all products? filter?
I'd like to set the SKU to the ID of the product.. but cannot find the right filter to use?
Is there a filter that sends the product SKU?
add_filter( 'woocommerce_get_sku', 'update_sku', 10, 1);
function update_sku( $sku ){
//set $newsku as product id
return $newsku;
}
How do i accomplish this? I have 1000s of products without a SKU. I've tried a plugin called SKU generator but that doesn't work. Any help appreciated.
A:
You can do it by adding following code to your functions.php file and after adding go to you site example.com for only once.
After that remove below code from the functions.php.
add_filter( 'init', 'update_sku', 10, 1);
function update_sku( $sku ){
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'product',
'posts_per_page' => 12
);
$i=0;
$loop = new WP_Query( $args );
if ( $loop->have_posts() ) {
while ( $loop->have_posts() ) : $loop->the_post();
$random_sku = mt_rand(100000, 999999);
update_post_meta($loop->post->ID,'_sku',$random_sku);
$i++;
endwhile;
} else {
echo __( 'No products found' );
}
wp_reset_postdata();
}
NOTE : If you don't remove after one use, products SKU will change everytime you visit any page of your site.
|
Dutch health minister says fuck PRs, pushing to master, YOLO - edward
https://twitter.com/evilgaywitch/status/1286078883851309057
======
afrcnc
This is glorious
|
Fun Ways To Play & Learn In the Summer Time
We’ve been in summer mode for just over a month now. Summer, oh glorious, beautiful, summer. I am pretty sure I love summer 100 times more as a teacher than I ever did as a kid. Don’t get me wrong, I love homeschooling, structure, and schedules but something about summer makes me want to toss all of that out and enjoy the freedom of not having an agenda.
The flip side is that as much as I would like to toss all things educational out the window during the summer months, I know I would have many regrets come August. Today I want to share with you ways that we continue learning through the summer months that keep things simple, practical, fun and the girls hardly even realize it’s actually school work.
* Summer reading programs //
Most libraries have a summer reading program for the months of June and July offering rewards for books read and activities completed. We’ve been doing this for years now and the girls love it.
* Nature Centers //
Nature centers are a great way to get some exercise, enjoy the outdoors, and learn. Just be sure to plan this as a morning activity to avoid the heat
* Computer Games //
I am not a huge fan of computer time or games but if the learning is educational, I don’t mind making and exception. This is one of my favorite ways to trick the girls into doing school work. We really like this website.
* Topical Studies //
The summer is one of the best times to study something that the girls are really interested in that we likely wouldn’t add into our normal school schedule. From books to YouTube videos we can learn all they want to know.
* Science Centers //
Science centers are an amazing tool for hands on learning. Often my girls just want to run all over like crazy and see all the things but I always try to pick out a few exhibits along the way to look at a little deeper with them.
* Book Report Rewards //
It started out as a great idea, or so I thought. Summer reading could mean summer book reports! But Marissa wasn’t really a fan… until I promised a reward. For every 5 book reports she turns in she gets some kind of reward. The rewards are TBD that girl is a book-worm so I am excited to see how this goes.
* Zoo Trips
We don’t have a zoo around here and haven’t been to a zoo for about a year now, but I know that if we did weekly trips would be a must. I am hoping that we can squeeze in a zoo trip at some point over the summer since the girls are huge animal lovers. Maybe we could even squeeze in an educational scavenger hunt while we are there.
* Science Experiments
Summer is the perfect time to work on all of the science projects I have pinned. There are so many that we have yet to get too. Adding in a science project a week is our goal. Plus the messier ones could easily be done outside. For science project ideas check out my science pin-board.
* Grow Something
It’s no fun studying trees and plants in the middle of winter. Summer time is the perfect time to study all things plant related from leaves and parts of plants to learning how to grow and take care of a garden.
* Art Projects
Weekly art projects are a great way to encourage creativity. From learning to draw, paint, creating collages, and sculptures the opportunities are endless. Need some inspiration? Visit an art gallery, pick a painting, then go home and try to recreate it.
Great learning ideas. There are numerous ones I can do with Cam and I love that. I’m excited to participate in our local libraries reading program this year. I feel like Cam is finally old enough to understand. 🙂 And I totally missed this for this month. I have some things almost ready, but I thought it was next week. Dangit.
Our reading program is a little lame compared to some of the others I have heard of, but hey the kids don’t know any different at all :P. I think the link up is open for a week. It’s not too late to join the fun!
Love these ideas! Summer is definitely the time to be more relaxed, but learning can be so much fun! I love the idea of doing more hands on learning in the summer. Might as well use the extra time to go on adventures and learn through experience 🙂
So the only thing about living in such a large city is that most of the aforementioned activities are way pricey or just isn’t worth the car ride when you have baby in tow that still needs a daily nap. We still have great little adventures in the ‘burbs though. 😉
I think it really is one way or the other. St. Louis has TONS of free things to do including their science center and the zoo. It is amazing. Joplin on the other hand has no zoo, no science center and not a lot else to offer. We have to drive an hour away to get those things and they are pricey. Bleck. We just do the best we can and turn things like those into “special treats”.
For my primatology class in college one of our projects was to go to the zoo and observe a primate species for an hour – we came up with a focus and observable behavior charts etc. If you do make it to the zoo maybe you can do a quicker version. Ask the girls what behaviors they think they will see and then watch for 10-15 minutes or so. I picked red ruffed lemurs and they are one of my favorites to this day. I don’t think Aria would at all be into this yet but maybe the girls are old enough to like it.
I use to keep the learning up too when my girls were younger. Library reading programs were a given and I would create my own incentive for reading too at home. Rewards – always worked. Since you don’t have a zoo nearby have you ever thought of having them volunteer at an animal shelter in your area? One summer our girls did that, walked the dogs, helped stock the rooms, etc. and they not only learned the value of volunteering and working, but they were able to spend time with dogs and cats. Win win for me, since we didn’t have pets then. I know each shelter has their rules for ages, but it’s worth looking into.
Hello Friends!
I'm Beth. Wife to Russ & Stay at home turned homeschool mom to Marissa & Emily. I love Jesus, my time at the gym and can usually be found behind the lens of my camera. Our life isn't perfect, but it's ours and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We are so glad that you are here and hope you'll stick around. |
"I would hurl words into the darkness and wait for an echo. If an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight." Richard Wright, American Hunger
Archive for the tag “Indian”
For the last month I have been utterly engrossed in the audio book I Am Malala, the story of an incredibly brave Pakistani girl who stood up to the Taliban for the rights of all girls to have an education. She almost paid for it with her life when at 15 she was shot in the head on a school bus from close range, and even had to endure a smear campaign after she survived.
On Friday, it was announced that Malala has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with the Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi, who has worked endlessly to save children incarcerated in human trafficking and advocate for their rights. That a Pakistani and an Indian have received the award together is a powerful message. Announcing the prize in Oslo on Friday, the committee chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, said it was important for “a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism”
Perhaps the best quote I saw came from Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General:
“With her courage and determination, Malala has shown what terrorists fear most: a girl with a book.”
Here was my first introduction to Malala and why she inspires me each day to empower people to realize human rights and eradicate poverty in the developing world. There can be no doubt that the common key to all these problems is education and Malala shines as an example to us all.
Last month I listened to Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Two factors were involved in this decision. Firstly, having been educated in the land of Chaucer and Shakespeare, I am woefully ignorant of classical literature in the country I now reside. Secondly, I was about to travel to Louisiana and work a stones’ throw from the banks of the Mississippi.
Just when I began the book, the N-word controversy exploded. NewSouth Books, a publisher based in Alabama, announced it plans to release a new edition in February wherein the word “nigger” is replaced by “slave.”
The word appears 219 times in all, it is hard to miss. I was listening when my 12 year-old got into the car and the word was spoken twice. My son, a proud product of Berkeley tolerance, was shocked. We had a long conversation about literature and artistic license. We have already had a number of discussions as to why I can write swear words and have them published, words that he is not allowed to say.
JULIE BOSMANin an excellent New York Times article – Publisher Tinkers With Twain – explains that the idea came from Alan Gribben, a professor of English at Auburn University in Montgomery. The professor has been teaching Mark Twain for decades and talked about always feeling uncomfortable when reading out loud a common racial epithet.
“I found myself right out of graduate school at Berkeley not wanting to pronounce that word when I was teaching either ‘Huckleberry Finn’ or ‘Tom Sawyer,’ ” he said. “And I don’t think I’m alone.”
Mr. Gribben, believes that Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have dropped off of many reading lists and wants to make the books more accessible.
“I’m by no means sanitizing Mark Twain,” Mr. Gribben said. “The sharp social critiques are in there. The humor is intact. I just had the idea to get us away from obsessing about this one word, and just let the stories stand alone.” (The book also substitutes “Indian” for “injun.”).
Does he have a point? While my ancestors were enslaved in Egypt a few centuries ago, it is not part of our scarred psyche – there are far too many more recent acts that scar the Jewish people. So I am unclear whether I should have a say in the debate.
I would love to hear from people of color whose ancestors were slaves in America. Would you share your opinions in the comments?
Either way, the special relationship that develops between Huck and Jim is what makes this novel so special. It is a timeless lesson in companionship, as relevant today as ever before. |
Palonosetron with aprepitant plus dexamethasone to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting during gemcitabine/cisplatin in urothelial cancer patients.
To evaluate the appearance of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and to compare the antiemetic efficacy of the triple combination of palonosetron, aprepitant and dexamethasone with that of our old regimen using first-generation 5-hydroxytryptamine 3-receptor antagonists and dexamethasone during gemcitabine and cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with advanced urothelial cancer. We carried out a multi-institutional study including 122 patients who received gemcitabine and cisplatin for advanced urothelial cancer between February 2005 and January 2012. Uncontrolled chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting events were identified through records of nausea and vomiting, additional infusion, rescue medications, and/or records of food intake. First-generation 5-hydroxytryptamine 3-receptor antagonists (ondansetron or granisetron) plus dexamethasone were used for 75 patients (cohort 1), and palonosetron with dexamethasone plus aprepitant for 47 patients (cohort 2). Patients in cohort 2 had significantly higher complete response (defined as no emetic episodes and no rescue medication use) rates than those in cohort 1 during the overall phase in the first cycle (85.7% vs 65.3%, P = 0.012), and all cycles (78.7% vs 50.7%, P = 0.0019) of gemcitabine and cisplatin. Patients in cohort 2 were more likely to achieve more favorable chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting control; that is, a lower grade of nausea, vomiting or anorexia, lower incidence of rescue therapy required, and shorter time to become chemotherapy-induced nausea- and vomiting-free than patients in cohort 1. The present results show that palonosetron in combination with aprepitant and dexamethasone is more effective to prevent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in urothelial cancer patients treated with gemcitabine and cisplatin than first-generation 5-hydroxytryptamine 3-receptor antagonists plus dexamethasone. |
/*
* Copyright (c) 2018 Alexander Wachter
*
* SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
*/
#include <syscall_handler.h>
#include <drivers/can.h>
static inline int z_vrfy_can_configure(const struct device *dev,
enum can_mode mode,
uint32_t bitrate)
{
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_DRIVER_CAN(dev, configure));
return z_impl_can_configure((const struct device *)dev,
(enum can_mode)mode,
(uint32_t)bitrate);
}
#include <syscalls/can_configure_mrsh.c>
static inline int z_vrfy_can_send(const struct device *dev,
const struct zcan_frame *msg,
k_timeout_t timeout,
can_tx_callback_t callback_isr,
void *callback_arg)
{
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_DRIVER_CAN(dev, send));
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_MEMORY_READ((const struct zcan_frame *)msg,
sizeof(struct zcan_frame)));
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_MEMORY_READ(((struct zcan_frame *)msg)->data,
sizeof((struct zcan_frame *)msg)->data));
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_VERIFY_MSG(callback_isr == 0,
"callbacks may not be set from user mode"));
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_MEMORY_READ((void *)callback_arg, sizeof(void *)));
return z_impl_can_send((const struct device *)dev,
(const struct zcan_frame *)msg,
(k_timeout_t)timeout,
(can_tx_callback_t) callback_isr,
(void *)callback_arg);
}
#include <syscalls/can_send_mrsh.c>
static inline int z_vrfy_can_attach_msgq(const struct device *dev,
struct k_msgq *msgq,
const struct zcan_filter *filter)
{
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_OBJ(dev, K_OBJ_DRIVER_CAN));
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_MEMORY_READ((struct zcan_filter *)filter,
sizeof(struct zcan_filter)));
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_OBJ(msgq, K_OBJ_MSGQ));
return z_impl_can_attach_msgq((const struct device *)dev,
(struct k_msgq *)msgq,
(const struct zcan_filter *) filter);
}
#include <syscalls/can_attach_msgq_mrsh.c>
static inline void z_vrfy_can_detach(const struct device *dev, int filter_id)
{
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_DRIVER_CAN(dev, detach));
z_impl_can_detach((const struct device *)dev, (int)filter_id);
}
#include <syscalls/can_detach_mrsh.c>
static inline
enum can_state z_vrfy_can_get_state(const struct device *dev,
struct can_bus_err_cnt *err_cnt)
{
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_OBJ(dev, K_OBJ_DRIVER_CAN));
if (err_cnt) {
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_MEMORY_WRITE(err_cnt, sizeof(err_cnt)));
}
return z_impl_can_get_state(dev, err_cnt);
}
#include <syscalls/can_get_state_mrsh.c>
#ifndef CONFIG_CAN_AUTO_BUS_OFF_RECOVERY
static inline int z_vrfy_can_recover(const struct device *dev,
k_timeout_t timeout)
{
Z_OOPS(Z_SYSCALL_OBJ(dev, K_OBJ_DRIVER_CAN));
return z_impl_can_recover(dev, k_timeout_t timeout);
}
#include <syscalls/can_recover_mrsh.c>
#endif /* CONFIG_CAN_AUTO_BUS_OFF_RECOVERY */
|
“Reparations for the wrongful prosecution shall be made; mere acquittals were not enough as there still lays an uphill battle even after acquittal”.
A person wrongfully prosecuted though acquitted and released from jail was free to go back to his life; but was it actually possible for him to go back to the same life – the life he had before being subjected to the ordeal of wrongful prosecution. There needed to be compensatory assistance by the State to help the innocent victims to adjust to the life-after, and to reintegrate into the society and we have Article 14(6) of the ICCPR read with the General Comment 32 of the United Nations Human Rights Committee to substantiate the same along with United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany where the State assumed statutory responsibility for compensating the said victims.
The Law Commission of India submitted its Report No. 277 titled ‘Wrongful Prosecution (Miscarriage of Justice): Legal Remedies’ to the Government of India on 30th August, 2018. The High Court of Delhi in its order dated 30-05-2017 in the case of Babloo Chauhan @ Dabloo v. State Govt. of NCT of Delhi, 247 (2018) DLT 31, expressed grave concern about the state of innocent persons being wrongfully prosecuted, incarcerated for crimes that they did not commit. The Court highlighted the urgent need for a legislative framework for provided relief and rehabilitation to victims of wrongful prosecution, incarceration and asked the Law Commission to undertake a comprehensive examination of the aforesaid issued and make a recommendation thereon to the Government of India.
Internationally, the issue of wrongful prosecution, incarceration, and conviction of innocent persons is identified as ‘miscarriage of justice’ that takes place after a person has been wrongfully convicted but is later found to be factually innocent basis a new fact / proof coming to light. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (‘ICCPR’, ratified by India) also creates an obligation on the State parties to enact a law to compensate the victims of such miscarriage of justice.
This report looks at the issue from the context of Indian Criminal Justice system and recommends ‘wrongful prosecution’ to be the standards of miscarriage of justice, as against ‘wrongful conviction’ and ‘wrongful incarceration’. ‘Wrongful prosecution’ would include cases where the accused and not guilty of the offence, and the police and / or the prosecution engaged in some form of misconduct in investigating and / or prosecuting the person. It would include both the cases where the person spent time in prison as well as where he did not; and cases where the accused was found not guilty by the trial court or where the accused was convicted by one or more courts but was ultimately found to be not guilty by the Higher Court.
The Report gives an overview of the remedies available under the existing laws and discusses their inadequacies (also noted by the High Court in the aforementioned Order). The Commission, accordingly, recommends enactment of a specific legal provision for redressal of cases of wrongful prosecution – to provide relief to the victims of wrongful prosecution in terms of monetary and non-monetary compensation (such as counselling, mental health services, vocational / employment skills development etc.) within a statutory framework. The Report enumerates the core principles of the recommended framework- defining ‘wrongful prosecution’ i.e., cases in which claim for compensation can be filed, designation of a Special Court to decide these claims of compensation, nature of proceedings – timeline for deciding the claim, etc., financial and other factors to be considered while determining the compensation, provisions for interim compensation in certain cases, removal of disqualification on account of wrongful prosecution / conviction etc.
From the landmark cases of Rudal Sah, Nilabati Behera, D. K. to the 2016 case of Dr. Rini Johar, the Supreme Court has recognized the remedy of recovering appropriate damages from the State. This view has also been echoed by various High Courts over the years where the Court held that appellants, who were innocent and have suffered because of poor investigation and tainted prosecution, deserve compensation from the State. In this manner, the currently available remedies only create an ex gratia obligation, and not a statutory obligation on the State to compensate. There was a pressing need for an explicit law for compensating the victims who have suffered miscarriage of justice at hands of the State machinery – laying down State’s statutory obligation to re-compensate these victims of wrongful prosecution with a dedicated judicial mechanism. Where the State pays compensation for the errant acts of its officials, it can seek indemnification from the concerned officials, and also initiate appropriate proceedings against them in accordance with law.
Recommendations
To establish a legislative process which accords a transparent, uniform, efficacious, affordable and timely remedy for the loss and harm inflicted on the victims on account of wrongful prosecution.
The core principles underlining the recommended legal framework would be as follows:
1. Special Court: claims to be decided as speedily as possible in order to curb long prolonged prosecution. To designate special courts was in each district for adjudicating upon the claims of compensation for wrongful prosecution. The choice jurisdiction shall be made by the applicant, as follows:
(i) either the Special Court having jurisdiction over the area in which the wrongful prosecution occurred; or
(ii) the Special Court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the applicant resides.
2. Cause of Action: The ambit of wrongful prosecution? herein would include
(i) malicious prosecutions; and
(ii) prosecutions instituted without good faith.
3. Who can apply: The claim for compensation can be brought by the accused person so injured; or by any agent duly authorized by the said accused person; or where the accused person died after the termination of the wrongful prosecution, by all or any of the heirs or legal representatives of the deceased.
4. Nature of Proceedings: Special Court for the purpose of inquiry and adjudication herein should follow summary procedures as may be prescribed. The standard of proof would be that of “balance of probabilities?, with the burden on the claimant (accused) to prove misconduct which lead to wrongful prosecution, and/or the misconduct during the prosecution which made it wrongful. The standard was the supposition of a prudent man who when faced with connecting probabilities or improbabilities would have came to the same conclusion. Include prescribed timelines for the disposal of the application, payment of compensation, period of limitation for filing the and for filing an appeal against the order of the Special Court. The Special Court upon receiving a claim for compensation shall give a notice to the contesting parties (including the Central/State Government, as the case may be), and give them an opportunity of being heard, inquire into the claim, and make an award determining the compensation. It may also direct the concerned authorities to initiate proceedings against the erring official(s) in accordance with law.
5. Compensation: providing for both pecuniary and non-pecuniary assistance to effectuate the rehabilitation of these victims into society. While pecuniary assistance will be in terms of monetary award as may be determined by the Special Court; non-pecuniary assistance will be awarded in the form of services such as counseling, mental health services, vocational/employment skills development, and such other similar services. Non-pecuniary assistance shall also include a specific provision for removing disqualifications in terms of employment in public and private sectors and admission in an educational institution etc. An order of acquittal operates retrospectively, and when given by the appellate court it also wipes out the sentence awarded by the lower court therefore it was imperative to include a specific provision removing the aforesaid disqualifications. The factors to be taken into consideration while determining the amount of compensation can be broadly categorized as financial, severity of the punishment, the length of incarceration, loss or damage to health, psychological and emotional harm along with status of the victim in the society, harm to reputation, loss of opportunities (of education, livelihood), loss of income/earnings and lastly loss or damage to property. |
# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: with_statement
# key: fw
# group: future
# --
from __future__ import with_statement |
Effects of removal in late pregnancy of the corpus luteum, graafian follicle or ovaries on plasma progesterone, oestradiol, LH, parturition and post-partum oestrus in the tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii.
Concentrations of oestradiol-17 beta, progesterone, and luteinizing hormone (LH) were measured in plasma collected at 6- to 12-h intervals from tammars around the time of parturition and post-partum oestrus. Parturition occurred on Day 26 or 27 after reactivation of lactation-delayed pregnancy and coincided with a precipitous decline in progesterone levels. A sharp rise in oestradiol, from basal concentrations of less than 10 pg/ml to a peak of 13 to 32 pg/ml, as well as oestrus, followed the drop in progesterone by 8.3 and 9.8 h, respectively. The LH surge was dependent on the oestradiol rise and followed it by 7 h. Ovulation followed mating by about 30 h and the LH surge by 24 h. Removal of the ovary with the large Graafian follicle prevented the oestradiol rise, oestrus and the LH surge, but not parturition. Peripartum changes in peripheral oestradiol do not appear to be involved in initiation of parturition but the oestradiol rise and associated change in the oestradiol:progesterone ratio are important signals for post-partum oestrus and the LH surge. |
Welcome to our website! As we have the ability to list on our website (our selection changes all of the time), it is not feasible for a company our size to record and playback the descriptions on every item on our website.
However, if you are an American with a disability we are here to help you. Please call our disability services phone line at 610-933-2900 during regular business hours and one of our kind and friendly personal shoppers will help you navigate through our website, help conduct advanced searches, help you choose the item you are looking for with the specifications you are seeking, read you the specifications of any item and consult with you about the products themselves. There is no charge for the help of this personal shopper for any American with a disability. Finally, your personal shopper will explain our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and help you place an order if you so desire.
Extended warranties are usually very inexpensive and can save you thousands in the future.
Some can even cover extra costs that result, such as cost of food that spoils when your fridge dies.
It's simple and inexpensive to purchase extended warranties and one of the smartest ways to protect your investment.
Appliances can be
large, heavy, and expensive and you probably don't have the special tools or expertise needed to fix them in a crisis. If you can spare a few thousand dollars without batting an eyelash for new
appliances
should they break tomorrow, don't buy a warranty. But if you're like most of us, protect yourself by purchasing inexpensive extended warranties when you buy a new product and save yourself big money in the long run.
Professional delivery and installation is available for every product we sell. We would be happy to coordinate delivery and installation for you.
This product includes the basic manufacturer's warranty (1 year parts/labor).
$299.95 Value - Now As Low As $119.95 - Limited Time Offer - Only From Queen Appliance
Why Protect Your Investment With An Extended Warranty?
All of our major appliances include at least a 1 year manufacturer's warranty that covers all parts and labor during this period. Unfortunately, our customer service department is on the phone all day long regarding service calls for appliances that are just a few years old. We only sell high-quality appliances, but it's the unfortunate nature of current appliances that any computerized machine with electronic parts has a chance of needing service. In order to provide the best customer service possible, we highly recommend purchasing one of our heavily discounted extended warranty options. These plans will pay for themselves in just a fraction of one service call and are recommended to even our closest family, friends, and customers. In the event of service trouble, we hope you'll call us directly so we can point you in the right direction and stay with you throughout the whole process. It is important to us that you receive the most prompt and reliable service possible. This is one of the best reasons to buy from our family business.
Which Company Provides this Extended Warranty?
Consumer Priority Service (CPS) provides this Extended Warranty. They are a national company that provides warranties for hundreds of appliance dealers across the country. You can rest assured that this company is not going anywhere and that you will be covered completely through the duration of your plan.
Who Services The Appliance During The Warranty?
During the manufacturer's warranty, the manufacturer will be responsible for sending a local authorized service technician to your home (some manufacturer's have their own factory service, others will use local independent servicers). During the Extended Warranty portion, the Extended Warranty company will find you a local authorized service technician to come to your home. If you have a prefered service company, as long as they are authorized on that particular brand of appliance, you can usually use any company you request. Bottom line: you are protected no matter where you are in the country. If you move, the warranty follows the product. You can even transfer ownership of the warranty to a new owner in just a few minute phone call.
Who Do I Call For Service?
To start, you can always call us. This way, you don't need to remember all of the details. We will point you in the right direction. To cut-out the middle man, during the manufacturer's warranty (usually the first year), you can call the manufacturer directly. During the extended warranty portion, call CPS directly for fast approval. CPS can be reached at 1-800-905-0443, e-mailed at [email protected], or found at www.cpsCentral.com.
6 Year Full Coverage - All Parts & Labor and Major Appliances
While we at Queen Appliance Wholesale only sell high quality goods, we know that occasionally machines may need servicing. Our Extended Warranty policy will assist you with a factory authorized repair person at any time free of charge, regardless of the brand.
A typical service call today without an Extended Warranty would consist of: Trip Charge $70–90, Labor $70–90/hr, Parts $80–350, averaging $375. The first 6 years of this program covers all parts and labor with no hidden charges including no deductible and is unlimited in terms of quantity of service calls (now that's definitely peace of mind)!!!
With an Extended Warranty through CPS there are no hidden costs. No deductibles. If the covered product needs service after the manufacturer's warranty expires, call the toll-free number and they will assist you.
Benefits:
No Lemon Guarantee
$250 Food Spoilage Protection Per Repair
Power Surge Protection
Covers All Functional Parts and Labor
No Hidden Costs or Deductibles
Unlimited Service Calls
Transferable Coverage
Nationwide Service
And if we can't fix it, we'll replace it at NO EXTRA CHARGE
Pricing Including BONUS 4 Year Major Component Warranty (10 Years Total):
Awesomeness
Yes, I recommend this product
I love it
My sister got me the washer and dryer set and I love it The only issue I have is that you cant fill the washer all the way to the top like a normal washer.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Good Value and Features
12/13/2018
Purchased several months ago when our old Harmony would not dry cloths anymore. Similar to it with a few new features.
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Awesome Dryer
12/13/2018
Love the features Dryers items fast. Looks very nice
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great Dryer
12/13/2018
This dryer does the job It will dry 10 thick towels in 1 cycle. Huge capacity. Looks great and we love it
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
I would not recommend
12/13/2018
I purchased this dryer as the one I had for years died at first this dryer worked great and now it takes over 3 hours for the same things to dry. I am so very disappointed as this is not energy efficient.
No, I do not recommend this product
Wonderful
12/11/2018
I bought this and have been amazed at how quickly and perfectly it works. Love this dryer and the ease of it from an older style.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love all the features
12/10/2018
Works great Has a lot of setting which is nice. And look nice too.
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Very nice
12/6/2018
We bought this About a month ago and Ive been very pleased with its performance. Love all of the special features and the warm up cycle Justin time to make it all warm and cozy on those cold mornings
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great dryer
12/3/2018
Have had for a little over a month and love it. Sensor dry is great much better than our previous dryer by a different manufacturer. App and wifi function are great and we use a lot
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Most amazing dryer fast. Steam cycle is wonderf
12/2/2018
I bought the matching set. The best investment ever They really know how to do laundry thank you GE:
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
So far so good
11/28/2018
Ive only had for 2 weeks but so far a great product. Really like the steam function-no need to iron so far. Didnt see loose strings like I have in previous appliences.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Awesome piece of machinery...
11/20/2018
I made my purchase about 3 months and its one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love it so far
11/12/2018
Just got it today and it looks great. Already have a load washing now
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love the dryer great features
11/11/2018
Ive had my dryer for about 3 months now and Im very satisfied with my purchase of this dryer. I like how the inside of the dryer has a light in it so you can watch your clothes tumble. So awesome
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great features
11/8/2018
I love the fact that its so energy efficient The ability to link to my phone makes doing laundry a breeze along with the many different settings for different garments
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great features. Huge Capacity
10/30/2018
Feature set and capacity are awesome Love the remote monitoring.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Dryer
10/28/2018
I bought this dryer and washer 8 months ago.
Both products are horrible. I litterly dry a load of clothes at least 3 times. If I dry sheets it takes 3-4 cycles to get them dry. Everything balls up.
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love it
10/22/2018
Very happy right size and right price love it
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great features
10/9/2018
Works great and I particularly like wifi connectivity
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Amazing product
10/5/2018
We just received and we are just blown away with the quality
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love it
10/4/2018
had this for a week and absolutely love it and the features that it has
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
DRIES SO FAST
9/30/2018
BOUGHT THIS DRYER A WEEK OR SO AGO AND COULDNT BELIEVE HOW QUICKLY IT DRIES AND THE STEAM FUNCTION MAKES DRESS SHIRTS LOOK DRY CLEANED LOVE MY NEW DRYER
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Awesome
9/29/2018
Is pretty crazy that I can control the washer from my phone or Alexa. I love it
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Its Alright
9/25/2018
Okay dryer but would have expected more after reading online reviews. It drys nicely but there is a small sharp area on the inside by the lint catcher that grabs and rips some clothes. Somewhat disappointing
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Huge capacity
9/23/2018
Sensor might be bad. Machine turns off when clothes are damp. Put the button to more dry and it still turns off early.
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Amazing
9/22/2018
Finally its fun to do laundry again Love the steam option No more wrinkles
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love the new technology
9/20/2018
Love the large capacity for comforters and bulky items. Steam feature is pretty cool to
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Faster Dry Time and Fantastic Steam Option
9/20/2018
We had an LG front loader dryer and this new GE unit dries in 65 the time it took in the old unit. Also I havent had to iron a shirt since we bought this thing. I throw a couple of wrinkled dress shirts in steam mode and they come out perfect.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great Setting and Features Lighting
9/18/2018
we bought this washer and dryer set this last Friday 9/14/18 and it has cut our drying time in half and is so quiet and has cool lighting and the steam feature is cool we have never had anything like this and it work great
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Excellent performance
9/9/2018
Very happy with dryer performance and features for a mid grade unit
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love it
9/7/2018
This is a great machine and easy to operate. The drying drum is huge and for the first time I dont have to put towels in for extra time. The sheets actually do not get tangled and dry all the way without having to stop and readjust.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love the large capacity
9/7/2018
Enjoying the large capacity and having smart features give me the opportunity to leave the laundry room and not look back until the load it dry. Wearing medical scrubs I always empty as soon as the load is complete the GE smart feature senses dryness and will continue until dry then alerts my smart phone. Getting more accomplished while GE does its job.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Awesome Options
9/7/2018
I just bought the set and Im in awe over all the options and the wireless setup. New GE customer in the house
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Love this Long Vent Dryer
9/6/2018
We purchased this dryer about 2 months ago and are very pleased with the vent booster performance. No more problems with a clogged vent line. I like all the features of the dryer and would highly recommend this to anyone.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Dryer not good
9/4/2018
I bought this dryer 5 months ago and have found that it doesnt dry the clothes properly on any setting. I have to use sanitize to get things dry but even then fluff and hairs remain on the clothes. Some fluff and hair that does get removed falls out the door when I open it even though the dryer screen was cleaned before putting the load in for drying. Worst dryer Ive ever owned.
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great product
8/31/2018
Really great dryer nothing to complain. I like how it looks and how it performs.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great dryer. Have yet to use all the features
8/30/2018
We bought this to replace an older dryer. Looks and works excellent
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Good features
8/30/2018
Bought 5 months ago and I am stilllearing the product
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great dryer
8/30/2018
I am pleased with this dryer The last one would run so much it smelt like burnt clothes on the automatic feature.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great features Love the large tub
8/30/2018
We bought this dryer a couple months ago and love it. It dries out clothes faster than our old one did. I love having the steam setting to remove wrinkles instead of ironing. It does a great job overall.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great product.
8/30/2018
Ive had my dryer for 2 months now and we are very pleased.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Very Nice
8/30/2018
We got this dryer a couple of months ago. Overall we really like it. Our dryer sheets get caught in the grate of the lint collector and it takes some getting used to for the controls and having your clothes be dry. We always use the smart sensor to determine length of dry cycle. Would purchase again.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Easy and great features
8/29/2018
First one had to be replaced as the drum was hitting the side of the dryer. Got a new one quickly from the retailer. I was a little worried at first as it did not seem to be drying clothes just had to get used to what settings. Change to more dry form preset setting and love it.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
GE dryer
8/24/2018
Bought this a couple of months ago and it works great
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Huge Capacity
8/23/2018
Overall drying features are good. As with all dryers the sensing feature is sort of hit-or-miss especially with full loads.
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Wont turn off
8/17/2018
I bought this model last week and have to return it because it took 8 hours to dry towels and would not shut off. I bought another model 8/16/18 and it also will not turn off.
No, I do not recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Many Dry selections Love it
8/4/2018
I purchased this about a month ago. I love all the choices I have in the way my clothes are dried. The temperature the type of clothes towels sheets etc. It even has a sanitize feature which is wonderful I used it recently for some pillows I purchased at a thrift shop. Definitely would purchase this dryer again. Also purchased the matching washer and and I am in love with it as well
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Very high tech
7/13/2018
Lots of neat features very simple to use just load and press start machine senses load and adds correct amount of water and detergent When the washer and dryer are done I get a text message to my phone....
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
Great value for less money
7/9/2018
I love my new washer and dryer It is awesome My dryer dries a full load in 20 minutes. My day of laundry is cute in half
Yes, I recommend this product
Appearance:
Features:
Performance:
Quality:
Value:
At Queen Appliance we only offer 'white-glove' delivery services, so you never have to worry about additional charges to put a product in place, carry up stairs, or hook up hoses, water lines, and power chords. Installation charges do apply for built-in or gas appliances, but we will always be drastically less expensive than hiring an electrician or plumber! Call a Sales Associate to verify delivery and installation charges.
In addition, many of our appliances include rebates to cover the cost of delivery and even installation! Speak to a sales associate for more information on specific delivery and installation charges.
Queen's Premium Delivery Service
While most of our competitors sub-contract their delivery services, we take pride in quality control and protection of your appliances and property. Not only can we better accommodate specific customer needs, but we guarantee professionalism throughout each of our deliveries and patience with all of our customers.
We may sell a lot of scratched & dented appliances, but we take great pride in the fact that we do not CREATE our own Scratch & Dent merchandise.
Measure Dimensions
Queen will always take responsibility for mistakes that we make; however taking proper measurements at home is the responsibility of the customer. Do not forget to measure doorways, any space that the appliance must travel through to get to its destination, as well as the final installation place. We can provide cut sheets and detailed specs for all of our appliances, so check with your sales- person. Unfortunately, if returns happen due to a customer's negligence to measure properly, we must charge a 20% restocking fee to cover our costs and re-sell an unboxed piece. If desired, our drivers can come out to measure ahead of time for a small fee. Please note: We do not remove door molding or cut any cabinetry.
Delivery Time Windows
We understand that all customers have jobs and personal obligations, which is why we are committed to giving you a 2-3 hour time window for your delivery. Never should you have to wait around all day for a delivery, as with much of our competition. Please understand that we must route the truck geographically, so any special delivery time requests will be taken very seriously but can never be guaranteed. Your time window will be set the evening before and you will receive it through a phone call from our Phoenixville branch. If you have not received your time window by 7:30 pm, please call 610-933-2900 (Option 2 for Retail Sales) and check with a Sales Associate.
Directions and Cross Streets
Your salesperson is responsible for asking all the necessary details to get your new appliances to your home, however if they forget to ask for the nearest cross street please call and let them know. GPS and online maps are not always accurate, so the nearest cross street and any directions or details that you feel will help them are greatly appreciated and necessary for our drivers (i.e. low bridges, unmarked roads, landmarks, etc.).
Standard Installations
If our delivery team deems any installation as 'non-standard' they will require your approval and signature before proceeding. In addition, an additional fee may be charged depending on the nature of the situation to compensate for additional time spent and materials used, similar to working with any other contractor. 'Non-standard' installations include, but are not limited to, the following scenarios:
Dishwashers
Flooring that is raised or built on top of a pre-existing floor makes dishwasher installations very difficult. Cutting off legs of the old dishwasher may be required for removal, but will only be performed with your authorization and signature. There is no guarantee that your dishwasher can be installed if your floor is raised too high, so please discuss this possibility with your salesperson so you can purchase a dishwasher that has more flexibility for your particular installation needs. If a dishwasher installation is beyond the scope of our trained professionals, we might insist on refunding your delivery fee and leaving the project for your own contractor. As a conscientious delivery crew, we always choose to error on the side of protecting your property and avoiding a sloppy installation.
Gas Ranges and Dryers
Gas valves must be located in the appropriate position behind the appliance, as we cannot reposition or manipulate any gas line. We will not touch gas valves on the outside of the house and be responsible for restarting your pilot lights.
Electric Ranges and Dryers
Hardwiring ranges and dryers does not meet the required regulations. We come prepared with 3 prong ($19.95) and 4 prong receptacles ($29.95) which must be installed and will hang loose, but safely, behind the unit. This nominal fee is significantly less than hiring an electrician, so please cooperate with our installers who insist on following local code. Look behind your appliance...If there is a 220v outlet, there will be no additional charges. New cords must always be purchased (3 Prong - $12.95, 4 Prong - $16.95), even with a receptacle installation, as we never take the risk of using an old and possibly frayed cord.
Washing Machines
Old fill hoses can leak or burst. Queen insists on protecting your property by using only new hoses for every one of our washer installations. Some machines come with new rubber hoses, while many do not, so be prepared to purchase new rubber or stainless steel ones for a small fee. If you insist on using your old hoses, that is not a problem, however we will only put the unit in place and you must sign and indicate that you will be hooking up the hoses yourself. 5 foot fill hoses are always used, which is longer than the standard 4 foot; however some tight spaces require longer fill hoses and drain hose extensions for a small fee (i.e. laundry centers).
Refrigerators
Refrigerator water lines can only be connected to copper tubing (no charge for install) or via poly line to a shut-off valve behind the refrigerator (small fee for materials). The installers can run a new water line with copper tubing for $79.95.
Inclement Weather
Please understand that our hard-working delivery crew cannot control inclement weather and traffic conditions. If emergencies arise you will be notified and rescheduling arrangements will be made to the best of our abilities. Completing all of our deliveries is a commitment we always keep, and we never intend to inconvenience any of our customers.
Scratch & Dent Appliances
Since Scratch & Dent appliances have pre-existing damage, please make sure to fill out a damage detail form with your salesperson. Our drivers take great pride in protecting your purchases, one of the main reasons we do not sub-contract our delivery team.
Removals
Removals of old appliances are $5 for each piece ($15 for Refrigerators) or can be taken outside for your bulk trash pickup at no charge.
All dimensions must be approved for all major appliances. All no-fit and good stock returns will be charged a 20% restocking fee plus a re-delivery charge, if applicable. Merchandise must be in its original condition and include all original packing materials, accessories, product manuals and warranty cards. There will be no refund for labor, delivery and/or installation services for good stock returns.
DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE
If you receive a product that is functionally defective upon delivery you must contact your sales associate within 72 hours for an exchange*. After this period, the manufacturer requires in-home service. If the appliance is deemed non-repairable by the manufacturer it will be replaced in accordance with their individual service/return policies.
DAMAGED MERCHANDISE
If you receive a cartoned product that is cosmetically damaged and the part is not replaceable** you must contact your sales associate within 72 hours for an exchange***. After this period, the manufacturer does not authorize damage returns. If you receive a product that is cosmetically damaged and the part is replaceable**, you have 14 days from the time of delivery to request a replacement part at no charge.
Queen Appliance reserves the right to limit or refuse to accept the return of merchandise at any time and for any reason. In rare cases, some appliances are non-returnable.
* Scratch & Dent appliances and Special Buy items are often one of a kind and sold at significant discounts, therefore if no exact replacement model is available you may apply the credit for that appliance toward a different model. Queen Appliance will always work to provide the best value possible, however any difference in product price is the responsibility of the customer.
** Examples of replaceable cosmetic parts include, but are not limited to:
Handles
Knobs
Panels
Feet/Leveling Legs
Escutcheon Plate/Panel
Toe Kick/Kick Plate
etc
*** Scratch & Dent and other unboxed items are subject to the agreement at the time of sale. Customer must sign that the appliance arrived in the same condition that it was purchased. If any additional damage is noticed, please contact your sales associate immediately at the time of delivery. Returns after the time of delivery are subject to a re-delivery fee. Damage returns will not be authorized after 72 hours, although replacement parts can be ordered up to 14 days from the time of delivery. Queen Appliance reserves the right to determine if a cosmetic part is to be replaced or if the product should be returned instead.
BILLING TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Payments are to be made to Queen Appliance without any deduction or discount other than as
stated in these Terms or in the relevant invoice or statement.
Online Orders: The balance of the invoice must be paid in full at the time of purchase.
In-Store / Phone Orders (Factory-Direct / New In Box Orders): A deposit of 50% of the invoice price must be paid when placing an order, in order for us to place the order with the vendor. The remaining balance of 50% must be paid within 15 days or at the time of delivery (whichever comes sooner).
In-Store / Phone Orders (Open Box / One-Of-A-Kind): A deposit of 5% of the item price must be paid when placing an order, in order to temporarily hold the product for 15 days maximum. An additional 45% deposit must be made within the first 15 day period (bringing the deposit total to 50%), in order to continue to hold the product. The product must be paid in full within 30 days from placing the order or at the time of delivery (whichever comes sooner).
Should these terms not be met, we reserve the right to cancel your order and release any product holds at our discretion. A full refund for all deposits made will be provided back to you via the original payment method used.
STORAGE CHARGES
There are no storage charges for items held in our warehouse as long as the item is paid in accordance with the Billing Terms and Conditions listed above.
CREDIT CARD PAYMENT
We accept the following credit card payment methods: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover.
FINANCING PAYMENT
We offer free 6 months financing (0% Interest) via a BrandSource Credit Card pending credit approval by Citibank. 12 Month Financing is available during certain promotional time windows. Contact your local showroom for more information. Online purchases do not qualify.
We accept cash/check payment in-store only. Checks must clear our bank account before any product may be picked up or left on-site at delivery.
SALES TAX
We are responsible for collecting sales tax in the state of Pennsylvania. It is the customer's responsibility to declare and pay any applicable sales or use taxes for items delivered outside of Pennsylvania.
Welcome to our website! As we have the ability to list thousands of items on our website (our selection changes all of the time), it is not feasible for a company our size to record and playback the descriptions on every item on our website. However, if you are an American with a disability we are here to help you. Please call our disability services phone line at 610-933-2900 during regular business hours and one of our kind and friendly personal shoppers will help you navigate through our website, help conduct advanced searches, help you choose the item you are looking for with the specifications you are seeking, read you the specifications of any item and consult with you about the products themselves. There is no charge for the help of this personal shopper for any American with a disability. Finally, your personal shopper will explain our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and help you place an order if you so desire.
We are a family owned and operated business and respect your privacy. Your information will not be sold or shared with any third party.
First & Last Name:
Email:
Zip Code:
By participating in this survey and registering to win the grand prize (a 4-piece Bosch Kitchen Appliance Package), I hereby authorize Queen Appliance Wholesale to contact me by e-mail only. My consent is effective for 12 months from the submission of this form. |
“To see others suffer does one good, to make others suffer even more: this is a hard saying but an ancient, mighty, human, all-too-human principle [….] Without cruelty there is no festival.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
Why do powerful governments revel in their ability to cause human suffering in order to bring about a desired political change? The West, led by the United States, has become the initiator and prosecutor of purposeful pain and suffering, and is continuing to advance policies that breed anguish and hardship against the innocent in many countries. These innocent, many of them children, are left starving, left without medical care, and are forced to live in fear due to the horrible conditions placed on them by the western world.
Much of this agony is due to brutal economic sanctions being levied against those countries that do not bow down to the hegemony known as the U.S. The ruling elites are boastful in their support for these harsh policies, as what they claim to seek from these atrocious sanctions is regime change or major policy change by extreme force. But is that the entire story, or do they also find joy in the festival of causing harm to the people of countries they claim as enemies? Do they secretly gain pleasure from this planned cruelty? It seems evident that those implementing this suffering do take satisfaction in their ability to cause pain in order to gain power. Against the State: An ... Rockwell Jr., Llewelly... Best Price: $5.02 Buy New $5.52 (as of 11:35 EST - Details)
The idea of sanctions has become the norm. It is even anticipated and desired by not only the political class, but by many in the general population as well. Why is this so? Is it due to false beliefs? Is it because the propagandized masses fear that without these sanctions, other countries might rise up to be aggressors threatening our “national security?” Is it because by destroying others economically, Americans believe they will be more prosperous? Does the average person really believe that sanctions will prevent these countries from attaining weapons of mass destruction? Or do many in the general populace also take pleasure in witnessing human suffering at the hands of their rulers?
There are a few pretend dissenters in the mainstream media, and even some in the alternative media, who talk out of both sides of their mouths about this issue. While some claim to expose the brutality of these economic sanctions, they in many cases give cover to the narrative by using the excuse that these sanctions are not effective in bringing about regime change. If they were effective in causing regime change, would that then make this strategy moral or right? How can an aggressive act of war like that of forcing sanctions on an entire country or region, ever be warranted because it might affect regime change?
Many of these so-called defenders of human rights also claim that even though sanctions are levied with “good intentions,” the results are not positive. How can deliberately starving entire populations, depriving them of medical care, destroying their means of economic survival, and generally decimating their lives, have ever been considered a good intention?
It is useful to understand language, as what people say and write should not be taken lightly, it should be scrutinized and studied. In most cases, people will eventually say what they really mean, and many will either speak with a forked tongue, or fashion their position using a double-edged sword. Excusing heinous behavior by suggesting it was only heinous because it did not achieve a certain goal, is not only a weak argument, it is completely immoral. This is a very common way to take both sides of an issue, while falsely claiming the high ground. In other words, it is a lie.
The truth about economic sanctions is that they are abhorrent. It is the intentional use of power and control by governments to purposely brutalize an entire population of innocent men, women, and children, in order to advance a political agenda. This is the definition of terrorism. It is done without compassion or caring for the mass suffering that will always result. It is a knowingly planned destruction of entire societies, which can only lead to the mass suffering of innocent people. It is unholy.
The United States, with the help of its complicit allies, is now sanctioning countries around the world. Some of the more brutal situations are occurring in Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, several countries in Africa, Syria, Yemen, and many others of course. The people of Venezuela have been persecuted by U.S. sanctions, and are literally starving in the streets. Iran’s economy is in dire condition, as horrendous economic sanctions are being enforced there.
This is all being done with the full knowledge that many millions of people will suffer terrible consequences. There is malnutrition, starvation, sickness, disease, lack of medical care, lack of medicine, and in many cases families are forced to abandon their homes and country. This is strictly due to the outside pressure of sanctions and aggressive war. This is true cruelty, but the attitudes of the ruling elite and political class are only consumed by indifference. This is what they desire; this is what they seek.
How can anyone ever forget the ice-cold words of Madeleine Albright when she was Secretary of state under Bill Clinton, as Iraq was suffering under barbarous sanctions? Over 500,000 children under the age of 5 died due to those sanctions, and they died horrible deaths. On national television, the question asked by Lesley Stahl and answered by Albright in a very calm, calculated, and matter of fact manner was this:
“Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price-we think is worth it.”
The current face of deliberate U.S. terrorism is steeped in economic sanctions that cause massive human suffering. Sanctions are acts of war, and when committed by U.S. power brokers against so many innocents around the world, they are terrorist acts. These economic sanctions are cold, heartless, and evil, and can only lead to the total destruction of what little is left of human decency and compassion in this fallen country called America.
The Best of Gary D. Barnett |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a holding apparatus, which can be placed on a table and is also mobile, for a work aid, in particular for a laptop, a flat screen or a keyboard, with a support plate which has an upper side with a work surface and a lower side and is mounted on a stand.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, numerous holding devices for laptops or notebooks have already become known, which are portable and are intended to make ergonomic working at a desk possible. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,952, for example, a holding device is proposed, which has a support plate which has on its underside a plurality of projections at which the support plate can be supported on a table edge. At the rear edge, the support plate is supported with a footplate. This footplate is pivotable and adjustable, so that different inclinations of the support plate/the laptop can be set. It is a disadvantage of this holding device that the height itself cannot be adjusted, which would nevertheless be desirable for ergonomic and in particular health-related reasons. Moreover, a table edge suitable for support is not always available.
A holding device which has a three-legged stand is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0066630. As is customary, the stand is telescopically adjustable, so that the height too of the work device can be adjusted in the case of this holding device. However, it is scarcely possible for this holding device to be used on a table.
A collapsible platform for a laptop, which is supported on a horizontally extending arm, is known from WO 02/13659. Height-adjustment is scarcely possible with this holding device.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,809 discloses a holding device which can be mounted in a vehicle and has a platform fastened on a vertical stand. Height-adjustability is not possible in this case either. |
Do you ever shy away from sewing fashions, since getting the right fit may seem daunting? Don’t worry—you’re not alone. During the next two Sewing With Nancy episodes featuring the new show, Solving the Pattern Fitting Puzzle, I’d like to share with you my favorite pattern fitting techniques that are easily mastered without cutting the original pattern pieces apart!
The random winner of a copy of the book, Sew Gifts—Make Memories by Mary Mulari, is Nadine Nakano, who shared, “I have a huge box of old jeans that I want to upcycle so I’ll use a lot of it for the holidays as gifts”.
Don’t forget to submit your holiday stocking in my Stocking Challenge! The deadline to enter is MONDAY, December 7, 2015. Click here to see how to enter. Make sure you are subscribed to my enews mailing list so you won’t miss a thing. Sign up here.
Related Posts
99 Comments
I just received my book “Pattern Fitting with Confidence” by Nancy Zieman. I have also acquired a pattern from Seamwork which obviously is not sized as McCall’s and Simplicity. How do I determine which size to use? Here is a link to their sizing charts: https://help.colettemedia.com/patterns/size-charts
Nancy ZiemanAugust 6, 2016
Lana, I don’t know the answer as I have not worked with Seamwork. Perhaps you could contact them to see how their sizing correlates with the standard McCall’s and SImplicity sizing.
SharonApril 9, 2016
I have used this method for many years, since Nancy introduced it. Love it, and find it works well for me.
MrlanieApril 9, 2016
I am petite and struggle with making tops that fit across my shoulders without gaping at the top, mid back while maintaining the correct bust size. Would love tips!
DebraApril 9, 2016
As always, great tips! I have been a fan of your pivot and slide method since the 1980′s when I ordered your project sheets. It has been my go to method for fitting in garment construction ever since.
Linda WJanuary 17, 2016
I used my “right size measurement” for a shirt I’m making pinned it together & it actually looks like it fits. I also found a great way to duplicate pattern pieces purchase table cloths made with dunicel (Berkeley Jensen) makes them 50″x108″ (127cm x 274.32cm) they come 2 in a package. Acts like fabric much easier to handle than tissue paper.
Happy Sewing
GraceJanuary 16, 2016
Thank you so much for these programs about pattern alterations! I learned a great deal from the book you published in the 1980s, and it’s great to have a refresher and some updated techniques.
My problem adjustment is altering for very plus sized women (I build costumes for community theatre), particularly modifying for DD+ busts while keeping the shoulder/armhole from being too large on standard and princess bodices. I would also like to know how to draft a trouser pattern for a protruding bottom, without making the trouser leg far too wide.
Thank you!
Linda WNovember 24, 2015
I measured across arm to arm crease got 14.5″ which puts me @ a misses pattern size 16. The clerk at Joann Fabrics told me I needed a woman’s size so I cut out a woman’s size 24 pattern for my pants (they’re HUGE) I understand adding the difference in measurement to each side but how do I adjust the crotch seams
Patsy DobbsNovember 24, 2015
My bust is smaller than it should be to be in proportion with my waist. Also waist not in proportion to hips.Then there is the problem tummy now that I’m 81, which doesn’t help. When I was much younger, I wrote McCalls pattern company about this problem and got no real help as they suggested a woman’s pattern size that was MUCH too large (I weighed 130 then) and too short waisted (I’m 5’8″). Lord only knows what they would suggest now! I need help in the worst way!
Mary R.November 24, 2015
I am overweight due to the steroids I must take to keep my illness in control. Nothing fits, including store bought clothes. Your method will surely help to solve my fitting problems. Hope you are feeling better. Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
KarenNovember 24, 2015
I have a rounded upper back and a large tummy. As I’ve aged nothing fits ready to wear or pattern made. The videos were very helpful and I think the book might give me the rest of the answers.
JanNovember 23, 2015
Narrow shoulders and generous hips.
DeboraNovember 23, 2015
I always look forward to your emails. Thanks for the continued work you & your staff do. As you can see, you’re a blessing & inspiration to many of us here. Continued success & health to you. I want to sew for my beautiful niece, however, she is tall & hippy & I usually sew for the beanpole type grandkids. Thanks!
Anne Z.November 22, 2015
Hi,
I have never been formally taught how to fit patterns correctly. This information is fabulous!!! I always struggle with the bust and the arm holes.
Sue VincentNovember 21, 2015
Wow this is so helpful. I learned to sew from my mom who was an amazing seamstress. I found two old dress patterns of hers and decided to make a dress for myself using them. It was hard to fit correctly because she was bustier and shorter waisted than I am. Fortunately, I was able to “make it work” and the dress was beautiful but this info would have made it much easier. Thank you.
GingerNovember 21, 2015
Blending sizes some times causes my problems.
EnidNovember 21, 2015
I found a pattern that I like; however, the largest size is several sizes to small for me. I would love to be able to make the adjustments.
bobbie CalgaroNovember 21, 2015
Most patterns today have sleeves that are too small to fit my arm. I can’t see how they think a woman with a 40″ bust has a less than 14 1/2″ arm circumference. It’s frustrating and cutting the sleeve apart is messy and hard to work with.
Donna F.November 21, 2015
Thank you, Nancy! Your pivot points were an epiphany; especially for the armscye! I will also use your method for moving the dart! I look forward to Part II!
LindaC in AZNovember 21, 2015
One of my pattern puzzlers is narrow, very square shoulders.
I’m so happy to see a program on fitting patterns! Thank you.
AnnNovember 21, 2015
I weigh 136#. I have narrow shoulders, thin neck, but ample chest. I have loads of problems finding RTW tops and blouses that don’t have gaposis at the neck along with hanging down armpits. If I find something that fits my shoulders it is invariably too tight in the chest. I hope you will address (if any) differences in altering a knit pattern. Thx for doing a couple shows on altering patterns.
AnnNovember 21, 2015
I weigh 136#. I have narrow shoulders, thin neck, but ample chest. I have loads of problems finding RTW tops and blouses that don’t have gaposis at the neck along with hanging down armpits. If I find something that fits my shoulders it is invariably too tight in the chest. I hope you will address (if any) differences in altering a knit pattern. Thx for doing a couple shows on altering patterns.
MC O'NeillNovember 20, 2015
My copy of your fitting book from years ago is now falling apart – several pages are no longer attached to the spine. I’ve used it so much and it has never failed me. I expect the new one with the DVD will be even better!
EsseNovember 20, 2015
I need help! Petite, large bust. If bust fits, armpits are huge.
Ruth Ann NewnumNovember 20, 2015
This was very informative and since are ASG Group is now working with 4-Her’s this will be a very helpful video on Pattern Fitting. Thanks for your sharing and teaching us.
This fitting problem has always been somewhat of a puzzle, even though I have done some alterations and that helps clear up some of the puzzle. But would really like to make a garment for myself or others and have a good fit. This book would be a great help. Cecilia
FayeNovember 20, 2015
Pear-shaped–impossible to fit!
Virginia O'DonnellNovember 20, 2015
As I age and shrink in heighth and expand in the tummy, I have a terrible time buying clothes and would love to make my clothes again. This method could be my answer.
Being a large woman I find there are few patterns available. Mostly what I get is “lose weight”, but I have proved it’s due to real medical reasons. Still, I would like to dress nicely and make my clothes. I have to enlarge everything except a few patterns which I have to alter to fit, and it’s not always easy of successful. I would love to have the confidence to just adjust and cut out without the worry that I’d doing it right.
Kim HNovember 20, 2015
I love the method you use for fitting Nancy! I is so simple and effective. I would certainly welcome this into my library.
Praying for your full recovery Nancy.
Hugs, Kim
SusanNovember 20, 2015
As my body has changed with age I am faced with new/different fitting challenges. Thanks for the refresher course and reminder of ways to tweak the fit that I did not need to do when I was younger.
SerenityNovember 20, 2015
Isn’t it amazing to see how many posts, just how many of us, no matter how much time and energy and expense we put into fitting, continue to be disappointed. Something is totally wrong. I’m hoping with this method, the mystery of fit will be resolved, once and for all.
Cassy L.November 20, 2015
My body and pattern sizing has changed has changed from when I used to make all my own clothing. Would enjoy gaining confidence in choosing pattern sizes that would fit now.
ReneaNovember 19, 2015
I use to make all my clothing and never had a problem of things fitting. I have just started to make some tops for myself again and they never end up fitting. Not sure what I am doing wrong or if patterns have done some size shifting. Thanks for the great giveaway.
Mary WippoldNovember 19, 2015
I am short and have wide shoulders and a small bust.
It is very hard to find patterns that fit.
Grannie ConnieNovember 19, 2015
We are hoping you will soon be healthy. Since God “blessed” me with a generous bust, I must alter patterns to fit. I haven’t found a reliable method, but this method seems promising. I would love to win the DVD so I can finally make a blouse that fits properly. My daughter and granddaughter are ” blessed” also, so all three of us will benefit from this lesson. Thanks for all the lessons you have shared.
Lori MNovember 19, 2015
My problem is finding the right waist measurement…I pick the pattern size for the bust, but then for a blouse or dress…I cannot figure out where to adjust for the waist to hip…I thank you for a great giveaway…..
NancyNovember 19, 2015
I’m presently challenged with fitting an armhole and a short sleeve.
DeborahNovember 19, 2015
On top it is solving the “hanger” area of my narrow shoulders & neck but then being able to scale out for the large bust, tummy, hips all while keeping the armscye area neat and smooth. On the bottom I’d love to get rid of smiles & frowns by perfecting the crotch length & depth… and waist…. um, where exactly is my waist?? They either stay up right under my bust or hang on my hips. My rise is then too short… teen low rise jeans come up to my belly button.
I’m trying to understand that I need to pick a pattern for my high bust measurement, and then grade out for bust & hips. But so far, all my efforts have resulted in shoulder seams that fall off my shoulders, and often too wide neck openings. I’m baffled about what I should do if I just cut off the width at the shoulders – do I need to change the sleeves then? So I’m definitely puzzled.
Pam KingNovember 19, 2015
I have been trying to find a pattern that really fits, I am overweight and its hard to find patterns that really fit right.
Donna G.November 19, 2015
Fitting pants is my biggest puzzler!
Donna SchweitzerNovember 19, 2015
I used to make my kids clothes. I have not seen me anything for years because I am a plus size and I just don’t get it! HELP! Thank you.
Kelly SasmanNovember 19, 2015
I would love to learn how to fit tops in the underarm area so that the lay is right across the bust and drapes nice.
ROBIN, TXNovember 19, 2015
My daughter could sure use this!
TinaNovember 19, 2015
Great info. I really need this.
Leanda MayerNovember 19, 2015
I have to agree with the other comments that getting older makes fitting a much more difficult job. I know how much I appreciate you tackling this problem and would love to win this.
Jan N.November 19, 2015
Many years ago I learned from you the alterations you show in the Part 1 video. Now that I’m older and a “little” fluffier, I need to learn how to make an adjustment for a fuller bust line.
Diane CNovember 19, 2015
I would like to make pants because the ones I buy in the stores don’t fit right
Sewing is a CHALLENGE!!!! Have RA-so crooked joints-a dowager hump CHALLENGE my getting attractive & nice fitting clothes…..Nancy,you have been my fairy godmother for clothes for years…& here you come with more great help.THANKS
Shirley OwensNovember 19, 2015
I can’t tell you how difficult it is for me to make any garment that has sleeves. The size of my arms are at least two sizes larger than my bodice. They are this large all the way from shoulder to wrist. I wear long sleeves to camouflage them. I am just tired of gathered sleeves. I am experienced at making my own clothes since age 10. But I am baffled by this problem. Thanks for helping so many people. I pray that God will heal you so you may keep up the good work. You are very fortunate to have so many people who love you, including me.
SavannagalNovember 19, 2015
I’m a beginning sewer. I signed up for an online class on pattern fitting and I had a hard time understanding what was going on. I’m definitely interested in seeing your show on fitting. Some day it would be nice to make garments that fit well, instead of just fit on.
JoanieNovember 19, 2015
I am very excited to learn a way to fit pants. I have a large waist, smaller hips, no behind and average sized legs. My problem is if I make a pant to fit my waist they are huge in the hips and legs. If I make them for my hip size then they are too small in the waist. Help!!! Thank you.
colletteNovember 19, 2015
My fitting problem: small frame and DDD bra cup size.
BonnyeNovember 19, 2015
This summer I made a dress for my son’s wedding. The size I selected was too big on the top and too small on the bottom. With the help from my husband I was able to make a beautiful dress but I would like to have a good guide for future projects.
Linda swansonNovember 19, 2015
As a teen patterns fit me perfect. The years have added lots of pounds and senior shoulders and quite a large girth. I don’t even buy ready wear
Jo Ann BazarNovember 19, 2015
Am I relegated to dolman sleeves forever because as I’ve aged I developed rounded shoulders and a nice set of ‘bat wings ‘ on my upper arms but stayed the same width armpit to armpit.
Barbara R.November 19, 2015
I’ve stopped making clothing altogether because of the fitting problems I’ve encountered. I would love to make something besides pajama bottoms!
Bev MNovember 19, 2015
I used to be able to fit myself well, but now that I am older and a little larger, I am very uncertain. I usually allow too much extra fabric. Nancy’s methods should help me a lot.
Carol SNovember 19, 2015
I am totally intimated when it comes to fitting clothing and I have given up. Thank you so much for the wonderful instructions; they give me renewed hope. I hope it will be me but congratulations to whomever wins the DVD; this will be an invaluable help.
MaryNovember 19, 2015
Just what I have been looking for. I have stayed away from making clothing for myself because the fit is never right.
Shelia WardNovember 19, 2015
I usually have a dummy pattern cut out first using what ever paper I have on hand then I piece it onto the person I ma making the piece and do any alterations that way. Time consuming but its easier than trying to cut a semi finished piece and making mistakes that are not reversible.
Linda RupeNovember 19, 2015
I have been using your methods for years and recommend them to all of my students who are afraid of making clothing because of fit issues. Thank you for providing such a straightforward way of fitting. And thank you for being so humble in your approach to sharing your knowledge. You are a blessing and inspiration to many more than you will ever know.
Barbara ClintonNovember 19, 2015
I used this method many years ago, making prom dresses for my daughters. The sizing really works! I am delighted to see it again as I am interested in making some garments for myself. I had wondered if the sizing charts had changed with patten sizes. Now I have a recent version to update Nancy’s book from years ago. If you sew clothing, YOU NEED THIS!
MagaNovember 19, 2015
I wish the pattern companies would write the finished garment measurements (bust, waist and hips) on the envelopes. That would at least give us a fair chance to buy the right pattern size to start with. Sometimes I have to start with a size 10 sometimes a size 14 and work from there and that is within the same company’s pattern. They don’t make it easy for us from the start. I love the method Nancy teaches in her book Pattern Fitting with Confidence. It is one very dog-eared book in my library. I look forward to watching this 2-part series very much.
Mary Anne AhtyeNovember 19, 2015
I’ve been sewing since age 12 (4 H) and look forward to continuing my sewing education. Sewing with Nancy provides that outlet. By the way been sewing for 55 years still passionate about sewing!
Elizabeth LewisNovember 19, 2015
What a great method! I am constantly on the lookout for ways to improve the fit of my garments.
StarlaNovember 19, 2015
Thanks for the tips — just starting to learn to use patterns.
JoyceNovember 19, 2015
When I sew, I choose the size I think I need and don’t do any alterations because I really don’t know how. If the item fits, great, if it doesn’t, I put it in the pile of scraps. I have wasted more fabric that way. I love when I get something to fit! I am sure the DVD would be a big help.
NellieNovember 19, 2015
I have trouble getting patterns to fit because my bust is smaller in proportion to my waist/hips area. This can be difficult to deal with, especially when dealing with a jacket. I would love to have Nancy’s DVD to help me get through these problems. Thank you for the opportunity!
eginterNovember 19, 2015
I to have fiddled my pants pattern to fit,I have lost 46 lbs so now I have to refiddle my pattern,but think I have it done,I do not like the side pockets so looked at ready to wear and figured the pocket like jeans pockets, so now I need to do a top pattern,shoulders are to big,I find if if I have a top that fits I can lay my pattern on that (as I do not have a sewing buddy)and get the pattern to fit, thanks for all the,help,have been able to use up fabric and put it to use,always makes us feel better!
Sue MartinNovember 19, 2015
My number one sewing issue. This info is just what I need. Can’t wait for Part 2. Thank you Nancy.
Elaine RansomNovember 19, 2015
I’ve learned over the years to make pants that fit, but still have problems with shoulder and bust fitting. Other than knits ready to wear for me is virtually non existent. This video would be a big help.
AudreyNovember 19, 2015
I like to make jackets, but often have to give them away because the shoulders don’t fit. I also have trouble getting the bust fitted properly.
Amy GillNovember 19, 2015
Fitting pants is tough. Choosing the correct pattern is tougher.
Janet DuffNovember 19, 2015
I am finding it impossible to get my sewing patterns to fit as I get older. This book would be a huge blessing. Finding clothes that fit well and modestly in stores seems to be impossible also. I’ll have to give this a try!
SuAnne RNovember 19, 2015
I used to sew most of my own garments & for my kids. Now that they are grown and my figure is no longer a ‘standard’ size, not so much. I would really like to start again and solving the fit issue would be a great help.
JadeNovember 19, 2015
I’ve promised my daughter I would try to make her a jacket or two that actually fit. This book is the tool I need to get started.
VirginiaNovember 19, 2015
I really need to watch this episode. Fitting issues where should I start. I have very narrow shoulders vs large bust; no longer have a definable waist, normal hips but have a tummy due to 3 surgeries. As I’ve gotten older my shoulders are now curving forward. I purchase a size L & sometimes XL depending on the fit or lack of ease and the shoulders are usually 1 to 2 inches too big.
Karen B.November 19, 2015
My biggest fitting issue is around the hips and waist. I know your book will simplify and make it all make sense. Thanks, Nancy.
marie hannaganNovember 19, 2015
When I was younger I no problem fitting patterns. Since getting older everything has shifted and I cannot seem to get the right fit.
LyndaNovember 19, 2015
I would love this program, I have not sewed clothes in 20 years and I am trying to get back into it, I my daughter in law wants to learn to sew so I am teaching her and I would like her to learn the right way of doing things this DVD would really help the both of us. have a great day!
MarilynNovember 19, 2015
I love dressmaking, but stopped because when my body changed, I couldn’t get a nice fit. I think I can do it with your method! I’m excited and can’t wait to see the second video. Thanks!
KayZeeNovember 19, 2015
Pants fitting has always been my biggest problem. I have been watching “Sewing With Nancy” for years and have learned many helpful fitting tips. Thanks, Nancy!
Linda BuckmasterNovember 19, 2015
You are a true inspiration. I have learned so much from you over the year and have many of your older shows on VHS tape. I would love to see a segment on how to adjust the crotch length of a pant pattern, to make it longer.
MickieNovember 19, 2015
I used to make all my clothes, and they fit perfectly. Now I have grandchildren and nothing fits except rtw stretch and that’s stretching it a bit. With tubs of beautiful designer fabrics I hope your method is my answer. What I would give to have a pants pattern that actually fit ME. .
Judy RommelNovember 19, 2015
I have a hard time with drop shoulder patterns fit and sleeve lenght alterations.
CyndiNovember 19, 2015
A book with step by step instructions is Wonderful! I have sewn for years but have never taken the time to properly fit a pattern. Thank you for the give away!
Debra WilliamsNovember 19, 2015
I have always been hesitant to sew anything but loose fitting garments for myself because even after 40 years sewing I’m unsure how to fit properly. This is an awesome series and thank you so much for the opportunity to win!
Jan HNovember 19, 2015
Sewing clothes that fit was always a mystery. With these techniques, I’ll be willing to try again and get stellar results!
EldeneNovember 19, 2015
Thanks Nancy….you make it sound so simple!
Love to sew!
JoNovember 19, 2015
I would really like to make clothes for summer and would definitely love to win this to keep referring back while trying to sew.
ValerieNovember 19, 2015
What a great video! Grandma taught me to cut the pattern, and I’ve always been hesitant to do that. I truly appreciate these instructions and can’t wait to see Part II.
Martha MorganNovember 19, 2015
I cannot get a proper fit, especially since (menopause) I went from a B cup to a double D!!! I never was a “good” seamstress but I enjoyed trying, now I make quilts.
RitaNovember 19, 2015
I would love to really learn to make clothing that doesn’t’ look home made..
Martha MorganNovember 19, 2015
I cannot make clothes for myself!!! I have (since menopause) gone from a B cup to a double D, no matter what I do I cannot get a proper fit – frustrating. I never was a “good” seamstress, but I liked to keep trying, now I make quilts.
KateNovember 19, 2015
I’d love this program, fitting pants is traumatizing to say the least! I pray you are doing good, and hopefully walking and feeling much better. Have a blessed day! |
Vintage Miriam Haskell Style Taupe Graduated Faux Pearls
3mm to 8mm. You receive a 16" strand of fabulous vintage glass pearl beads. These beads are made in Japan. They are graduated and have bead tips. Some of the bead tips are showing the signs of their age. We recommend restringing these old glass beads. The luster on these vintage pearl beads is wonderful.
If you are not delighted with your beads and beading supplies, we will gladly give you a store credit, exchange , or a refund within 30 days of purchase. Please see our shipping & returns page for the full details. |
A Novel Acquired Exon 20 EGFR M766Q Mutation in Lung Adenocarcinoma Mediates Osimertinib Resistance but is Sensitive to Neratinib and Poziotinib.
Osimertinib is an effective third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for EGFR-mutant lung cancers. However, treatment for patients with acquired resistance to osimertinib remains challenging. We characterized a novel EGFR mutation in exon 20 that was acquired while on osimertinib. A 79-year-old woman had disease progression during third-line treatment with osimertinib for an EGFR L858R/T790M-mutant lung cancer. Sequencing of circulating cell-free DNA showed EGFR L858R, an acquired novel EGFR M766Q mutation in exon 20, and no evidence of EGFR T790M. Homology modeling was performed to investigate the effects of M766Q on binding to osimertinib. L858R and L858R/M766Q mutations were retrovirally introduced into Ba/F3 and NIH/3T3 cells and evaluated for sensitivity to first-generation (erlotinib), second-generation (afatinib, neratinib, and poziotinib), and third-generation TKIs (osimertinib) by cell viability and colony-formation assays. EGFR-mediated signaling pathways were interrogated by western blotting. Modeling suggested that EGFR M766Q could disrupt osimertinib binding. L858R/M766Q double-mutant cells were 12-fold more resistant to osimertinib, and more than 250-fold more resistant to erlotinib and afatinib, as compared to L858R-mutant cells. In contrast, double-mutant cells remained sensitive to neratinib and poziotinib at clinically relevant doses (concentration that inhibits 50%, 4.3 and 1.3 nM, respectively). This was corroborated by the effects of the TKIs on colony formation and EGFR signaling. Acquisition of EGFR M766Q exon 20 mutation is a novel mechanism of acquired resistance to osimertinib. EGFR-mutant lung cancers with an acquired EGFR M766Q mutation in the setting of osimertinib resistance may be sensitive to neratinib and poziotinib. |
Cultivation conditions and properties of extracellular crude lipase from the psychrotrophic fungus Penicillium chrysogenum 9'.
Among 97 fungal strains isolated from soil collected in the arctic tundra (Spitsbergen), Penicillium chrysogenum 9' was found to be the best lipase producer. The maximum lipase activity was 68 units mL(-1) culture medium on the fifth day of incubation at pH 6.0 and 20 degrees C. Therefore, P. chrysogenum 9' was classified as a psychrotrophic microorganism. The non-specific extracellular lipase showed a maximum activity at 30 degrees C and pH 5.0 for natural oils or at pH 7.0 for synthetic substrates. Tributyrin was found to be the best substrate for lipase, among those tested. The Km and Vmax were calculated to be 2.33 mM and 22.1 units mL(-1), respectively, with tributyrin as substrate. The enzyme was inhibited more by EDTA than by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and was reactivated by Ca2+. The P. chrysogenum 9' lipase was very stable in the presence of hexane and 1,4-dioxane at a concentration of 50%, whereas it was unstable in presence of xylene. |
Lateral and sex differences in manual gesture during conversation.
To examine whether sex differences in cerebral lateralisation for speech can be observed through lateral differences in manual gesturing during natural conversation, 100 individuals (50 male and 50 female) were observed following a procedure similar to that described by Kimura (1973a,b). For males, there was a significant increase in the number of gestures made with the right hand during speech. When males were listening, there was a significant increase in the number of gestures made with the left hand. This result was not observed in the females studied, who did not demonstrate significant manual asymmetries in gesturing during either speech or listening. This result is consistent with claims that there is a sex difference in hemispheric specialisation wherein males are more functionally lateralised than females. |
Scientists Create Street Light That Mimics Humans To Trap Mosquitoes
The mosquito is without a doubt one of the most annoying things about warm weather. Every time the seasons change, you’ll get so excited about it being warm again that you forget about mosquitoes until you get bit on the foot whilst sitting around a bonfire. That may seem annoying, but mosquitoes also carry diseases like Malaria and West Nile. Now, there is something even worse hitching a ride with the mosquito: The Zika Virus.
To try and counter the explosion of this virus, scientists from the University of Malaysia may have created a way to prevent the spread of this virus that has shown up all over the world — a street lamp that mimics a human being to trap the douche bag of the insect world.
The LED street lamp invention produces low levels of carbon dioxide by combining U.V. light with titanium dioxide. What this does is emulate the smell of a human being. If you’ve ever used those sprays to keep mosquitoes away, what that does is masks your odor to them so they don’t notice you. It may make you smell weird, but slapping yourself and risking something isn’t a better option.
Once the mosquito is attracted to the smell of the lamp giving off the odor, they enter capture windows where they’re sucked into a capture net by a fan. Have a look at the lamp:
The lamps are also green and energy efficient. It uses the Eco-Greenery outdoor lighting system, which is designed to gather energy from wind and solar so it can off-set the small amounts of carbon it emits to trap the mosquitoes in the lamp. The lamp is also designed to work in flooding situations, which will also notify rescue teams to the flood levels.
This lamp is not only a good thing to stop mosquitoes and the spread of disease worldwide, it’s also something that will pay for itself that impoverished nations would need. The spread of diseases and viruses from mosquitoes is monumental, so the thought of having these on every street corner could put millions of families at ease.
(Via Research Sea)
Follow Jeff Sorensen on TWITTER
Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post,UPROXX,BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: [email protected] |
Q:
What means "not running under some shell" in Perl scripts?
In many perl scripts (especially in famous CPAN distros) I find the following piece of code:
eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -w -S $0 ${1+"$@"}'
if 0; # not running under some shell
I was wondering what it is for?
Thanks.
A:
Some systems don't recognize the #!/usr/bin/perl line at the start of scripts, and so trying to invoke a Perl program by name on such a system will simply pass the script to the shell. In order to combat this, portable Perl programs begin with a line that, when interpreted by a standard POSIX shell, causes the script to be passed to perl(1) instead. The if 0 causes the line to be ignored when run by Perl itself, and placing it on a separate line causes shells to treat it as a separate command, running just the eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -w -S $0 ${1+"$@"}' as soon as it's read.
|
2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics – Women's 3000 metres steeplechase
The women's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held in Grosseto, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico Carlo Zecchini on 13 and 15 July.
Medalists
Results
Final
15 July
Heats
13 July
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Participation
According to an unofficial count, 45 athletes from 28 countries participated in the event.
References
3000 metres steeplechasechase
Category:Steeplechase at the World Athletics U20 Championships |
Image forming devices commonly include a plurality of motor control systems to drive various image forming components. For example, one motor control system may be used to drive one or more photoconductive members, including drums, plates, or belts, while another motor control system may be used to drive another component, such as a transport belt, intermediate transfer belt, developer roller, or transfer roller. Furthermore, in some image forming devices, the image forming components are placed in moving contact with one another.
Various considerations arise during the initial startup and acceleration of the image forming components from rest to a process speed. For example, friction exists at the contact surface between components if one component accelerates at a faster rate than another. Significant amounts of friction may produce excessive heat, wear, and power consumption. Another concern relates to image quality. Ideally, image-forming components that are placed in moving contact with one another move at substantially uniform surface speeds with respect to one another. Image smear or image misregistration may result if an image transfer occurs between components that are not at a desired speed or position. Generally, once components reach a steady-state process speed, their respective motor control systems can control the speed and/or position of the components within desired limits. However, when components are accelerating, matching surface speeds may be difficult.
In addition, backlash in a motor gear train may contribute to position errors. Generally, backlash in a gear train should be removed in order for a motor to positively drive a component and for an associated motor control system to control the speed and position of that component. Unfortunately, in certain instances, the interplay of accelerating components that are in contact with one another can have an effect on backlash in one or both of the gear trains driving these components. For example, a first image-forming component may drive a second, adjacent component ahead of the motor that is driving that second component. This situation may result in a lack of control over the speed and/or position of the second component since its motor and associated motor control system are not actually driving that second component. Poor image quality may result for a period of time until the motor control system for that second component causes the motor to eliminate the backlash and positively engage the gear train to drive the second component. In some systems, it may take several printed pages to resolve this misregistration problem. Additional registration errors may ensue if a registration calibration procedure is performed in the image-forming device before the backlash is eliminated in one or more component drive trains. |
Dr. Inna I. Vaisleib, MD
Child Neurology
Dr. Vaisleib's Overview
Dr. Inna I. Vaisleib graduated from the Kharkov Medical Univ, Kharkov, Ukraine in 1987. She works in Pittsburgh, PA and 1 other location and specializes in Child Neurology. Dr. Vaisleib is affiliated with Childrens Hospital Pittsburgh Of UPMC. She speaks English and Spanish. |
The cellular localization of the cholecystokinin 2 (gastrin) receptor in the stomach.
The role of the gastric acid secretagogues acetylcholine, gastrin and histamine has been debated for decades. Initially, the mast cell was considered the source of acid stimulatory histamine. Later, Håkanson & Owman (1969) showed that the entero-chromaffinlike (ECL) cell produces and stores histamine in several species, including rat and man. Kahlson et al. (1964) showed that food and gastrin stimulated oxyntic mucosal histamine synthesis and release, Berglindh et at. (1976) that histamine and cholinergics but not gastrin induced acid secretion in isolated oxyntic glands and parietal cells, and Rangachari (1995) that acetylcholine or gastrin released histamine in isolated mucosa. These findings suggested that gastrin stimulates acid secretion through release of ECL cell histamine. Studying simultaneous histamine release and acid secretion in isolated oxyntic mucosal cells, we found that gastrin stimulated acid secretion only in preparations releasing histamine. Moreover, in the isolated rat stomach, gastrin stimulated both histamine release and acid secretion. Maximal acid output was higher with histamine than with gastrin, and augmented by acetylcholine but not by gastrin. These findings strongly suggested that gastrin acts by releasing histamine. Finally, a fluorescein-labelled gastrin analogue bound to the ECL cell, not to the parietal or stem cell regions. This is interesting, recalling that gastrin has a potent and specific trophic effect on the ECL cell and only a general effect on all other oxyntic cell types. In conclusion, physiological observations are best explained by localising the CCK2 receptor only to the ECL cell, the other effects of gastrin on the gastric mucosa being secondary to the release of mediators from the ECL cell. |
This is the real Obamacare
Related Media
The Affordable Care Act has canceled as many existing health insurance policies as it has signed up new ones. Obama announced 7.1 million new sign-ups on his website — prove it!
As the CBO writes,“CBO and JCT project that, as a result of the ACA, between 6 and 7 million fewer people will have employment-based insurance coverage each year from 2016 through 2024 than would be the case in the absence of the ACA estimates.”
Further, to the contractor who wrote to The Union the other day describing a Blue Shield plan that had lower deductibles and added more coverage — he failed to mention the ACA has subsidies on the other end. So, his neighbors are subsidizing his plan. |
John Paul College Principal, Mrs Karen Spiller (OAM) has today received her Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) from His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC at the Investiture Ceremony at Government House in Brisbane.
Mrs Spiller’s award was announced in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her service to women and her service to education, specifically as:
Chair, Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, current; Member, since 2006.
Earlier this month, Mrs Spiller was also awarded honorary membership of the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia (AGSA), the highest honour the Alliance bestows. The award recognises outstanding women and men who have made a significant contribution to the Alliance and to girls’ education and who have shown general advocacy for women’s rights and equality.
“The John Paul College board congratulates Karen on her OAM and her recent AGSA honorary membership award,” said Chair of the Board, Helen Weissenberger. “Karen’s passion for educating children and leading our College is palpable. We are continually impressed with her wealth of professional experience and leadership acumen. She is an exceptional advocate for leadership development of our staff and students.”
Prior to joining John Paul College in January 2018, Karen was the Principal at the highly respected St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School.
She established the multi-award winning annual Aspiring Women Leaders conference in 2006 and has also delivered similar programs for the Associations of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW) and Western Australia (AISWA).
In 2011 Karen was awarded a Churchill Fellowship ‘to examine strategies for preparing female leaders for the position of Principalship in Australian schools’.
In 2013 Karen was awarded Fellow of The CEO Institute and appointed a Fellow of Bond University and Principal in Residence.
Karen is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australian Human Resources Institute, the Australian Council for Educational Leaders and the Australian College of Educators. She is also the Deputy Chair of Independent Schools Queensland.
“I am humbled by this award. Teaching and inspiring academic excellence have been my life’s work and I am both humbled and honoured to be receiving the Medal of the Order of Australia,” said Karen Spiller OAM, Principal, John Paul College. |
Thursday
Author's note. Rebecca, Charles and all the rest. Thank you very much. This chapter is dedicated to you and everyone else who has stuck with the story and the rest of my meanderings. More is coming shortly, but I didn't want to leave you hanging for long.
Even in the faded light of the evening, made dimmer by the rain, they could see the wide swath of destruction. The epicenter was a deep black scar which ran two houses deep on either side and ran several streets perpendicular across the neighborhood. The surrounding houses in either direction were completely or partially burned five houses across.
Brad's house was a ground zero.
Brad stood in front of the pile of long burned wreckage and said nothing but instead clenched his fists and shook his head before falling to his knees. Everyone stood silent for a few moments shocked at the devastation before going to his side.
"no.. we came to the wrong house.. this is someone else's house.. no.. mom.. dad..?" he moaned.
Candace and Catelyn hugged Brad and rocked him slowly as he began to cry quietly at first before breaking down entirely.
"Man, what hit this place?" said Antonio.
"It looks like a bomb. Maybe it was a gas leak or something?" said Patty quietly.
"Brad? Is that you?" came a man's voice from behind them.
Patty and Antonio both turned at the same time, but Patty was the only one who pointed a gun at the approaching stranger.
"Careful, lady. I don't want any trouble, but think I know that kid. Brad?" said the man who was in his late forties, wearing dark athletic clothing, carrying a pistol gripped shotgun and had an unlit headlamp on top of his head.
Brad turned and looked at the man for a moment before a look of recognition went across his face.
"Easy, son. Yes, it's me, but I don't know where your parents are or even if they were home when this happened. It's been a couple of weeks and a lot has happened around here." Monroe replied.
"What happened?" asked Patty.
"Plane crash. Who are the rest of you people?" said Monroe looking over the group.
"Catelyn and Candace were on the trip with Brad and go to his school. I'm Patty Lopez, I sort of found the three of them in East Texas. Antonio is our tour guide to your fair city.Now you know who we are, but who are you and how do you know Brad?" said Patty.
"Name's Monroe and I live two streets over. Used to be the president of the homeowners association but there's no neighborhood or homeowners left anymore so I guess that title means nothing. I know Brad's parents, or at least I did before all this." he said waving his left hand behind him.
"A plane did this?" asked Antonio, "Get real."
"Yeah, a G5 I heard, taking off from Addison. Must have had a full tank when the Blowup happened and it cratered down here after losing power. Burned up most of the neighborhood, at least on this street and two others. Burned for days afterward." he replied.
"You saw it? So what happened to Brad's parents?" implored Patty.
"Never said I saw it. I was in downtown Dallas when the power went out. By the time I got home, it was nearly dark, I had to walk all day just to get back. Another fellow told me about the crash, but I never found out who lived or died, except for those who we knew about, you know, because their bodies were laying out on the street. We didn't find Brad's parents, but they might have been inside the house, I don't know." said Monroe.
"Do you have a place we can talk?" asked Patty. "I'd rather not stand around in the rain, especially at night."
"Not coming to my house. Nothing personal, but I don't know you or trust you. For all I know, you might be looking for a place permanent like." the man said.
"Okay, fine. How about we go over to that house? It looks like it is still in one piece." said Patty pointing at a dark house further down the street.
"Sure, but not for long. I don't like being out any more than you do." said Monroe.
They walked down the street, but not after having to convince Brad that poking through the ruins of his parent's home at night would not be useful or wise at the present. He reluctantly went along with them with the promise they would return at first light.
The front door to the home was open and that left the foyer wet from all the recent rain. The hallway carpet was damp and moldering while the house had the smell of burned wood and insullation even though it had not been damaged by the fire. There was obviously nobody living in the structure and the rooms had already been thoroughly looted.
They sat down in the dark living room and after tightly closing the curtains, they lit two of Patty's emergency candles along with Antonio's LED lantern.
"So you say most of the neighborhood is no longer here. Did they all go somewhere else? Maybe there is an emergency shelter or something where Brad's parents might have gone?" asked Patty.
"Shelter? You're kidding right? The day after the Blowup it was every man for himself around here. Most of the houses were burned up in this neighborhood and those that weren't didn't have it any better. No running water, food in the grocery store all gone in a few hours, no lights or gas. Anyone who lived took off on their own and never came back. Only a few of us stayed, mainly because we had no where else to go. I'm the last one I think." said Monroe.
"But there wasn't any sort of shelters or Red Cross aid. In fact, things got worse when those people showed up at the airport, the FEMA clowns. For the first few days, we could leave the neighborhood, on foot or by bike, and check out the area. Got lucky too, at least I did. Found a some stuff I needed and managed to get it back home. But when FEMA got here, all bets were off. If they saw you anywhere on the street near the airport, they'd just gun you down. Saw it happen, too. They really didn't want you looking for food or stuff they might have wanted. So now we just wait." he added.
"But why are you still here, Monroe?" asked Patty.
"Safest place to be, right under their noses. No looters come around here now and the FEMA people aren't coming to a burned neighborhood. As long as I have food and can stay out of sight, I'm in better shape than most people." he replied.
"Well, we have to figure out what to do but there's nothing we can do until it gets light. Brad, I hate to tell you this, but we'll need to check what's left of your parent's home in the morning and see if we can find any.. find out where they might have gone." said Patty.
"Sure, I guess. I don't think they're dead." said Brad looking at his hands in his lap.
"You people do what you want. But if you stay here, try not and draw any attention to this place. Last thing I need is you bringing a bunch of FEMA goons coming over here and blowing my cover. Brad, I'm sorry about your folks. They were good people." said Monroe standing and walking to the door.
"Oh yeah and another thing. Don't try and follow me home or come over for anything later. It's every man for himself and I don't have anything to share."
"Thanks, Monroe, we'll remember that." said Patty with a steely gaze.
"This place stinks." said Candace after Monroe left. "I'd rather sleep outside than in here."
"Me too," said Antonio. "Smells like a cat died in the attic. Let's go down the street and find somewhere else to sleep. I saw a Hallmark store that looked good."
"A Hallmark store?" asked Catelyn.
"Girl, what'd you been learning the last few weeks? Ain't nobody looting a Hallmark store and they got candles that smell good. Probably even some food in there too if you know where to look." replied Antonio.
"I would have never thought of that, Antonio. You're a pretty bright kid, you know." said Patty.
"'Bout time you realized. C'mon Bradley. I'll help you look through your folk's house in the morning." said Antonio.
Brad looked up surprised at Antonio and then stood up stiffly from the couch.
"Thanks, man, I appreciate that." he said.
They took down their lights and made their way out of the stuffy mauseleum of a house. Antonio was right as there was a Hallmark store a few blocks away in a strip shopping center and as expected, was largely untouched. Inside, Patty imagined well intentioned women carefully inspecting christening announcements while sipping a Starbuck's latte until the children were released from school. She wondered what those same people were doing now.
True, they had to bed down on the floor in the back, but Antonio was correct in that the abandonded retail store smelled better than the house there were recently inside of. He also correctly surmised and found some food to augment their depleting stores. "Dinner" included chocolates, honey roasted peanuts and peppermint candy left over from Christmas.
After a fitful night and turns taking watch, Brad tapped Patty on the shoulder and asked if they could leave for his house. Patty looked into the front of the store and saw the sun had still not risen, but understood the boy's urgency. She suggested that the two of them go look first and let the others get some well needed rest.
Outside, they went hurriedly back to Brad's neighborhood while Patty kept a sharp eye out that they were not being followed. At the house, the task was larger than they thought the night before as they could see the level of damage to the house.
The roof was completely burned and had collapsed onto the supporting structure. Only one wall was standing and nearly all the contents of the two story house had fallen into the center and burned completely. Brad went around to where the garage was in the back and called Patty over.
"Patty, look, mom's car wasn't here!" he said excitely.
There was the burned hulk of a sedan of some type underneath the charred remains of the garage, but there was clearly a second spot empty alongside.
"Mom hated driving and if dad was home, he would have driven if she wanted to go somewhere. The Burnout happened Friday morning and dad worked from home on Fridays so I bet they went somewhere that morning. I wasn't supposed to be back until noon or so. Maybe they went out for breakfast or shopping." Brad said.
"You'd know better than I would Brad. I assume your mom had a newer model car and it was probably as dead as everyone else's was. But do you think they came back here and saw the damage to their house and left?" Patty asked.
"I would have. I mean, I would have come home first, wouldn't you? And yes, mom's car was new so they had to have walked. And if so, they probably got here and their house was already gone. Where would they have gone?" said Brad walking around the other side of the house.
"Patty! I found it!" yelled Brad.
Patty went after the boy and found him pointing at the base of the only wall still standing. Patty had no idea what Brad was talking about until she saw what appeared to be a something written in permanent black marker on the one of the bricks.
Brad
Go to Aunt Peggys
Love Mom and Dad
Along with the date and year they wrote it.
"The day after the Burnout," said Patty. "Brad, they survived! That's great news!" and she gave the young man a big hug.
"Where does Aunt Peggy live? It must be nearby." asked Patty.
"I told you where she lives the first day we met! In Celeste! She has horses, remember? And she lives on a big piece of land. Of course they went there. Let's get the others and start walking there now!" Brad exclaimed.
"Um, Brad? Celeste is about sixty miles north of here. We still have to find the girls' family." said Patty.
"I know, but we can come back. I am sure Catelyn and Candace will understand. And when we get to my aunt's we can ride horses back. It'll be great!" said Brad.
"Sure, Brad. Let's go talk this over with the others, okay?" said Patty quietly.
---------
"No! I gotta get to my parents! This isn't fair, why can't we just get started for Celeste and come back? Anyway, you guys all agreed it sucks around here. We'll probably just get shot if stay much longer." said Brad.
They were standing in the Hallmark store and Brad was wildly waving his good arm around as he lost his temper. The others did not want to go to Celeste until they had checked on the girls' family as expected. Antonio also had no interest in walking all the way to "Hayseedville" as he called it.
"Brad," said Patty quietly. "We've come this far and are only a few miles from Candace and Catelyn's home. Let's go check and we will decide what to do after that, okay? It's not too much to ask and besides, your parents are probably alright."
"I'll just go by myself. I don't need you guys anyway. Go on and do what you want, I'm going to Celeste." said Brad.
"Brad! Wait.." said Catelyn.
"No, Catelyn, let him do what he wants. If he stays he'll resent all of us. And if he goes, he'll be fine." said Patty calmly.
"Good," said Brad and he started pulling his backpack together. "Patty, I need my rifle back."
"Huh? Your rifle? I'm sorry Brad, you leave the group and you take what you brought. Nothing more." replied Patty.
"That's not fair. You're just trying to psyche me out or something. Well, it's not going to work. I earned my place and my share of the stuff." he said and then he walked over to pick up the M4 Candace had been carrying.
Patty intercepted and grabbed him briefly by his injured shoulder causing Brad to yelp.
"Why'd you gotta go and do that." he said with his face contorted in pain.
"Because you are acting like an idiot. You want to go running off to Celeste? Fine, but you're not leaving us holding the bag. When you got shot, we didn't run off and leave you and we haven't any other time there was a problem, did we? But look what you are doing to the girls and me. Taking off without a care in the world and on top of that, you want to take stuff that doesn't belong to you." said Patty.
"It's not fair..." Brad stated to say.
"Nothing's fair! Not this, not having to deal with bad guys at every turn, not having to stand around in Addison instead of getting home to my daughter! Enough already!" shouted Patty.
"Fine. Try and guilt me out some more Patty. Me and everyone else." said Brad.
"Oh Patty, we're all so helpless without you. Oh thank you for shooting everyone who looks at you the wrong way. Why don't we call you Queen Patty and you can tell everyone what to for the rest of their life?" said Brad, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Patty raised her hand to strike the young man causing his eyes to open wide and Catelyn to let out a small surprised sound. Instead, Patty lowered her arm and abruptly grabbed her pack off the floor. Slinging the M4 over her shoulder, she went to the front door of the Hallmark store.
About
These are stories I am in the process of writing. Sometimes, I drop them for awhile and return later with the finish so check back often. Comments and feedback are welcome and encourage me to write more..
All works located herein are the property of the author of this blog only and may not be reprinted or distributed without written authorization. Copyright - SHTF Fiction 2009-2014shtfiction.blogspot.com |
This application claims priority to application Ser. No. 10/214,868 filed Aug. 7, 2002 which is incorporated by reference herein.
The practice of investigating and assessing liability in automobile accidents no doubt dates back to the invention of the automobile. Over the years, the number and dollar value of insured automobile accident losses have greatly increased—the result of increased automobile usage, automobile values, and driving speeds. Similarly, the tort law concept of negligence, rooted in the English Common law and dating back many centuries, has also evolved, with the concept of strict contributory negligence giving way to theories of comparable or comparative negligence.
Comparative negligence describes the concept that a claimant's negligence, which to along with an insured's negligence causes the claimant's injury, diminishes the damages that the claimant is entitled to recover. Comparative negligence includes any rule under which the relative degree of negligence of the parties is considered in determining whether, and to what degree, either should be held responsible for a loss. The doctrine of comparative negligence is designed to eliminate the “all or nothing” effect of common law contributory negligence rules (by which any amount of negligence “contributed” by the claimant would bar his or her bars recovery).
Comparative negligence rules have developed into three major categories used by the majority of states within the United States, and a number of nations and territories throughout the world: “pure” or “100 percent” comparative negligence rules, “modified” comparative negligence rules, and “slight-gross” comparative negligence rules.
Pure comparative negligence allows a claimant whose negligence is not the sole proximate cause of his injury to recover despite his own negligence, but requires that the amount of his damages be decreased in proportion to the degree of his negligence. Under the pure type of comparative negligence a claimant's recovery is not barred even though his contributory negligence was equal to or greater than the defendant's negligence. (For instance, a plaintiff who is 99% negligent may recover 1% of his damages.) Pure comparative negligence has no application where the negligence of the claimant was the sole proximate cause of the injury, or where the sole proximate cause of the accident was the claimant's negligence.
Under “modified” or “50 percent” comparative negligence, a claimant's contributory negligence is not a bar to recovery if his negligence was not as great as the negligence of the defendant. As with pure comparative negligence, the damages suffered by the claimant are to be reduced by the degree of his or her negligence. For example, a claimant chargeable with 49 percent of the combined negligence resulting in his injury may recover 51 percent of his damages against a party responsible for 51 percent of such negligence, but if the proportion of negligence chargeable to the claimant is 50 percent or more he cannot recover anything.
Under the “slight-gross” rule of comparative negligence, a claimant may recover a proportionate share of his damages where his negligence is not greater than that of the other party. Thus a claimant who is equally negligent with the other party can recover 50 percent of his damages.
There are no hard and fast rules for assessing the relative negligence of the parties to a loss. Such assessments depend on the precise circumstances of each particular case. In certain situations one may consider the comparative knowledge of the parties as to the existence of facts or circumstances creating a hazard. For example, if a party had notice of a hazard, consideration should also be given to whatever precautions that party took for his or her own safety, the extent to which he or she should have appreciated the risk as a result of warnings, experience, or other factors, and the foreseeability of injury as a consequence of his or her conduct. One may also take into account unusual and peculiar circumstances, which create a greater risk. Recognizing these and other concepts and consistently applying them to the facts surrounding a particular accident, however, remains difficult for even the most experienced investigator.
Today's insurance claim investigator must handle a large number of claims. For each claim, the investigator must perform the difficult and time-consuming task of gathering large amounts of information from a variety of sources, including information from the insured, the claimant and any witnesses and police reports. The investigator must then evaluate each claim based on his or her understanding of the relevant legal concepts, and in particular concepts of comparative negligence. Individual claims must be processed fairly and consistently with other claims resulting from like circumstances.
In the past, the components of an investigator's investigation were more often than not “buried” in various locations, for instance in paper files, in computer notes, on audio tapes, etc. This would make the process of locating evidence, comparing statements, and recalling what was said very difficult and time consuming. Without a central repository for the investigation and subsequent negotiations, key elements might be overlooked, depending on the complexity of the claim and independent expertise of the claims adjuster investigating the claim. Another unfortunate result might be that similar to accidents handled by different investigators, or even the same investigator on a different day, result in different assessments. Until now there has been no truly uniform method of assessing comparative negligence, either from claim to claim or from investigator to investigator. |
It's easy to tick off the ways in which California is a leader in clean energy: It harvests more solar energy than any other state, has a program to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicles on its famously long highways, and launched its own cap-and-trade system this year.
And yet, a move is afoot for a quite different type of new energy development in the Golden State, beneath the same valley that beckoned gold seekers and migrant farmers generations ago. That ever alluring land happens to lie atop the Monterey shale formation, a vast rock formation that is believed to hold one of the world's largest onshore reserves of shale oil.
Oil companies are seeking to stake their claim to this prize, plunging California into a debate on its energy and economic future. The U.S. trailblazer on renewable energy could well become the latest front in the nation's fracking-driven oil boom.
It's not yet clear whether hydraulic fracturing can unleash the same sort of oil rush in California's Monterey shale as the United States is now seeing in North Dakota and in Texas. The San Joaquin Valley, site of historic tension over river flow, aquifer-pumping, and irrigation, is a dubious location for a business that requires large volumes of water to fracture the underground rock.
As for the rock itself, it is deeper and thicker than other shales, formed by tectonic faulting millions of years ago. Today the geology's potential and risks are still not fully understood. But perhaps the biggest obstacles are above ground, as California grapples with questions fundamental to its identity. Should the state move aggressively to seize this new opportunity for jobs and industrial development, or take steps to preserve its remaining havens of undeveloped land and shun a new round of fossil fuel expansion?
When Felix Fischer of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) set out to develop nanostructures made of graphene using a new, controlled approach to chemical reactions, the first result was a surprise: spectacular images of individual carbon atoms and the bonds between them.
“We weren’t thinking about making beautiful images; the reactions themselves were the goal,” says Fischer, a staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division (MSD) and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. “But to really see what was happening at the single-atom level we had to use a uniquely sensitive atomic force microscope in Michael Crommie’s laboratory.” Crommie is an MSD scientist and a professor of physics at UC Berkeley.
What the microscope showed the researchers, says Fischer, “was amazing.” The specific outcomes of the reaction were themselves unexpected, but the visual evidence was even more so. “Nobody has ever taken direct, single-bond-resolved images of individual molecules, right before and immediately after a complex organic reaction,” Fischer says.
The researchers report their results online in the May 30, 2013 edition of Science Express.
Rounded pebbles on the surface of Mars indicate that a stream once flowed on the red planet, according to a new study by a team of scientists from NASA's Curiosity rover mission, including a University of California, Davis, geologist. The study will be published in the May 31 issue of the journal Science.
Rounded pebbles of this size are known to form only when transported through water over long distances. They were discovered between the north rim of the planet's Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside the crater.
The finding represents the first on-site evidence of sustained water flows on the Mars landscape, and supports prospects that the planet could once have been able to host life.
As a co-investigator for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory team, UC Davis geologist and study co-author Dawn Sumner played a key role in choosing Gale Crater as the landing site for Curiosity. Finding the rounded pebbles, which were deposited more than 2 billion years ago, was a matter of landing in the right place, she said.
"The main reason we chose Gale Crater as a landing site was to look at the layered rocks at the base of Mount Sharp, about five miles away," she said. "We knew there was an alluvial fan in the landing area, a cone-shaped deposit of sediment that requires flowing water to form. These sorts of pebbles are likely because of that environment. So while we didn't choose Gale Crater for this purpose, we were hoping to find something like this."
The finding comes from Curiosity's exploration of the Mars surface during its first 100 sols (102.7 days on Earth), or Martian days. During that time, the rover traveled about a quarter mile from its landing site, examining multiple outcrops of pebble-rich slabs. Curiosity took high-resolution images of these pebbles at three locations known as Goulburn, Link and Hottah. The grain size, roundness and other characteristics of the pebbles led the researchers to conclude they had been transported by water.
Army researchers are responding to a request from the U.S. Special Operations Command for technologies to help develop a revolutionary Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit.
The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, is an advanced infantry uniform that promises to provide superhuman strength with greater ballistic protection. Using wide-area networking and on-board computers, operators will have more situational awareness of the action around them and of their own bodies.
The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, known as RDECOM, is submitting TALOS proposals in response to the May 15 request.
“There is no one industry that can build it,” said SOCOM Senior Enlisted Advisor Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Faris during a panel discussion at a conference at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., recently, reported Defense Media Network.
The request, currently posted on Federal Business Opportunities, is looking for technology demonstration submissions from research and development organizations, private industry, individuals, government labs and academia to support the command-directed requirement issued by Adm. William McRaven, USSOCOM commander.
“[The] requirement is a comprehensive family of systems in a combat armor suit where we bring together an exoskeleton with innovative armor, displays for power monitoring, health monitoring, and integrating a weapon into that — a whole bunch of stuff that RDECOM is playing heavily in,” said. Lt. Col. Karl Borjes, an RDECOM science advisor assigned to SOCOM.
TALOS will have a physiological subsystem that lies against the skin that is embedded with sensors to monitor core body temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, body position and hydration levels.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are currently developing armor made from magnetorheological fluids — liquid body armor — that transforms from liquid to solid in milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is applied. Though still in development, this technology will likely be submitted to support TALOS.
SOCOM demonstrations will take placeJuly 8-10, at or near MacDill Air Force Base.
The request asks participants to submit a white paper summary of their technology by May 31, describing how TALOS can be constructed using current and emerging technologies. A limited number of participant white papers will be selected and those selected will demonstrate their technologies.
Through careful study of an ancient ancestor of modern turtles, researchers now have a clearer picture of how the turtles' most unusual shell came to be. The findings, reported on May 30 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, help to fill a 30- to 55-million-year gap in the turtle fossil record through study of an extinct South African reptile known as Eunotosaurus.
"The turtle shell is a complex structure whose initial transformations started over 260 million years ago in the Permian period," says Tyler Lyson of Yale University and the Smithsonian. "Like other complex structures, the shell evolved over millions of years and was gradually modified into its present-day shape."
The turtle shell isn't really just one thing—it is made up of approximately 50 bones. Turtles are the only animals that form a shell through the fusion of ribs and vertebrae. In all other animals, shells are formed from bony scales on the surface; they don't stick their bones on the outsides of their bodies.
"The reason, I think, that more animals don't form a shell via the broadening and eventually suturing together of the ribs is that the ribs of mammals and lizards are used to help ventilate the lungs," Lyson says. "If you incorporate your ribs into a protective shell, then you have to find a new way to breathe!" Turtles have done just that, with the help of a muscular sling.
Until recently, the oldest known fossil turtles, dating back about 215 million years, had fully developed shells, making it hard to see the sequence of evolutionary events that produced them. That changed in 2008 with the discovery of Chinese Odontochelys semitestacea, a reptile about 220 million years old, which had a fully developed plastron—the belly side of the shell—but only a partial carapace on its back.
Eunotosaurus takes the turtle and its shell back another 40 million years or so. It had nine broadened ribs found only in turtles. And like turtles, it lacked the intercostal muscles running between its ribs. But Eunotosaurus didn't have other features common to Odontochelys and turtles, including broad spines on their vertebrae.
Lyson says he and his colleagues now plan to investigate various other aspects of turtles' respiratory systems, which allow them to manage with their ribs locked up into a protective outer shell. "It is clear that this novel lung ventilation mechanism evolved in tandem with the origin of the turtle shell," he says.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
My post 4000 was a reimagining of Pournelle's classic scenario of the CoDominium. The original scenario was the United States and Soviet Union would unite to control the world to deal with the problem with convergence. There is no Soviet Union anymore. We don't have the Alderson Drive, we don't have fusion and we have not developed space nearly as much as the authors originally thought we would by now. Economic convergence has more than happened. Things are rather different than the original scenario.
That opened things up for a different scenario altogether. I outlined my conjectural scenario in the post. China and Indian come together to produce an alternate CoDominium. The proximate cause being the Republic of India and People's Republic of China had greatly outdistanced the rest of the world economically and with the technological revolution that was getting underway their great advantage, population, was going to be made less relevant. To suppress these breakthroughs, China and India came together to suppress the resurgence of the United States, Europe, Japan and possibly others.
However, Noel challenged me on this scenario: how, he asked, would the US fall from grace as the world's hyperpower to the distance second class power, albeit one undergoing a resurgence that forces the top two powers into CoDominium. Let's explain that, shall we? What are the causes for the relatively rapid American decline?
Political Sclerosis:
In this scenario the US undergoes another three more presidential cycles of political deadlock. This is mixed with the continued issues with the US being unable to undertake large projects without massive delays, cost overruns and ineptitude. This won't last forever. However it will be enough to stunt growth with the decaying infrastructure and lack of general progress. There are areas of glory and aptitude, but they are the few shining stars in the sea of bleakness. Let's dice roll it and state we are at a reduced GDP growth by a half percent per year by itself. The lack of infrastructure improvement or even replacement reduces the growth by a half percent. Already, we're a 'mature economy' and have taken it in the shorts by being reduced to a range of between 0 and 2.
The World Changed
I don't mean the human world, sociological or economic or political. I mean the physical world. Global Warming is set to whack us but good. The whole world, really, but it hurt the US more because of our political ossification. We're assuming the Neo Oligocene here: warmer and drier and the midwest's productivity nosedives and the California central valley is toast. LA became Detroit on a broad canvas (no water). Eastern Texas, inland, the Great Lakes States regained population. The population of the mid Atlantic and north states increased, but often inland.
India Ignites
I'm positing India's economy starts growing double digits at the start of the 2020s like China has. India surpasses the US around 2030 to 2035.
China Recovers and Continues
China's economy grows gangbusters in the double digit range again around the same time frame.
Economics Continue to Favour Large Populations...through the 2040s.
The robopocalypse doesn't happen at least until the 2040s. The more workers, in manufacturing and innovation, etc. you have the better so long as they are educated. Double check for India and China. Both will have populations far larger than the US.
Sum:
The economies of China and India grow gangbusters and get ahead through the 2040s. Between them, they have economies 5x to 6x the American one. They are the power houses. We are not. We're Britain at best, or Russia. Sorta.
So Why Form the CoDominium?
You just can't keep a good Yanqi down.
The economics shift out of favour for India and China. Three major events. An American led, but Japanese and European supported Robopocalypse. The US develops a real fusion drive and then the Alderson Drive. When the US started to get out of the funk in the late 2030s, after decades of decay, besides seeking ways to improve its economy, it trotted out some of its past glories to reprise and surpass. Space was one.
The Chinese and Indians were ahead, to be sure, and that's one reason the Americans were humored at first and even congratulated. There was a Chinese Moon base. Ditto for the Indians. At different edges of the Shackleton Crater. The Indians and Chinese even captured asteroids, though not for economic reasons: it didn't pay. The Americans pushed on. the watershed moment being when the US landed on Mars...in 2047. Using a fusion drive to get there. It was pathetic compared to the original CoDo scenario drives (topped out at .1 g and "only" had enough fuel for 25 hours of thrusting), but it got people to Mars in a couple weeks. And back when the planets aligned right. China and India caught up and landed in 2048 and 2049 respectively. Even so, this was...very troubling.
When the US economy growth jumped from the anemic 1 or 2 percent to 3 or 4 percent in from 3032 to 3040 and then really jumped to 5 to 6 percent in 3040 to 3048 with it seemingly going to jump again in the coming years, this brought together India and China. The world was far from being US dominated, but the structural reform needed to adopt the American, European and Japanese technologies was going to be problematic. At this point, there was talk of the Americans returning to an ascendant position. Population size? Piffle. Dynamism matters! The Indian and Chinese politicians knew something had to be done and they began to meet.
It was a theoretical paper published by Caltech in which tipped the balance. Esp when the US president impulsively and promptly built a probe and dispatched it on a 2nd generation fusion rocket to the potential jump point, it accelerated away at 1/4 g and reached the jump point in about six months. The countdown took place and...poof. The probe disappeared. It didn't come back, but vanishing in a flash of light ...
Add in the Americans prepping another expedition. Their radically growing economy. The Japanese building their own moon base (national pride!) and the Europeans deciding they made a bad Holy Roman Empire, but a better Federal Union...The Chinese and Indians pulled together to say ixnay on anymore.
The Chinese and Indians declared CoDominium. No more! The Indonesians, Russians and the Nigerians joined as junior partners. The Americans scrambled. They spit out a dozen ships and away they went to the Alderson Point: manned and large and ...armed After all, only the Americans could build something that fast, in a year! (name the dumb movie)
It was WWIII. No nukes flew. The attempt to shoot down the ships failed, but few missiles or bombs were used on earth: they were mostly EM weapons, but the deathtoll was still horrific. Cyberweaponry wrecked havoc. In the end, China and India prevailed. And suppressed. No AIs. No enhancements. No change. Or minimal possible. The status quo was not to be disturbed.
They built the Fleet. And the CoDo Marines. Conjured from the one military still in excellent shape, with good ties to India and China: Israel.
In time, they would compromise. There would be Americans in interstellar space. Even those which didn't travel with the never caught Fugitive Fleet. They would rule the world for over a century. It would end in old fashion nuclear fire. Aluf Lomann's efforts, the feats of Alam Cyrus Zagrosi and Zagrosi's Immortals, and the world of Dual Monarchy of Shiva and its Crown Prince Rama...from them and those would come the Empire of Man.
As for the Fugitive Fleet on Yudkowsky. They would be discovered by the Empire and peacefully absorbed. They would even contribute to the Empire. For a time. Through accurate knowledge comes power, so the natives of Yudkowsky would say: other wise # in # out. And the members of the Empire would say no problem could ever survive contact with a Yudkowskian.
Reimagineer's notes: I don't really buy it. I guess I am too much of a nationalist at heart. Its fun to play here, but don't make the mistake of thinking I swallow this whatsoever. I actually think the US has been through the squeeze and we're about to come out the other side...with a whole of new techniques, tech, and ideas which will revolutionize the world. In our favour. You see, its the dynamism that matters in the end and there's none like us.
Integrated analysis of the sedimentology, stratigraphy, and chemostratigraphy of the uppermost Devonian Chaffee Group of Colorado reveals the presence of two regionally extensive unconformity surfaces associated with globally recognized extinction/eustatic events. The contact between semi-restricted, marginal marine, mixed siliciclastic–carbonate deposits of the Parting Formation and open marine carbonate of the Dyer Formation is a major marine flooding surface across western Colorado. This flooding surface rests at the top of a ~ 5 m thick, transgressive, cross-bedded, shoreline sandstone unit that locally overlies a 2.5-m-thick paleokarst breccia. δ13C values shift lighter across the formation contact, in some cases by as much as 5‰. Oxygen isotopic values are extremely variable between measured stratigraphic sections, in cases invariant across the contact, and in other cases covarying with the δ13C values. At Ouray, CO, δ18O covaries with δ13C throughout the section, and reaches extreme values (less than −30‰) below the unconformity. An isotopic shift in rocks of this age in Utah, coined ALFIE, was previously correlated to the Parting–Dyer contact. This study demonstrates that the carbon and oxygen isotopic record of ALFIE is highly variable across western Laurentia, and that important carbonate chemostratigraphic variations result from diagenesis that is clearly linked to a regional unconformity and associated relative sea-level fall. This lowstand may be a signal of eustatic fall associated with the Dasberg Event, a late Famennian marine extinction event. Similar isotopic patterns exist for strata below and above a paleokarst breccia in the upper Dyer Formation that we link to the globally significant latest Famennian Hangenberg Event, which includes a eustatic lowstand and subsequent transgression. Similar to the Parting–Dyer contact, both carbon and oxygen isotopes in strata below this regional unconformity surface show the variable nature of diagenetic alteration of carbonate units during lowstand conditions. Our data also suggest that correlatable δ13C chemostratigraphic shifts can be diagenetically produced during lowstands across a regionally widespread (western U.S.) basin, and that these δ13C shifts may be expressed within outcrops that show no macroscopic sedimentological signature of subaerial exposure. This has broad implications for the evaluation of δ13C data in the rock record, particularly the assumption that extensive correlatable isotopic anomalies reflect global marine signatures.
d. Department of Geological Sciences, California State University at Long Beach2, 1250 Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90840
Abstract:
Detailed records of ice-sheet advances and retreats are reconstructed for the Hirnantian and Katian ages of the Late Ordovician using Nd isotopes (εNd) as a sea-level proxy in three study sections from the western margin of Laurentia: two shallow water platform sections located south and north of the paleo-equator, and one deep water section located in a continental slope-rise setting. When sea-level was high and paleo-shorelines had migrated eastward, the εNd value of seawater in the vicinity of each of the study sections shifted toward the εNd value of the eastern Panthalassa Ocean (~ –4.0). By contrast, when sea-level was low and paleo-shorelines had migrated westward, the εNd value of seawater shifted toward the εNd value of the continental weathering flux from Laurentia (–8.5 ± 0.2, 2σmean). These stratigraphic patterns of changing εNd values are interpreted to reflect the eustatic sea-level fluctuations that previous studies have documented in response to Gondwanan ice-sheet advances and retreats, thus linking the εNd sea-level proxy to Late Ordovician global-scale climate changes. The εNd profiles for the two platform sections yielded similar proxy sea-level curves with five cycles of oscillation recorded during the latest Katian and Hirnantian. Three additional cycles of late Katian sea-level change are recognized in the εNd profile of the deep water continental slope-rise section.
The combination of εNd, δ13C and graptolite biostratigraphic data facilitates a precise interregional correlation of the Hirnantian Age and the paleoclimate changes that took place during this interval. The new correlations support previous findings that the Hirnantian ice age comprised two major glacial periods separated by a minor interglacial during the early part of the M. persculptus Biozone. The younger glacial (confined to mid M. persculptus Biozone time) led to more extensive sea surface cooling than did the earlier one, and resulted in extensive eustatic sea-level drawdown and C-cycle changes. It records the strata most often recognized as HICE (the Hirnantian Carbon Isotope Excursion) in sedimentary successions worldwide, such as Anticosti Island, Scotland, Estonia, Siberia, and South China. The results of this study support and strengthen the view that glaciation predated the Hirnantian Age in the Late Ordovician, and that the record of small positive δ13C excursions in Katian successions from Baltica and eastern North America are themselves proxy indicators of glaciation frequency and eustatic sea level changes.
Palaeontological and geological information from the Northwestern Caucasus, a large region in southwestern Russia, allows to evaluate the spatial heterogeneity of the Early–Middle Toarcian ammonite diversity and its possible controls. The total number of ammonite species and genera is calculated for four time slices, which correspond to the D. semicelatum, H. falciferum, H. bifrons, and H. variabilis zones, in each of ten areas distinguished within the study region. These areas differ by the ammonite diversity, which indicates heterogeneity. The latter persisted through the entire Early–Middle Toarcian. This heterogeneity was relatively low in the beginning of the Toarcian, when the total regional diversity of ammonites was minimal. Long- and short-term landward shoreline shifts facilitated spatial distribution of ammonites and increase in their taxa number. Shallow-marine palaeoenvironments tended to sustain a higher diversity than those deep-marine, and, therefore, changes in the basin depth were also responsible for the observed spatial heterogeneity of the ammonite diversity. Interestingly, a more or less similar diversity dynamics is established in the areas of the Northwestern Caucasus. The distribution of ammonites in the study region indicates that these invertebrates migrated to there from the open sea(s) stretched along the northern margin of the Neo-Tethys Ocean. Results of the present analysis also imply that the mass extinction might have been responsible for the low diversity of ammonites (observed in the entire region and its particular areas) in the beginning of the Toarcian.
A robot effortlessly plucking fruit is some way off, though a range of simpler tasks are within reach to add to existing technology such as automatic steering of harvesters.
Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney and developer of Mantis and Shrimp, says the next phase aims for robots to do increasingly complex jobs such as watering and ultimately harvesting.
"We have fitted them with a lot of sensors, vision, laser, radar and conductivity sensors - including GPS and thermal sensors," said Sukkarieh, speaking at his laboratory housing a collection of both ground robots and unmanned air vehicles.
The technology could have the biggest application in horticulture, Australia's third-largest agricultural sector with exports of $1.71 billion in the last marketing year, since a fixed farm layout lends itself better to using robots.
Robots and an unmanned air vehicle that are being developed at the University of Sydney had passed field tests at an almond farm in Mildura, Victoria state, said Sukkarieh.
Propelled by sets of wheels and about the height of a man, the robots were named after the native Mantis shrimp because of the marine crustacean's 16 different color receptors, capable of detecting up to 12 colors. Humans only have four, three of which pick up colors.
This capacity to recognize color already allows the robots to sense whether fruit is ripe.
The data can then be processed by computer algorithms to determine what action the robot should take. This could be to water or apply fertilizer or pesticides, or to sweep and prune vegetation, and eventually the aim is to harvest the crop.
"If tomorrow we got an apple, orange or tomato farmer that wants a robot to go up and down these tree crops reliably and accurately, we can do that within six months to a year."
"The question is can we make them more intelligent," added Sukkarieh, who also sees the technology being attached to standard farm vehicles and foresees a fully automated horticulture farm within 10 years.
a. School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United KingdomAbstract:
A number of extant and extinct archosaurs evolved an elongate, narrow rostrum. This longirostrine condition has been associated with a diet comprising a higher proportion of fish and smaller prey items compared to taxa with broader, more robust snouts. The evolution of longirostrine morphology and a bulbous anterior rosette of premaxillary teeth also occurs in the spinosaurid theropod dinosaurs, leading to suggestions that at least some members of this clade also had a diet comprising a notable proportion of fish or other small vertebrates. Here we compare the rostral biomechanics of the spinosaurs Baryonyx walkeri and Spinosaurus c.f. S. aegyptiacus to three extant crocodilians: two longistrine taxa, the African slender-snouted crocodile Mecistops cataphractus and the Indian gharial Gavialis gangeticus; and the American alligator Alligator mississippiensis.
Using computed tomography (CT) data, the second moments of area and moments of inertia at successive transverse slices along the rostrum were calculated for each of the species. Size-independent results tested the biomechanical benefits of material distribution within the rostra. The two spinosaur rostra were both digitally reconstructed from CT data and compared against all three crocodilians. Results show that African slender-snouted crocodile skulls are more resistant to bending than an equivalent sized gharial. The alligator has the highest resistances to bending and torsion of the crocodiles for its size and greater than that of the spinosaurs. The spinosaur rostra possess similar resistance to bending and torsion despite their different morphologies. When size is accounted for, B. walkeri performs mechanically differently from the gharial, contradicting previous studies whereas Spinosaurus does not. Biomechanical data support known feeding ecology for both African slender-snouted crocodile and alligator, and suggest that the spinosaurs were not obligate piscivores with diet being determined by individual animal size.
A new study, published 28 May in the open access journal PLOS Biology, has revealed the potential importance of rare species in the functioning of highly diverse ecosystems. Using data from three very different ecosystems—coral reefs, tropical forests and alpine meadows—a team of researchers led by David Mouillot at the University of Montpellier 2, France, has shown that it is primarily the rare species, rather than the more common ones, that have distinct traits involved in unique ecological functions. As biodiversity declines, these unique features are therefore particularly vulnerable to extinction because rare species are likely to disappear first.
"These unique features are irreplaceable, as they could be important for the functioning of ecosystems if there is major environmental change," explained Dr Mouillot.
Biodiverse environments are characterized by a large number of rare species. These rare species contribute to the taxonomic richness of the area, but their functional importance in ecosystems is largely unknown. Represented by few individuals or distributed over narrow geographic areas, rare species are generally considered to have little influence on the functioning of an ecosystem compared with more common species. Indeed, it is often assumed that they fulfill the same ecological roles as those of common species but have less impact because of their low abundance; a phenomenon known as 'functional redundancy'. This redundancy suggests that rare species merely serve as an "insurance" policy for the ecosystem, in the event of an ecological loss.
Something to pay attention to, paleo folks. Keystone species may not just be the most common. Something to think abotu when reconstructing ecosystems in Deep Time and working with mass extinctions. Its really not hard to imagine there was a keystone species (or three) whose loss caused the massive shift from the paleozoic marine ecosystems to the mesozoic style during the PT Extinction.
b. The University Museum, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan,Abstract:
Fossilized trackways have rarely been analyzed quantitatively to examine major trends and patterns in evolution despite their potential utility, especially in understanding locomotory evolution. In the present study, trackways of Triassic archosauriforms were analyzed. The analyses showed foot and stride lengths of archosauriforms increased from the Early to Middle Triassic, especially those of dinosauromorphs, which tripled. Dinosauromorphs were much smaller in foot length and stride length compared to other archosauriforms during the Early Triassic. They reached similar stride length compared with other archosauriforms during the Middle Triassic and similar foot length in the Late Triassic. Stride/foot ratio is significantly higher in dinosauromorphs compared to other archosauriforms throughout the Triassic. This relatively long stride length of dinosauromorphs is attributed to either faster speed or higher relative hip height that was probably caused by their digitigrade foot posture. Analyses of trackway data sets, especially in combination with precise trackmaker assignment and age determination, would bring us more thorough knowledge about locomotory evolution of tetrapods that complements body fossil evidence.
Feathered dinosaurs used to be as valuable as gold dust. Now, so many specimens have been unearthed that museums are overflowing. But for all the specimens, a crucial question has remained unanswered: which species was the original ancestor of birds?
A new species found in China has shed light on the answer. The two-foot long Aurornis xui, the “daybreak bird,” fleshes out the relationships between bird-like dinosaurs and, along with its cousin species Archaeopteryx and Anchiornis, restores its lineage as the likely predecessors of birds.
The early relationships of a group called Avialae, the dinosaur line leading directly to modern birds, have been a hot point of debate. Over the last few years, with new bird-like dinosaur discoveries, some palaeontologists have even removed the iconic Archaeopteryx and its relatives from the Avialae group altogether. However, this shift would have meant that powered flight evolved multiple times in feathered dinosaurs, a less likely situation than one such adaptation.
Now, Aurornis xui, named in honor of dinosaur hunter Xu Xing, appears to have settled that part of the debate. Along with Anchiornis of the same age (about 155-160 million years), and Archaeopteryx (150 million years), Aurornis fits within the earliest ancestry of Avialae. The existence of three contemporary species allowed researchers to triangulate their relationships based on their appearance. Archaeopteryx was knocked off its perch as the oldest bird back in 2009 by Anchiornis, and now Aurornis has finished the dethroning, with the three species together sitting at the very base of the Avialae lineage that would later give rise to all other birds.
For a moment when I saw the reconstruction, I thought the chickensaurus project was successful!
Yesterday, we took the plunge and reported on the pervasive rumor that a MIC-based Chinese system had been validated by Top 500 brass in person—proving dramatic LINPACK performance against the Titan and the rest of the leaders of the supercomputing pack.
There is currently a team from the Top500 in China and they have reported that they’ve examined the system and that indeed, it’s performance parallels the early reports.
This morning we’ve been able to confirm a number of details about the system, which for the sake of brevity, we’ll present here in rather short form. Before doing so, thanks to all of you who scurried around to send us emails late last night with confirmation, further details, and insight about the new top super.
The reported performance (we have four highly credible sources confirming) is between 53-55 peak and between 27-29 LINPACK sustained performance. This is actually better than we were led to believe yesterday when it felt a little wrong to make the "50 petaflop" claim, despite our best sources telling us it was so.
The odd thing is that this is the famed Tianhe-2 system—yes, the one that wasn’t even supposed to be completed until 2015. Further, the system’s grand unveiling was going to unleash 100 petaflops onto the world. While we’re still working on understanding the odd timing on this, the fact remains that there’s nothing on the horizon that is going to be able to touch it unless there are some major surprises, which sources emphatically say there will not be.
Lawrence Livermore scientists have discovered and demonstrated a new technique to remove and store atmospheric carbon dioxide while generating carbon-negative hydrogen and producing alkalinity, which can be used to offset ocean acidification.
The team demonstrated, at a laboratory scale, a system that uses the acidity normally produced in saline water electrolysis to accelerate silicate mineral dissolution while producing hydrogen fuel and other gases. The resulting electrolyte solution was shown to be significantly elevated in hydroxide concentration that in turn proved strongly absorptive and retentive of atmospheric CO2.
Further, the researchers suggest that the carbonate and bicarbonate produced in the process could be used to mitigate ongoing ocean acidification, similar to how an Alka Seltzer neutralizes excess acid in the stomach.
"We not only found a way to remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while producing valuable H2, we also suggest that we can help save marine ecosystems with this new technique," said Greg Rau, an LLNL visiting scientist, senior scientist at UC Santa Cruz and lead author of a paper appearing this week (May 27) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
When carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, a significant fraction is passively taken up by the ocean forming carbonic acid that makes the ocean more acidic. This acidification has been shown to be harmful to many species of marine life, especially corals and shellfish. By the middle of this century, the globe will likely warm by at least 2 degrees Celsius and the oceans will experience a more than 60 percent increase in acidity relative to pre-industrial levels. The alkaline solution generated by the new process could be added to the ocean to help neutralize this acid and help offset its effects on marine biota. However, further research is needed, the authors said.
"When powered by renewable electricity and consuming globally abundant minerals and saline solutions, such systems at scale might provide a relatively efficient, high-capacity means to consume and store excess atmospheric CO2 as environmentally beneficial seawater bicarbonate or carbonate," Rau said. "But the process also would produce a carbon-negative 'super green' fuel or chemical feedstock in the form of hydrogen."
Most previously described chemical methods of atmospheric carbon dioxide capture and storage are costly, using thermal/mechanical procedures to concentrate molecular CO2 from the air while recycling reagents, a process that is cumbersome, inefficient and expensive.
"Our process avoids most of these issues by not requiring CO2 to be concentrated from air and stored in a molecular form, pointing the way to more cost-effective, environmentally beneficial, and safer air CO2 management with added benefits of renewable hydrogen fuel production and ocean alkalinity addition," Rau said.
Interesting. Will it scale and deal with real world scenarios? It almost sounds too good to be true...
b. Key Laboratory for Sedimentary Basin and Oil and Gas Resources, Ministry of Land and Resources, Chengdu 610082, China
c. Hubei Geological Survey, Wuhan 430034, ChinaAbstract:
The Yangtze Block is an important component in reconstructing the Proterozoic tectonic evolution of South China within the Rodinia supercontinent. The geochronology and paleoenvironment of the Liantuo Formation in the Yangtze Block are still highly controversial. An integrated approach of facies analysis, paleogeography and geochronology provides new insights into understanding the sedimentology and paleogeography of the formation. Here, results are presented from a detailed U–Pb zircon examination of geochronology and paleoenvironment of the Liantuo Formation in the Yangtze Block. The formation was deposited in the period of ca. 790–730 Ma, which coeval with the development of the Wuqiangxi Formation in the middle-upper part of the Banxi Group. The top of the Liantuo Formation gives a U–Pb age of 736 ± 5.8 Ma, which signifies an onset time of the Sturtian glaciation as ca. ≤730 Ma. The zircon U–Pb ages reveal magmatic events that were correlated with Neoproterozoic continental growth indicating that the Rodinia initiated rifting occurred at ca. 824 Ma and extensive rift-related magmatism took place at ca. 780 Ma in the northern Yangtze Block. Moreover, these results provide geochronological and petrologic evidence that confirms the stratigraphic framework of the Nanhuan System, thereby promoting a better understanding of the Neoproterozoic tectonic development of South China.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
He likes to call it "Air Giants: Launch, flight, and ecology of Cretaceous pterosaurs." I think he ought to have it accompanied by some Wagnerian thematic music and ...hey! has anyone named a pterosaur after the Valkyries?
Late Holocene climate in western North America was punctuated by periods of extended aridity called megadroughts. These droughts have been linked to cool eastern tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Here, we show both short-term and long-term climate variability over the last 1,500 y from annual band thickness and stable isotope speleothem data. Several megadroughts are evident, including a multicentury one, AD 1350–1650, herein referred to as Super Drought, which corresponds to the coldest period of the Little Ice Age. Synchronicity between southwestern North American, Chinese, and West African monsoon precipitation suggests the megadroughts were hemispheric in scale. Northern Hemisphere monsoon strength over the last millennium is positively correlated with Northern Hemisphere temperature and North Atlantic SST. The megadroughts are associated with cooler than average SST and Northern Hemisphere temperatures. Furthermore, the megadroughts, including the Super Drought, coincide with solar insolation minima, suggesting that solar forcing of sea surface and atmospheric temperatures may generate variations in the strength of Northern Hemisphere monsoons. Our findings seem to suggest stronger (wetter) Northern Hemisphere monsoons with increased warming.
The widespread disappearance of stromatolites, the earliest visible manifestation of life on Earth, may have been driven by single-celled organisms called foraminifera.
The findings, by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI); Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of Connecticut; Harvard Medical School; and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, were published online the week of May 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Stromatolites ("layered rocks") are structures made of calcium carbonate and shaped by the actions of photosynthetic cyanobacteria and other microbes that trapped and bound grains of coastal sediment into fine layers. They showed up in great abundance along shorelines all over the world about 3.5 billion years ago.
"Stromatolites were one of the earliest examples of the intimate connection between biology—living things—and geology—the structure of the Earth itself," said WHOI geobiologist Joan Bernhard, lead author of the study.
The growing bacterial community secreted sticky compounds that bound the sediment grains around themselves, creating a mineral "microfabric" that accumulated to become massive formations. Stromatolites dominated the scene for more than two billion years, until late in the Proterozoic Eon.
"Then, around 1 billion years ago, their diversity and their fossil abundance begin to take a nosedive," said Bernhard. All over the globe, over a period of millions of years, the layered formations that had been so abundant and diverse began to disappear. To paleontologists, their loss was almost as dramatic as the extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years later, although not as complete: Living stromatolites can still be found today, in limited and widely scattered locales, as if a few velociraptors still roamed in remote valleys.
While the extinction of the dinosaurs has largely been explained by the impact of a large meteorite, the crash of the stromatolites remains unsolved. "It's one of the major questions in Earth history," said WHOI microbial ecologist Virginia Edgcomb, a co-author on the paper.
Just as puzzling is the sudden appearance in the fossil record of different formations called thrombolites ("clotted stones"). Like stromatolites, thrombolites are produced through the action of microbes on sediment and minerals. Unlike stromatolites, they are clumpy, rather than finely layered.
It's not known whether stromatolites became thrombolites, or whether thrombolites arose independently of the decline in strombolites. Hypotheses proposed to explain both include changes in ocean chemistry and the appearance of multicellular life forms that might have preyed on the microbes responsible for their structure.
Bernhard and Edgcomb thought foraminifera might have played a role. Foraminifera (or "forams," for short) are protists, the kingdom that includes amoeba, ciliates, and other groups formerly referred to as "protozoa." They are abundant in modern-day oceanic sediments, where they use numerous slender projections called pseudopods to engulf prey, to move, and to continually explore their immediate environment. Despite their known ability to disturb modern sediments, their possible role in the loss of stromatolites and appearance of thrombolites had never been considered.
The researchers examined modern stromatolites and thrombolites from Highborne Cay in the Bahamas for the presence of foraminifera. Using microscopic and rRNA sequencing techniques, they found forams in both kinds of structures. Thrombolites were home to a greater diversity of foraminifera and were especially rich in forams that secrete an organic sheath around themselves. These "thecate" foraminifera were probably the first kinds of forams to evolve, not long (in geologic terms) before stromatolites began to decline.
"The timing of their appearance corresponds with the decline of layered stromatolites and the appearance of thrombolites in the fossil record," said Edgcomb. "That lends support to the idea that it could have been forams that drove their evolution."
Next, Bernhard, Edgcomb, and postdoctoral investigator Anna McIntyre-Wressnig created an experimental scenario that mimicked what might have happened a billion years ago.
"No one will ever be able to re-create the Proterozoic exactly, because life has evolved since then, but you do the best you can," Edgcomb said.
They started with chunks of modern-day stromatolites collected at Highborne Cay, and seeded them with foraminifera found in modern-day thrombolites. Then they waited to see what effect, if any, the added forams had on the stromatolites.
After about six months, the finely layered arrangement characteristic of stromatolites had changed to a jumbled arrangement more like that of thrombolites. Even their fine structure, as revealed by CAT scans, resembled that of thrombolites collected from the wild. "The forams obliterated the microfabric," said Bernhard.
The target computer is picked. The order to strike has been given. All it takes is a finger swipe and a few taps of the touchscreen, and the cyberattack is prepped to begin.
For the last year, the Pentagon’s top technologists have been working on a program that will make cyberwarfare relatively easy. It’s called Plan X. And if this demo looks like a videogame or sci-fi movie or a sleek Silicon Valley production, that’s no accident. It was built by the designers behind some of Apple’s most famous computers — with assistance from the illustrators who helped bring Transformers to the silver screen.
Today, destructive cyberattacks — ones that cause servers to fry, radars to go dark, or centrifuges to spin out of control — have been assembled by relatively small teams of hackers. They’re ordered at the highest levels of government. They take months to plan. Their effects can be uncertain, despite all the preparation. (Insiders believe, for example, that the biggest network intrusion in the Pentagon’s history may have been an accidental infection, not a deliberate hack.)
With Plan X, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking to change all that. It wants munitions made of 1s and 0s to be as simple to launch as ones made of metal and explosives. It wants cyberattack stratagems to be as predictable as any war plan can be. It wants to move past the artisanal era of hacking, and turn cyberwarfare into an industrial effort. Across the U.S. government, there are all kinds of projects to develop America’s network offense. None are quite like this.
Two of my favorite topics of geoconversation are how new subduction zones get started and when in Earth’s history did plate tectonics begin? Both are fascinating geoscientific questions but we seem to be making more progress on the first topic than on the second. The plate tectonic revolution changed our science forever but in the excitement of the late 1960’s when the paradigm shifted, the question of what makes the plates move was neglected. Yes it was mantle convection, but was convection driven by hot deep mantle rising or cold dense lithosphere sinking? Geodynamicists soon began investigating and now they tell us that it is mostly the sinking of dense lithosphere in subduction zones, pulling the plates and moving them. The most important consideration is that hotter asthenospheric mantle is slightly (~1%) less dense than colder overlying lithospheric mantle, so these want to change places. This sometimes happens during detachment and delamination of lithospheric mantle but generally happens by subduction, the end-on sinking of lithosphere beneath asthenosphere.
Our modern understanding of what drives the plates shows us that the key to understanding how subduction zones form is by understanding the density and strength of oceanic lithosphere. It also tells us that we should be thinking about lithospheric strength and density when we try to answer the question “When did plate tectonics start on Earth?” Certainly the Archean mantle 2.5 to 3.8 Ga was hotter than is the modern mantle. Consequently, Archean lithosphere would have thinner and more buoyant, and on this basis alone a reasonable person would conclude that plate tectonics must have been more difficult back then. In spite of this, most geoscientists think that plate tectonics was underway in Archean time. Regardless of your opinion on this matter, the question of when did plate tectonics start (WDPTS?) is one of the most important – and exciting – unresolved questions in the history of the solid Earth. I find this to be a particularly interesting question because EVERYONE can get involved: graduate students, undergraduate students, K-12 students, professors, amateurs, the media. We can’t agree on the answer yet so let’s discuss it!
The key to answering WDPTS? must be to reconstruct Earth’s tectonic history, using both first-order understanding of how large silicate bodies cool and proper interpretation of the rock record, particularly those mineral and rock assemblages that are diagnostic of plate tectonic records of independent plate motions, subduction and collision.
Synapsids dominated the terrestrial realm between the late Pennsylvanian and the Triassic. Their early evolution includes some of the first amniotes to evolve large size, herbivory, and macro-predators. However, little research has focused on the changes in diversity occurring during this early phase in their evolutionary history, with more effort concentrating on later events such the Permo-Triassic extinction. Here we assess synapsid diversity, at both the species and genus levels, between the Carboniferous (Moscovian) and the Middle Permian (Capitanian). A raw, taxic diversity (richness) estimate is generated, and we use two separate methods to correct for sampling biases in this curve. To remove the effect of anthropogenic sampling bias, we apply a recently published modification of the residual diversity method, and then generate a supertree, using matrix representation with parsimony to infer ghost lineages and obtain a phylogenetic diversity estimate. The general diversity pattern reflects the initial diversification of synapsids in the late Pennsylvanian and early Cisuralian, which was followed by an extinction event during the Sakmarian. Diversity recovered during the Artinskian and Kungurian, coinciding with the radiation of Caseidae, although other families begin to decline. A second extinction event occurred across the Kungurian/Roadian boundary, in which Edaphosauridae and Ophiacodontidae died out although Caseidae and Therapsida diversified. The sampling-corrected curves reveal further extinction during the Roadian, although therapsids were again unaffected. Pelycosaurian-grade synapsids survived during the Wordian and Capitanian, but were a minor part of an otherwise therapsid-dominated fauna. Evidence of significant anthropogenic sampling bias calls into question previous diversity studies that have not employed sampling correction.
Monday, May 27, 2013
What had the legs of a ‘gator and the jaws of a fish? Why, the earliest land animals. Because a new study shows that animals evolved weight-bearing limbs long before they had the chompers to really take advantage of a terrestrial diet. The research is in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology. [Philip S. L. Anderson, Matt Friedman and Marcello Ruta, Late to the Table: Diversification of Tetrapod Mandibular Biomechanics Lagged Behind the Evolution of Terrestriality]
Scientists had suspected that the first four-legged creatures to haul their carcasses out of the ocean didn’t belly up to the salad bar straight away. But they lacked definitive proof.
Now, researchers have carefully examined the fossilized faces of 89 beasties that lived on land and sea some 300 to 400 million years ago. They probed the jaws for a range of biomechanical features, such as how much force they could give to their bite. The result: seems it took tens of millions of years after setting foot on land to come up with a mouth that could munch on the greenery.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
China is no longer merely a passive recipient of the world order, but it has become a key factor in determining the foreign and defense policy choices that are open to other international actors. Beijing seems to have positioned the country as a global great power in a political sense. It has achieved this position by means of a strategy of coexistence that was recently reiterated in the Chinese defense white paper. This strategy is designed to change the context for other states’ international behavior without promoting a completely new world order. Instead, China’s version of world order is founded in a revised interpretation of the existing UN system, invoking the principles of absolute sovereignty and non-interference. It is an interest-based order designed to protect China against overseas interference and maintain international peace and stability without any obligations for extensive cooperation. Beijing seeks to influence the context more often than directly shaping the behavior of other international actors. This coexistence strategy does not require economic and military capabilities at U.S. levels to exercise this type of influence, because it relies on the persuasiveness of its version of world order as an advantage for others without promoting a China-centric model of interaction.
Go read. Its interesting. I have to wonder what the dynamics of nation states are, really, though when you compare their behavior when they are NOT in the top slot vs when they actually are. There's a signiciant difference between the US of 1830s and the 1990s.
We carry out an independent search of Kepler photometry for small transiting planets with sizes 0.5-8.0 times that of Earth and orbital periods between 5 and 50 days, with the goal of measuring the fraction of stars harboring such planets. We use a new transit search algorithm, TERRA, optimized to detect small planets around photometrically quiet stars. We restrict our stellar sample to include the 12,000 stars having the lowest photometric noise in the Kepler survey, thereby maximizing the detectability of Earth-size planets. We report 129 planet candidates having radii less than 6 RE found in three years of Kepler photometry (quarters 1-12). Forty-seven of these candidates are not in Batalha et al., which only analyzed photometry from quarters 1-6. We gather Keck HIRES spectra for the majority of these targets leading to precise stellar radii and hence precise planet radii. We make a detailed measurement of the completeness of our planet search. We inject synthetic dimmings from mock transiting planets into the actual Kepler photometry. We then analyze that injected photometry with our TERRA pipeline to assess our detection completeness for planets of different sizes and orbital periods. We compute the occurrence of planets as a function of planet radius and period, correcting for the detection completeness as well as the geometric probability of transit, R sstarf/a. The resulting distribution of planet sizes exhibits a power law rise in occurrence from 5.7 RE down to 2 RE , as found in Howard et al. That rise clearly ends at 2 RE . The occurrence of planets is consistent with constant from 2 RE toward 1 RE . This unexpected plateau in planet occurrence at 2 RE suggests distinct planet formation processes for planets above and below 2 RE . We find that $15.1^{+1.8}_{-2.7}$% of solar type stars—roughly one in six—has a 1-2 RE planet with P = 5-50 days.
Climatic and environmental shifts have had profound impacts on faunal and floral assemblages globally since the end of the Miocene. We explore the regional expression of these fluctuations in southwestern Europe by constructing long-term records (from ~11.1 to 0.8 Ma, late Miocene–middle Pleistocene) of carbon and oxygen isotope variations in tooth enamel of different large herbivorous mammals from Spain. Isotopic differences among taxa illuminate differences in ecological niches. The δ13C values (relative to VPDB, mean −10.3±1.1‰; range −13.0 to −7.4‰) are consistent with consumption of C3 vegetation; C4 plants did not contribute significantly to the diets of the selected taxa. When averaged by time interval to examine secular trends, δ13C values increase at ~9.5 Ma (MN9–MN10), probably related to the Middle Vallesian Crisis when there was a replacement of vegetation adapted to more humid conditions by vegetation adapted to drier and more seasonal conditions, and resulting in the disappearance of forested mammalian fauna. The mean δ13C value drops significantly at ~4.2−3.7 Ma (MN14–MN15) during the Pliocene Warm Period, which brought more humid conditions to Europe, and returns to higher δ13C values from ~2.6 Ma onwards (MN16), most likely reflecting more arid conditions as a consequence of the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation. The most notable feature in oxygen isotope records (and mean annual temperature reconstructed from these records) is a gradual drop between MN13 and the middle Pleistocene (~6.3−0.8 Ma) most likely due to cooling associated with Northern Hemisphere glaciation.
Mosasaurs are marine squamates with a 32.5 million-year history from their appearance at 98 Ma to their extinction at the K-Pg boundary (65.5 Ma). Using a database of 43 generic and 94 species-level taxa, we compare the taxonomic diversity and patterns of morphological disparity in mosasaurs with sea level, sea surface temperature, and stable carbon isotope curves for the Upper Cretaceous to explore factors that may have influenced their evolution. No single factor unambiguously accounts for all radiations, diversification, and extinctions; however, the broader patterns of taxonomic diversification and morphological disparity point to niche differentiation in a “fishing up” scenario under the influence of “bottom-up” selective pressures. The most likely driving force in mosasaur evolution was high productivity in the Late Cretaceous, driven by tectonically controlled sea levels and climatically controlled ocean stratification and nutrient delivery. When productivity collapsed at the end of the Cretaceous, coincident with bolide impact, mosasaurs became extinct.
Floral provincialism within the Southern Hemisphere during the Late Triassic (230 Ma) is characterized by the Ipswich and Onslow provinces, recognized originally in eastern Gondwana. However, new palynological assemblages from the Ischigualasto Formation, northwestern Argentina (231–225 Ma), change the phytogeographic interpretation for the Carnian–Norian in the westernmost Gondwana, which was previously considered part of the southern floral Ipswich province. Here we show the presence of diagnostic Euramerican species within assemblages dominated by Gondwanan taxa that allows us to refer the palynofloras to the Onslow province. Our new data extend the Onslow floral belt, previously recognized from the western edge of Tethys to Timor, to the western margin of South America. This has implications for palaeophytogeography, palaeoclimate reconstructions and the palaeoecology of a Triassic ecosystem, which has yielded significant vertebrate remains and is regarded important in the early evolution of groups such as the Dinosauria.
It has been shown that F, G, and early K dwarf hosts of Neptune-sized planets are not preferentially metal-rich. However, it is less clear whether the same holds for late K and M dwarf planet hosts. We report metallicities of Kepler targets and candidate transiting planet hosts with effective temperatures below 4500 K. We use new metallicity calibrations to determine [Fe/H] from visible and near-infrared spectra. We find that the metallicity distribution of late K and M dwarfs monitored by Kepler is consistent with that of the solar neighborhood. Further, we show that hosts of Earth- to Neptune-sized planets have metallicities consistent with those lacking detected planets and rule out a previously claimed 0.2 dex offset between the two distributions at 6σ confidence. We also demonstrate that the metallicities of late K and M dwarfs hosting multiple detected planets are consistent with those lacking detected planets. Our results indicate that multiple terrestrial and Neptune-sized planets can form around late K and M dwarfs with metallicities as low as 0.25 solar. The presence of Neptune-sized planets orbiting such low-metallicity M dwarfs suggests that accreting planets collect most or all of the solids from the disk and that the potential cores of giant planets can readily form around M dwarfs. The paucity of giant planets around M dwarfs compared to solar-type stars must be due to relatively rapid disk evaporation or a slower rate of planet accretion, rather than insufficient solids to form a core.
Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct. Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusual atmospheric disturbances as Titan summer approaches.
"If you think being a weather forecaster on Earth is difficult, it can be even more challenging at Titan," said Scott Edgington, Cassini's deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We know there are weather processes similar to Earth's at work on this strange world, but differences arise due to the presence of unfamiliar liquids like methane. We can't wait for Cassini to tell us whether our forecasts are right as it continues its tour through Titan spring into the start of northern summer."
Titan's north polar region, which is bejeweled with sprawling hydrocarbon seas and lakes, was dark when Cassini first arrived at the Saturn system in 2004. But sunlight has been creeping up Titan's northern hemisphere since August 2009, when the sun's light crossed the equatorial plane at equinox. Titan's seasons take about seven Earth years to change. By 2017, the end of Cassini's mission, Titan will be approaching northern solstice, the height of summer.
Given the wind-sculpted dunes Cassini has seen on Titan, scientists were baffled about why they hadn't yet seen wind-driven waves on the lakes and seas. A team led by Alex Hayes, a member of Cassini's radar team who is based at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., set out to look for how much wind would be required to generate waves. Their new model, just published in the journal Icarus, improves upon previous ones by simultaneously accounting for Titan's gravity; the viscosity and surface tension of the hydrocarbon liquid in the lakes; and the air-to-liquid density ratio.
"We now know that the wind speeds predicted during the times Cassini has observed Titan have been below the threshold necessary to generate waves," Hayes said. "What is exciting, however, is that the wind speeds predicted during northern spring and summer approach those necessary to generate wind waves in liquid ethane and/or methane. It may soon be possible to catch a wave in one of the solar system's most exotic locations."
The new model found that winds of 1 to 2 mph (2 to 3 kilometers per hour) are needed to generate waves on Titan lakes, a speed that has not yet been reached during Titan's currently calm period. But as Titan's northern hemisphere approaches spring and summer, other models predict the winds may increase to 2 mph (3 kilometers per hour) or faster. Depending on the composition of the lakes, winds of that speed could be enough to produce waves 0.5 foot (0.15 meter) high.
The other model about hurricanes, recently published in Icarus, predicts that the warming of the northern hemisphere could also bring hurricanes, also known as tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones on Earth gain their energy from the build-up of heat from seawater evaporation and miniature versions have been seen over big lakes such as Lake Huron. The new modeling work, led by Tetsuya Tokano of the University of Cologne, Germany, shows that the same processes could be at work on Titan as well, except that it is methane rather than water that evaporates from the seas. The most likely season for these hurricanes would be Titan's northern summer solstice, when the sea surface gets warmer and the flow of the air near the surface becomes more turbulent. The humid air would swirl in a counterclockwise direction over the surface of one of the northern seas and increase the surface wind over the seas to possibly 45 mph (about 70 kilometers per hour).
"For these hurricanes to develop at Titan, there needs to be the right mix of hydrocarbons in these seas, and we still don't know their exact composition," Tokano said. "If we see hurricanes, that would be one good indicator that there is enough methane in these lakes to support this kind of activity. So far, scientists haven't yet been able to detect methane directly."
The Late Permian coal measures of the Bowen Basin, Australia express both environmental and climatic changes that occurred prior to the Permian Triassic (P–T) boundary. In order to decouple the influence of environmental factors (salinity, pH, base level and temperature) from depositional and climatic factors (atmospheric CO2) in organic δ13C, a high resolution study was performed on 24 coal seams (total 24.6 m) in the Late Permian stratigraphy in the northern Bowen Basin. The Late Permian stratigraphy of the Bowen Basin records a transition from deltaic and lacustrine conditions within the Tinowan Formation and Black Alley Shale Formation, to fluvial deposition in the Kaloola and Bandanna Formations. Intermittent volcanism is recorded by tuff layers during periods of peat accumulation. Variations of coal lithotypes were recorded and formed the basis of sampling for petrography and isotope analysis. Coal samples were etched to expose cellular anatomy, and systematically identified to recognise palaeoflora assemblages. When observed within seam, δ13C of the coal varied cyclically (13C enriched-depleted-enriched) as a response to environmental changes expressed in palaeoflora communities. The total range of δ13C was -26.6‰ to -21.9‰. The overall trend of δ13C progresses to increasing 13C enrichment, corresponding with dull lithotypes (rich in inertinite) which indicate fluctuations in base level. The 13C enrichment peaks at -22.5‰ within the Kaloola Member and shifting rapidly toward a depletion (maximum -26.6‰) of 13C in the upper Bandanna Formation, prior to the P–T boundary. These changes are expressed in palaeoflora communities where ecosystems shifted from dominant Glossopteris flora, to climax community flora including Palaeosmunda, Cycadales and Ginkgo, suited to temperate, early Mesozoic climates. The results of this study represent an insight into the effects of environmental variables on 13C uptake of plants. The identification of flora within coal gives an insight into palaeowetland evolution, and can be partnered with classic petrographical techniques for integrated analysis in coals. Both the geochemistry and the anatomical aspects of coal represent an important tool for future palaeowetland research. |
Q:
Split rectangle with gaps
The rectangle split from the shapes.multipart can produce rectangles tightly stacked.
\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.multipart}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[
draw, fill=lightgray,
rounded corners,
rectangle split, rectangle split parts=3
] {
first part
\nodepart{two}second part
\nodepart{three}\ldots
};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
But I would like to have gaps in between the parts like this. Rounded corners were added for emphasis.
All of them should be as wide as the widest of them, text with should not be fixed. They should be able to contain complex matter, like listings. Are multipart shapes the right approach? Would it be appropriate to define a custom shape?
How can rectangular nodes be stacked?
A:
I think this code, using tcolorbox and eqparbox should help. Eqparbox defines tagged boxes, so that all boxes with the same tag eventually all have the width of the widest of them (requires two compilations):
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tcolorbox}
\usepackage{eqparbox}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
\tcbox{\eqmakebox[P]{First Part}}
\tcbox{\eqmakebox[P]{Second Part}}
\tcbox{\eqmakebox[P]{$ \dots $}}
\end{center}
\end{document}
A:
This solution defines a pic element which accepts an arbitrary comma-separated list of texts and puts them one after other vertically, and at the same time defines names for each "subnode":
\documentclass[tikz,margin=5pt]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning,fit}
\tikzset{
my split/.pic = {
\coordinate (aux) at (0,0);
\foreach \text [count=\i] in {#1} {
\node[below=of aux, draw, fill] (-\i) {\text};
\coordinate (aux) at (-\i.south);
}
}
}
It can be used from a tikz picture like this:
\draw pic[options] (NAME) at (coordinates) {my split={Text,for each,subnode}};
In options you can specify aspects such as the fill color, the rounded corners, the distance among nodes, and the width of each node (if this one is not given, each node will have its own "natural width").
Once the pic is drawn, you have node names: (NAME-1), (NAME-2), etc for each of the subnodes, which can be used to connect them with other parts of the tikz figure.
For example:
\begin{document}
\tikzset{
my style/.style={rounded corners, text width=3cm, node distance=1mm, fill=black!20}
}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw pic[my style] (A) at (0,0)
{my split={A First text, A Second Text, A Third Text}};
\draw pic[my style, fill=orange!20] (B) at (4, 0.5)
{my split={B First line, B second line, $\dots$}};
\draw[-latex] (A-2.east) -- (B-1.west);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Produces:
A:
Another solution. This one combines eqmakebox and a TiKZ matrix.
\documentclass[tikz,border=2mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{eqparbox}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix, positioning}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix (A) [matrix of nodes, nodes={draw, rounded corners, fill=gray!30}, row sep=1mm]
{\eqmakebox[P]{First Part}\\
\eqmakebox[P]{Second Part}\\
\eqmakebox[P]{$ \dots $}\\
};
\matrix (B) [matrix of nodes, nodes={draw, rounded corners, fill=green!30}, row sep=1mm, above right= 3mm and 5mm of A.east]
{\eqmakebox[P]{First Part}\\
\eqmakebox[P]{Second Part}\\
\eqmakebox[P]{$ \dots $}\\
};
\draw (A-1-1) to[out=0, in=180] (B-1-1);
\draw (A-2-1) to[out=0, in=180] (B-2-1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
|
Lemon Test
Senior Federal District Judge Ronald Lagueux, a 1986 Reagan appointee, has ordered the Cranston High School in Cranston, Rhode Island to remove a mural, pictured above, depicting a school prayer. The mural had been in the school since 1963. The suit, as is usual in these modern iconoclastic cases, was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of an atheist student and her father, Mark Ahlquist. Jessica Ahlquist, the 16 year old atheist who brought the suit, has become an atheist celeb on atheist sites on the internet. She doesn’t think much of the Catholic Church, is indeed a fallen away Catholic, and Cranston is 90% Catholic, so this suit was her way, actually I suspect more her father’s way, to poke a stick in the eye of local Catholics. Go here to read the opinion. Judge Lagueux’s decision is notable for its overall reliance on the Lemon test, and I will leave to Justice Scalia below to set forth my views of that court created doctrine.
In few areas of the law has the Constitution been more twisted and deformed than in the area of First Amendment allowance of religious expression in schools. Justice Scalia gave a useful summary in 1993 in the Lamb’s Chapel v. Moriches Union Free School District case:
As to the Court’s invocation of the Lemon test: Like some ghoul in a late night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried, Lemon stalks our Establishment Clause jurisprudence once again, frightening thelittle children and school attorneys of Center Moriches Union Free School District. Continue reading → |
Q:
Default values in regular expressions if pattern does not match
I'm trying to build a PHP regexp pattern that would:
Capture "openid" if test string is "login/openid"
Would use "index" if test string is just "login" (without a trailing slash).
login(?:/(.+))? - this would capture whatever is after the slash, and it works fine.
However, can I build a regexp to provide a "default" value if pattern IS NOT matched (i.e. there's no slash).
Please do not suggest workarounds, I only need a pattern if it's at all possible.
Thanks!
A:
No, regular expressions can only match text that is there, not "invent" new text (e.g., a default value). So you can't do it with a regex alone.
You need an if statement:
if (preg_match('%login(?:/(.+))?%', $subject, $regs)) {
$result = $regs[1];
} else {
$result = "index";
}
|
Q:
C++ : code::block does not recognize included header
I got the following code in C++ :
in main():
#include <iostream>
#include <math.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout << function(1) << endl;
return 0;
}
in my source code file:
#include <math.h>
int function(int number)
{
int value(number + 2);
return value;
}
And in my header called "math.h" :
#ifndef MATH_H_INCLUDED
#define MATH_H_INCLUDED
int function(int number);
#endif // MATH_H_INCLUDED
When I try to compile it I got the error : "function" was not declared in this scope
Where am I wrong?
A:
<math.h> is a standard header file, and the use of #include <math.h> makes it prefer the standard header file path over the current directory, unless you give your current directory precedence (by using the -I switch to specify an include path, as an example).
If you use #include "math.h" instead, the compiler will search the current directory first. Alternatively, you can rename your header file to something different from math.h.
|
Q:
Heaps algorithm in swift
I have an implementation of Heap's algorithm in Swift that I am trying to convert to NOT use inout parameters.
However I get different results for each (the second is wrong, delivering a repeated permutation). What is going wrong, and how do I fix it?
Original implementation:
func permutations(_ n:Int, _ a: inout Array<Character>) {
if n == 1 {print(String(a)); return}
for i in 0..<n-1 {
permutations(n-1,&a)
a.swapAt(n-1, (n%2 == 1) ? 0 : i)
}
permutations(n-1,&a)
}
var arr = Array("ABC".characters)
permutations(arr.count,&arr)
Output: ABC BAC CAB ACB BCA CBA
Implementation without inout parameters:
func permutations (_ n: Int, _ a: Array<Character>) {
var ary = a
if (n == 1){
print(String(ary));
return
}
for i in 0..<n-1 {
permutations(n-1, ary)
ary.swapAt(n-1, (n%2 == 1) ? 0 : i)
}
permutations(n-1, ary)
}
var arr = Array("ABC".characters)
permutations(arr.count,arr)
output:
Output: ABC BAC CBA BCA ABC BAC
Note we don't get CAB in this output, and also have a repetition of "BAC" and "ABC".
I can't quite see how the two are not equivalent, and want to create a version of this algorithm without the inout parameter.
A:
Array is struct and passed by value in Swift. If you don't use inout, you have to return the array in order to receive the change. Without updating the array, every permutations(n-1, ary) inside the for-loop basically does nothing before you swap.
func permutations (_ n: Int, _ a: Array<Character>) -> Array<Character> {
var ary = a
if (n == 1){
print(String(ary));
return ary
}
for i in 0..<n-1 {
ary = permutations(n-1, ary)
ary.swapAt(n-1, (n%2 == 1) ? 0 : i)
}
return permutations(n-1, ary)
}
|
H.R. 3538 To amend the Railway Labor Act to direct the National Mediation Board to apply the same procedures, including voting standards, to the direct decertification of a labor organization as is applied to elections to certify a representative, and for other purposes. |
Hannspree hf229h driver
I use mine on 1600 x 1050. I tried updating the driver for the video card, tried searching for a HF229H driver driiver and couldn't find anything. Please for driver update information. Question: How do I setup full display? This kept the monitor in DVI mode but it seemed to hannspree hf229h driver every time hannspree hf229h driver driver was updated. You can't post answers that contain an email address.
To download HANNSPREE HF229H DRIVER, click on the Download button
The native resolutions for our monitors are: Size 1 st option 2 nd option 17" Wide hannspree hf229h driver x 900 60Hz 1440 dirver 900 75Hz 18. Is this a Windows 8 thing or something new in Catalyst Control Center? I'm hannspree hf229h driver between buying a new monitor and returning the new computer. Most TVs and what you have IS a TV will handle this but you m rm67a driver have issues with getting a one-to-one pixel mapping. How much do you know about "electronic ballasts" "switch-mode-power-supplys" and how to repair them?? It's been a while since I set it up, but I don't remember doing any registry hacks. Mar 05, 2009 If an HDMI cable won't work, try Component Cables.
Trade-in for new wide screen. The "Generic Hannspree hf229h driver Monitor" driver is just a shim for "Ask the monitor what it can do" - Your monitor is lying. You may NOT copy or distribute the content that appears on this site without written wd 1200bevexternal usb device driver from Fixya Ltd. This kept the monitor in DVI mode but it seemed to break every time the driver was updated. It's not one of those ones with a hannspree hf229h driver graphics setup where it uses the intel HD graphics until you go into a game or whatever is it?
This kept the montaillou the promised land of error pdf in DVI mode but it seemed to break every time the driver was updated. If the resolution is set to anything other than 1680x1050, set it to that. Products for the Design-Centric Lifestyle. I went through the same hassle as you. I tried the generic PNP Monitor driver, and tried installing the vista driver hannspree hf229h driver the Hannspree provided. Since your videocard is working properly, it hannspree hf229h driver the monitor for its HDMI capabilities, causing the monitor to switch over to this scaled HDMI mode. Please enter a valid email address.
How much do you know hannsprer "electronic ballasts" "switch-mode-power-supplys" and how to repair them?? Local or distant hannspree hf229h driver. It might fix your problem. Answer: Some of the video cards have an option to select FULL screen option and need to enable to get FULL screen using the image settings in the On Screen Display OSD Menu. You are advice to contact the nearest service center for assistance.
Hannspree hf229h driver - pilot your
Answer: Some of the video cards asa5510 bun k9 pdf an option hannspere select FULL screen option and need to enable to get FULL screen using the image settings in the On Screen Display OSD Menu. I own a Hannspree HF229H 22" monitorbut the display driver insists I have a Hannspree hf229h driver, likely the same monitor just not wide screen. I went through the same hassle as you. I'm not sure what else I can do. The HannsG by Hannspree HT225HPB touch monitor has been awarded as the best technological product 2016 in Spain. Uannspree hannspree hf229h driver solution is to use VGA.
Hannspree hf229h driver
Hannspree hf229h driver - concentrates the
I helped a guy with a laptop like that and he had a hannspree hf229h driver problem where it would only ever output 800x600 until we driveer the special dual graphics card driver package from Sony VAIO laptop. Detach all unnecessary external devices hannspree hf229h driver your PC such as scanner, printer or removable storage device. I'm torn between buying a new monitor and returning the new computer.
Detach all unnecessary external devices from your PC such as hl-dt-st gsa-h73n driver, printer or removable storage device. How much do you know about "electronic ballasts" "switch-mode-power-supplys" hannspree hf229h driver how to repair them?? By continuing to visit this site you agree to our use of cookies. It might fix your problem. Hnnspree went through the same hassle as you. |
st derivative of p(v) wrt v.
45*v**2
Let u(m) be the second derivative of -31*m**6/15 + 472*m**2 + 390*m. Differentiate u(z) wrt z.
-248*z**3
Suppose 16 = b - u, 4*b + u - 58 = 3*u. Suppose -4*i + 5*r = -147, i - 3*r - b = 22. What is the second derivative of -17*x**4 + i*x**4 - 4*x - 13*x**4 wrt x?
96*x**2
Let x be (18*(-6)/540*-6)/((-9)/(-30)). Let b(k) be the third derivative of 0*k + 17*k**2 + 0*k**4 + 0*k**5 + 1/15*k**6 + 0 - x*k**3. Differentiate b(t) wrt t.
24*t**2
Let m(n) = -n**3 - 8*n**2 - 2. Let o(i) = 7*i**3 + 428*i**2 + 1208*i + 7. Let l(t) = 3*m(t) + o(t). Find the second derivative of l(r) wrt r.
24*r + 808
Let x(r) be the second derivative of 0 + 23*r - 1/12*r**4 - 2/3*r**3 + r**2. What is the second derivative of x(m) wrt m?
-2
Let r be 4/(-26) - 56/(-26). Suppose -38 = -32*y + 26. Differentiate 32 + 8*n**y - 21*n**r - 8 + 2 with respect to n.
-26*n
Suppose 3*t = 9, -3*t - 11 = 4*n - 4*t. Let u = n - -5. Find the third derivative of -6*z**3 - 14*z**6 - 16*z**2 + 6*z**u - 3*z**6 wrt z.
-2040*z**3
Let i(s) be the first derivative of -49*s**6/60 - 71*s**3/2 - 14*s**2 + s - 41. Let y(l) be the second derivative of i(l). Differentiate y(v) wrt v.
-294*v**2
Suppose 0 = 5*f + 5*s - 690, 2*f = -6*s + 3*s + 276. What is the second derivative of 48 + 31*d + f*d**2 + 8 - 53 wrt d?
276
Let k be 8/20 - (-274)/(-10). Let c = 34 + k. What is the third derivative of -6*m**2 - 4*m**2 + c*m**6 + 7*m**6 wrt m?
1680*m**3
Let t(h) be the third derivative of 13*h**7/15 + h**6/30 + 151*h**5/6 - 873*h**2 + 1. What is the third derivative of t(l) wrt l?
4368*l + 24
Let m(h) = 4*h + 5. Let p be m(0). What is the third derivative of -2*d**2 + 4*d**6 + 7 + 5*d**2 + 4353*d**p + 2*d**3 - 4353*d**5 wrt d?
480*d**3 + 12
Let r(g) be the third derivative of 19*g**6/120 - g**4/12 + 541*g**3/6 - 9*g**2 - 25*g. Find the first derivative of r(o) wrt o.
57*o**2 - 2
Let f be 2/7 + (-3*1 - (-7708)/1148). Let w(a) be the first derivative of 24 + 34/3*a**3 + 0*a**2 + f*a**4 + 0*a. Find the third derivative of w(z) wrt z.
96
Let w(a) be the first derivative of -11652*a**5/5 - 5525*a**2 + 2058. What is the second derivative of w(t) wrt t?
-139824*t**2
Let j(g) be the second derivative of 1031*g**4/12 + 499*g**3/6 + g**2/2 - 304*g. What is the second derivative of j(x) wrt x?
2062
Suppose -4*y + 30*y = 754. Differentiate -83*r**3 - y - 2*r + 3 + 2*r + 1 wrt r.
-249*r**2
Find the second derivative of -13*w**4 + 1 + 70*w**3 + 46*w**3 + 45*w**3 - 166*w**3 + 73*w - 2 wrt w.
-156*w**2 - 30*w
Let r(s) = -s**4 + 3*s. Let b(m) = -8*m**4 + 3*m**3 - m**2 - 1007*m. Let x(d) = b(d) - 6*r(d). What is the third derivative of x(h) wrt h?
-48*h + 18
Suppose -292 = -5*d - 4*k, 0 = 4*d + 5*k - 189 - 50. Differentiate -299 + 975 - 330 - d*r**2 wrt r.
-112*r
Suppose -36 = -9*h - 0. Suppose h*n = 58 + 54. What is the third derivative of 6*b**2 + b**2 - n*b**2 + 5*b**6 wrt b?
600*b**3
Let g(z) be the second derivative of 33*z**5/20 - 13*z**4/12 + 3*z**3 - 575*z - 1. What is the third derivative of g(x) wrt x?
198
Let c = 110 + -106. Let g(z) be the first derivative of 17*z**3 - 12*z**c + 72 - 12*z**2 - 26 - 17*z**3. Find the second derivative of g(y) wrt y.
-288*y
Let i(g) = 5742*g**3 + g**2 - 10*g + 17. Let x(d) = -5743*d**3 - d**2 + 10*d - 26. Let c(o) = 3*i(o) + 4*x(o). Find the third derivative of c(a) wrt a.
-34476
Let j(p) = p**3 - 10*p**2 + 14*p - 39. Let d be j(9). Find the third derivative of -96*n**3 - d*n**2 + n**3 + 57*n**2 wrt n.
-570
What is the third derivative of -10358*y**3 + 10333*y**3 + 898*y**2 + 496*y**2 + 31*y**5 wrt y?
1860*y**2 - 150
Find the second derivative of 119123*c**2 - 119837*c**2 + 146 + c + 277 wrt c.
-1428
Let j(r) = r**2 + 6*r - 10. Let g be j(3). Differentiate 105 - g*v**2 - 45 - 5*v**2 with respect to v.
-44*v
Let r = -77 - -79. What is the derivative of -2*f**3 - 47 + 32985*f**2 - 13*f - 32985*f**r wrt f?
-6*f**2 - 13
What is the second derivative of 3*j**3 - 361*j + 21342*j**2 - 316*j - 21155*j**2 wrt j?
18*j + 374
Let v be (4/(-10))/(35/(-10850)). What is the second derivative of 247*m - 60*m**5 + 177*m**5 + v*m**5 wrt m?
4820*m**3
Let w = -39 + 87. Let h = w + -44. Find the third derivative of -4*l + h*l - 1618*l**4 - 19*l**2 + 1651*l**4 wrt l.
792*l
Let m(l) be the second derivative of 64*l**7/7 - 27*l**4/2 - l**3 + 3058*l. What is the third derivative of m(v) wrt v?
23040*v**2
What is the first derivative of 2*u**2 - 2300 + u**2 - 629*u**3 - 303*u**3 - 3*u**2 wrt u?
-2796*u**2
Find the third derivative of 562500 - 4783*j**3 - 562500 + 8782*j**2 + 3750*j**2 wrt j.
-28698
What is the third derivative of 2599*z**2 - 67946*z + 67946*z - 1526*z**4 - 947*z**4 wrt z?
-59352*z
Let k be (-8)/6*(-3)/2. Suppose -2*z + 10 = -7*w + 9*w, -2*w = 4*z - 16. What is the third derivative of -5*t**2 - 28*t**6 - w*t**k + 14*t**6 wrt t?
-1680*t**3
Find the third derivative of 305*w**2 + 26*w**6 + 73281*w**4 + 25*w**5 - 3*w - 3 - 25*w**5 - 73255*w**4 wrt w.
3120*w**3 + 624*w
Let n be ((-3)/(-12))/(1/28). Let p be ((-16)/n)/((-12)/42). What is the third derivative of 11*r**3 + p - 8 - 8*r**2 - 14*r**3 wrt r?
-18
Let z(a) be the third derivative of a**6/60 - 35*a**5/4 + 1279*a**3/6 - 289*a**2. Differentiate z(j) wrt j.
6*j**2 - 1050*j
Let h = 25 + -22. Suppose -24 + 6 = -h*q. Find the third derivative of 13*u**6 - 6*u**6 - 11*u**2 - 5*u**q wrt u.
240*u**3
Suppose 2*j - t = 0, -5*t + 16 = -j - j. Suppose -w - 4 = -j*w. Find the third derivative of 3*o**5 + w*o**2 - 4*o**2 - 2*o**2 + 2*o**5 wrt o.
300*o**2
Find the second derivative of 22*f**3 - f**2 - 192 - 719*f - 216 + 3*f**4 + 407 + 0*f**2 wrt f.
36*f**2 + 132*f - 2
Let k(x) = -570*x**2 - 468*x + 13. Let p(g) = -5699*g**2 - 4678*g + 137. Let n(t) = -21*k(t) + 2*p(t). What is the second derivative of n(i) wrt i?
1144
Let c(v) be the third derivative of 5/8*v**4 - 1 - 1/30*v**6 + 1/30*v**5 + 1/84*v**8 + 12*v**2 + 0*v**3 + 0*v**7 + 0*v. Find the third derivative of c(n) wrt n.
240*n**2 - 24
Find the third derivative of -25 - 27*c**4 + 212*c**3 - 2*c**2 - 214*c**3 + 167 + 17*c**4 wrt c.
-240*c - 12
Suppose h - 17 = -0. Suppose 2*u - 15 = -4*b + h, -4*b + 2*u = -40. Find the first derivative of 12*r**4 + 2*r**4 - 11*r**3 + 11*r**3 + b wrt r.
56*r**3
Differentiate 341*c**2 + 390 + 333*c**2 - 2677*c**2 - 988 with respect to c.
-4006*c
What is the second derivative of 957*t**3 + 1161*t**3 - 2*t**5 - 92*t + 100 - 100*t + 98 - 199 wrt t?
-40*t**3 + 12708*t
Let q(a) = 61362*a**3 - 116949*a**2 + 77*a. Let b(p) = -7219*p**3 + 13759*p**2 - 9*p. Let x(i) = -77*b(i) - 9*q(i). Find the third derivative of x(u) wrt u.
21630
Let r(i) = i**2 + 6*i. Let a(w) = -11418*w**3 - 48*w**2 + 15048*w. Let x(k) = a(k) + 48*r(k). Find the second derivative of x(q) wrt q.
-68508*q
Let d(l) be the second derivative of -139*l**6/10 + l**5/10 + 1024*l**3/3 + 3649*l. Find the second derivative of d(c) wrt c.
-5004*c**2 + 12*c
What is the first derivative of 328*p**4 - 1290*p**4 + 603*p**4 + 31 - 1342*p**4 - 914*p**4 wrt p?
-10460*p**3
Let c(j) be the third derivative of 277*j**7/105 - j**6/30 - 959*j**5/15 - 1592*j**2. What is the third derivative of c(z) wrt z?
13296*z - 24
Let w = 160 + -30. Find the second derivative of -26*c**2 - 11*c + w - 130 wrt c.
-52
Let p be 2/(-3) + 6/9. Suppose p + 26 = o. Find the third derivative of 6*g**3 - 21*g**2 + 34*g**2 - o*g**3 wrt g.
-120
Let a(q) = -q**2 + q + 3. Let x be 4*(-1)/(-4) + -1. Let o be a(x). Find the second derivative of -17*m - 14*m**4 - 135*m**o + 135*m**3 wrt m.
-168*m**2
Let u(l) be the third derivative of -19*l**4/3 - 1895*l**3/6 - 13*l**2 + 14*l. Find the first derivative of u(r) wrt r.
-152
Let m(t) be the second derivative of 971*t**8/28 - t**4/12 + 865*t**3/2 - 39*t + 43. Find the third derivative of m(d) wrt d.
233040*d**3
Let s be 2/(-2 + 0 + (-5712)/(-2772)). Let b(a) be the first derivative of 0*a - 20/3*a**3 + 3/2*a**4 - s + 0*a**2. What is the third derivative of b(d) wrt d?
36
What is the third derivative of -q**2 - 6*q**2 + 434*q**3 + 563*q**3 - 42 - 4*q**2 - 201*q**3 wrt q?
4776
Differentiate 264 + 1970 - 6638*p + 3248 with respect to p.
-6638
Let u(p) be the first derivative of 6*p**5/5 + 23*p**4/4 - 3*p**3 + 84*p**2 + 20*p - 314. What is the second derivative of u(d) wrt d?
72*d**2 |
Cách tránh tái nghiện rượu trong mùa lễ
Khi mùa lễ đến gần, danh sách các sự kiện “phải tham dự” của bạn sẽ tăng lên.
Trong các bữa tiệc của gia đình, hoặc các bữa tiệc ở các sự kiện xã hội bạn có thể sẽ được thưởng thức nhiều món ăn ngon và nhiều loại đồ uống. Nhưng nếu bạn đang phục hồi từ nghiện rượu, một loại đồ uống như rượu hoặc bia không bao giờ là lựa chọn tốt cả. Làm thế nào để bạn xử lí được thời gian này của năm mà không xáo trộn mọi sự kiện của bạn?
Tránh tình huống cô lập.
Khi tham dự một sự kiện như vậy, hãy để ai đó đi với bạn, bạn không nhất thiết phải đi cùng người này trong suốt sự kiện, nhưng có ít nhất một người đi cùng sẽ giúp giảm bớt lo lắng xã hội và cải thiện khả năng của bạn để tận hưởng bữa tiệc. Nó cho phép bạn tránh bị cô lập vào các tình huống có thể khiến bạn tái nghiện và sử dụng rượu bia.
Đi cùng một người hỗ trợ bạn.
Hầu hết các sự kiện khuyến khích cá nhân đi cùng một người nào đó với họ, cho dù đó là vợ / chồng hoặc ai đó khác. Người bạn đi cùng nên là người hiểu mục tiêu của bạn và quá trình phục hồi của bạn. Trao đổi với người này về những rủi ro có thể dẫn đến tái nghiện trong các sự kiện xã hội này. Yêu cầu họ hỗ trợ cho bạn nếu bạn bị dao động và có khả năng tái sử dụng rượu bia.
Nếu bạn có khả năng bị tái nghiện, hãy đảm bảo rằng người này hiểu được vấn đề và sẵn sàng đưa bạn rời đi nếu cần.
Nhận biết các khả năng có thể gây tái nghiện phổ biến nhất.
Nhiều người thấy mình bị cám dỗ trong thời gian tham gia các bữa tiệc. Tuy nhiên, những người đang cai nghiện không được phép phạm thêm một sai lầm nào nữa. Để đi đúng hướng, bạn cần phải biết những gì sẽ đẩy bạn đến gần hơn với việc tái nghiện. Những tình huống phổ biến có thể khiến bạn tái nghiện bao gồm:
• Bạn gặp các vấn đề khó khăn về tài chính.
• Các cuộc tranh cãi với gia đình hoặc bạn bè khiến bạn cảm thấy tức giận, tuyệt vọng, sợ hãi hoặc lo lắng.
• Xung đột gia đình thường tăng cao trong những ngày nghỉ lễ.
• Những lo lắng xã hội, chẳng hạn như lo lắng về việc tiếp xúc với rượu hoặc phải trả lời các câu hỏi về vấn đề cai rượu của bạn.
• Những thay đổi trong lịch trình hàng ngày và các hoạt động của bạn, có thể bạn bị dụ dỗ bỏ một buổi phục hồi hoặc điều trị.
Nhận ra những rủi ro này cho bạn sức mạnh vượt qua chúng. Nó không phải dễ dàng, nhưng nhận ra rằng bạn không phải một mình - bất kỳ người nào đang cai rượu đều phải đối mặt với những rủi ro rất giống nhau – nghĩ như vậy có thể giúp bạn vượt qua sự cám dỗ.
Các bước cần thực hiện để tránh khả năng tái nghiện.
Tạo ra một kế hoạch giúp bạn tỉnh táo trong những ngày lễ hoặc sự kiện bằng cách tránh hoặc vượt qua những tình huống có thể gây tái nghiện. Dưới đây là một số bước chính cần thực hiện để bắt đầu:
# 1: Tiếp tục làm những gì bạn đang làm.
Ngay bây giờ, bạn đang rất tỉnh táo. Bạn đã làm gì để giữ cho mình ở trạng thái này? Bạn có thể đã dành thời gian với nhân viên tư vấn của bạn mỗi tuần, bạn có thể đang làm việc để cải thiện sức khỏe tâm thần, tập thể dục hoặc cải thiện các mối quan hệ. Tiếp tục giữ các hoạt động đó bên mình. Mặc dù có thể là một khoảng thời gian khó khăn, nhưng phải luôn đặt sự tỉnh táo của mình lên hàng đầu.
# 2: Nhận sự chăm sóc cần thiết mỗi khi bạn cần.
Điều đó có nghĩa là gặp gỡ với cố vấn và bác sĩ của bạn thường xuyên. Hãy nhận ra rằng khoảng thời gian có nhiều sự kiện bạn phải tham gia này cũng đồng nghĩa với việc bạn phải thường xuyên phải ghé thăm các dịch vụ này. Điều đó là tốt để bạn không mắc phải các sai lầm và tái nghiện.
# 3: Ăn uống và nghỉ ngơi điều độ.
Nghe có vẻ đơn giản, nhưng chăm sóc bản thân và giữ thói quen của bạn là rất quan trọng để duy trì sự tỉnh táo lâu dài. Ngủ ngon (ngủ từ 6 đến 8 tiếng mỗi đêm) và ăn một chế độ dinh dưỡng đầy đủ có thể giúp cơ thể và bộ não của bạn có được sự hỗ trợ cần thiết. Nó cũng giúp bạn thoát khỏi một số căng thẳng mà bạn cảm thấy trong khoảng thời gian này trong năm.
# 4: Quyết định – tránh né hoặc chiến đấu.
Tùy thuộc vào việc bạn đang ở đâu trong quá trình phục hồi, bạn sẽ cần tìm hiểu cách xử lý từng tình huống có thể khiến bạn tái nghiện liệt kê ở trên. Nếu bạn mới tham gia quá trình cai nghiện này và không có khả năng xử lí các tình huống dẫn đến uống rượu bia thì trong trường hợp này, tránh né các trường hợp đó. Nếu bạn cảm thấy mạnh mẽ và quyết tâm, đó có thể là thời điểm để bạn đối mặt với những tình huống này và giữ lấy sự tỉnh táo cho bản thân. Chỉ thật sự đối mặt khi bạn chắc chắn rằng mình có đủ sự tự tin để không bị tái nghiện.
# 5: Luôn sẵn sàng để nói "không".
"Nó chỉ là một thức uống đơn giản." "Bạn có thể uống một chút, nó sẽ không làm tổn thương bạn." "Mọi người sẽ không vui nếu bạn không uống một vài chén chúc mừng." Đừng quan tâm đến những lời nói của người khác, họ không thể hiểu được tình trạng của bạn, bạn cần phải sẵn sàng để nói “không” với họ. Nó sẽ không dễ dàng, nhưng nó sẽ giúp bạn tránh khả năng bị tái nghiện. Hãy nhớ rằng, bạn không nợ bất cứ ai một lời giải thích. Phải mất rất nhiều can đảm và sức mạnh để nói "không" thay vì nhượng bộ. Đây là cuộc sống của bạn và tương lai của bạn.
Hãy liên hệ với chúng tôi để biết thêm về các phương pháp chống tái nghiện, cũng như xử lý các vấn đề về chất gây nghiện khác nếu bạn hoặc người thân trong gia đình đang gặp phải.
Trực tiếp tư vấn và điều trị nghiện rượu, nghiện heroin, trầm cảm, lo âu, rối loạn tâm thần nội sinh hoặc do sử dụng rượu, cần sa, cỏ Mỹ, ma túy đá (nghiện đá, ngáo đá), thuốc lắc, ketamin. Tiến sĩ, Bác sĩ Trần thị Hồng Thu, hiện đang công tác tại Bệnh viện Tâm thần ban ngày Mai Hương - Điện thoại, Zalo, Facebook 0988 079 038 |
Q:
Runtime error wen using Hamcrest Matchers in Android production code with proguard
I am writing an app that has a form with text fields that take numbers. To check whether the input is valid I decided to use Hamcrest Matchers. I defined:
public static <T> boolean checkThat(T actual, Matcher<? super T> matcher) {
return matcher.matches(actual);
}
such that I can use stuff like:
if(checkThat(doubleFromText,greaterThan(0.0)) doSomething();
Now this works perfectly fine in debug mode, but when I enable proguard for production release the application crashes immediately with the following message (obtained with retrace):
java.lang.Error: Cannot determine correct type for matchesSafely() method.
at org.hamcrest.internal.ReflectiveTypeFinder.findExpectedType(Unknown Source)
canObtainExpectedTypeFrom
at org.hamcrest.TypeSafeMatcher.<init>(Unknown Source)
at org.hamcrest.TypeSafeMatcher.<init>(Unknown Source)
at org.hamcrest.number.OrderingComparison.<init>(Unknown Source)
at org.hamcrest.number.OrderingComparison.greaterThan(Unknown Source)
matchesSafely
at org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan(Unknown Source)
How can I fix this?
I made a minimal example demonstrating the problem: https://github.com/burgerga/HamcrestMatchersWithProguard
Notes:
I added -dontwarn java.beans.** to my proguard rules to get it to compile.
Before you start telling me I should just use if(doubleFromText > 0), the example I gave was simplified. In my code I use something like
checkThat(textIn(myEditText),parsesToDouble(greaterThan(0.0)));
where parsesToDouble is a simple matcher I wrote. I think this is a very flexible and clear way to state my intent, and I'm simply interested in how to get it working with proguard.
A:
Because Hamcrest uses reflection, some methods get deleted in the shrinking phase that shouldn't be deleted. I was able to get it working again by adding
-keepclasseswithmembers class org.hamcrest.number.** { *** matchesSafely(...); }
to the proguard rules. If you don't care about a slightly larger apk you can add
-keep class org.hamcrest.** { *; }
to make sure nothing from hamcrest gets deleted.
|
Pope defends traditional marriage as Italy debates civil unions
Isla Binnie
3 Min Read
Pope Francis gestures during a special audience for the Jubilee of the workers of the shrines in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Tony Gentile
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis issued a stern reminder of the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage on Friday as a fierce debate raged in Italy ahead of a vote that would give legal recognition to homosexual couples.
Next week, the Senate is due to resume debating a bill that would legalize civil partnership for homosexuals as well as for unmarried heterosexual couples. Many opponents say the law is a Trojan horse that would lead to legalizing gay marriage.
The Argentine pontiff, who generally has taken a more socially progressive line on gender issues than his predecessors, told Vatican judges “there can be no confusion between the family God wants and any other type of union”.
“The family, founded on indissoluble matrimony that unites and allows procreation, is part of God’s dream and that of his Church for the salvation of humanity,” he said in an address to members of the Vatican court that rules on marriage annulments.
Despite the European Court of Human Rights condemnation of Italy last year for failing to introduce a law on civil partnerships, its passage has been held up by objections from politicians of all stripes.
Pope Francis leaves at the end of a special audience for the Jubilee of the workers of the shrines in Paul VI hall at the Vatican, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Tony Gentile
Opposition parties and even some members of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) are incensed by a proposal in the law that would allow homosexuals adopt the children their partners had from previous heterosexual unions.
The presence of the Vatican in Rome is often cited as a reason Italy is one of the last major countries in the West not to give same-sex couples rights or protection on issues like parenthood.
The bill’s author, PD Senator Monica Cirinna, told reporters this week that the ruling party was in a state of “high fever” as the vote approaches and the Church’s position was always lurking in the background of the debate.
“There has always been a clash between the non-religious and the Catholic members of the party,” Cirinna said. “The great dome sometimes casts a shadow,” she said, referring to St. Peter’s Basilica.
Some fear the bill would open the way to loosening laws on surrogate motherhood, which is illegal in Italy. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has said that those who break the law should be treated as sex offenders and sent to prison.
The conservative Northern League demonstrated at the Pantheon in Rome this week collecting signatures for their bid to remove the stepchild adoption provision from the bill ahead of the Jan. 28 vote in the upper house. |
A rifle-wielding gunman opened fire on a GOP baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia Wednesday morning.
House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, who was shot in the hip, was in critical condition after surgery, an aide said. Also taken to hospitals with gunshot wounds were a U.S. Capitol police officer, a congressional staffer and a lobbyist, the statement said.
A second, unidentified, member of Congress was taken to a hospital after suffering minor injuries, according to a joint federal law enforcement statement.
The shooter was identified as 66-year-old James Hodgkinson from Illinois, according to the FBI.
AP Photo
Scalise's office says that prior to entering surgery, the congressman was in good spirits and that he spoke with his wife over the phone. A visibly emotional House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told The Washington Post that Scalise is now out of surgery.
The hospital later confirmed that Rep. Steve Scalise was still in critical condition Wednesday night and would need more operations after shooting.
Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama was on the field at the time and says at least 50 shots had been fired.
Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., said Scalise was standing on second base when he was shot.
“I was looking right at him,” Bishop told Detroit radio station WWJ. “He was a sitting duck.”
Sen. Jeff Flake, who was at the baseball practice, told reporters he called Scalise's wife to alert her of the situation.
CNN obtained video of the shooting. The dramatic video captured gunshots ringing out in the Virginia park.
WARNING: This video contains disturbing audio
The video films several minutes of the carnage, with one man seen lying on the ground at one point.
Scalise is the No. 3 House Republican leader. He was first elected to the House in 2008 after serving in the state legislature.
Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, Scalise's home state has released a statement calling the shooting an "outrageous, cowardly attack."
South Carolina Congressman Jeff Duncan says the shooter asked him if the politicians on the field were Democrats or Republicans. Duncan replied that they were Republicans, and the man thanked him before turning away. Duncan left before the attack began.
Four other people were injured in the shooting. Congressional aide Zach Barth, lobbyist Matt Mika, along with two U.S. Capitol police officers David Bailey and Krystal Griner.
Please keep the member of my staff and all members of the congressional baseball team in your thoughts and prayers pic.twitter.com/wH4b6wXQhs
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will take charge of the investigation into the shooter.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Tim Slater says it is too early to determine if the Congress members were targeted by the shooter, or if the shooting was a part of an assassination attempt.
The FBI’s statement said they are still working to investigate Hodgkinson and any associates that might exist. FBI continued saying they would look into his social media impressions and any potential motivations.
House Speaker Paul Ryan also tweeted his support those those injured in the shooting saying, "The hearts of the whole house are with Steve Scalise, the brave Capitol police, staff, and all those who were in harm's way."
This morning the hearts of the whole House are with @SteveScalise, the brave Capitol police, staff, and all those who were in harm's way.
The White House says Pence has spoken with the Speaker of the House, House Majority Leader, Rep Joe Barton, Senator Jeff Flake and Francis Brooke, a member of the Vice President's staff and a coach on the GOP baseball team who was present.
Karen & I are praying for @SteveScalise, the Capitol Police, & all hurt for a speedy recovery. Our hearts are with them & their loved ones. |
Warning: mysql_fetch_row(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/www/htdocs/zaltais.com/includes/sql_layer.php on line 283PHP-Nuke Powered Site Warning: mysql_fetch_row(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/www/htdocs/zaltais.com/includes/sql_layer.php on line 283
Warning: mysql_fetch_row(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/www/htdocs/zaltais.com/includes/sql_layer.php on line 283 |
WarioWare D.I.Y. Users Create Abhorrently Violent Microgames
When given the power of a level editor, nothing seems to be off limits, even in a Nintendo game.
**Warning. This video contains extreme violence. It's cartoon violence, but still may be disturbing for some.**
WarioWare D.I.Y., coming to North America on March 28 alongside the DSi XL, is the latest in the WarioWare series, but D.I.Y. comes with a new twist: a microgame editor that allows your creations to be shared with friends. The Japanese have already taken advantage of the freedom the microgame editor allows to create some very violent minigames that would probably make Shigeru Miyamoto frown.
WarioWare's microgames are called as such because they are too short to be called minigames. Each will last only a few seconds, with players usually having to complete a simple task by pushing a button or two very quickly. It's a lot more fun than it may sound, as these tasks sometimes require the picking of a nose or the flipping of an omelet.
WarioWare D.I.Y. has been available in Japan for almost a year now, under the title Made in Ore. The editor is actually pretty deep, giving players the power to create graphics and sounds. By now, Japanese gamers must have created many cute microgames filled with bunnies and rainbows, right? No.
As seen in the accompanying video, WarioWare D.I.Y. can be used to create really, really violent microgames. The least violent involves a guy simply being shot by a sniper rifle. Some other examples include a man being mauled with a chainsaw, Mario gunning down Princess Peach with an automatic weapon, and a decapitation with a saw. Though these are cartoony and use stick figures, they still creep me out a little.
I commend Nintendo for coming up with the great idea of adding a level editor into the WarioWare series, and for actually giving players the power to use more than stock art. I'm just wondering if the company didn't get in over its head here. I know I'll be sticking to microgames about unicorns that grant wishes to children, but these violent microgames are likely only the beginning of some potentially very nasty stuff that will be created by others without a mindset such as mine. |
Q:
REGEXP_REPLACE replace spaces between two symbols
I need to replace all spaces with one % between two specific symbols (@ and &); like followings:
'this @ is test &that did not @turn& out well'
should be converted to
'this @%is%test%&that did not @turn& out well'
and
'@pattern matching& is my number one enemy'
to
'@pattern%matching& is my number one enemy'
I almost read all related questions in stackoverflow and other sites but couldn't get a helpful answer.
A:
One (inefficient) way of doing this is by doing multiple REGEXP_REPLACE calls.
For example, lets look at the following plpgsql function.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION replaceSpacesBetweenTwoSymbols(startChar TEXT, endChar TEXT, textToParse TEXT)
RETURNS TEXT
AS $$
DECLARE resultText TEXT := textToParse;
DECLARE tempText TEXT := textToParse;
BEGIN
WHILE TRUE LOOP
tempText = REGEXP_REPLACE(resultText,
'(' || startChar || '[^' || endChar || ']*)' || '( )(.*' || endChar || ')',
'\1%\3');
IF tempText = resultText
THEN RETURN resultText;
END IF;
resultText := tempText;
END LOOP;
RETURN resultText;
END;
$$
LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';
We create a function that takes three arguments, the startChar, the endChar and the textToParse which holds the text that will be trimmed.
We start by creating a a regular expression based on the startChar and endChar. If the value of startChar is @ and the value of endChar is & we will get the following regular expression:
(@[^&]*)( )(.*&)
This regular expression is consisted of three groups:
(@[^&]*) - This group matches the text that is between the @ and an an empty space character - ' ';
( ) - This group matches a single space character.
(.*&) - This group matches the text that is between a space character and the & character.
In order to replace the space (group 2), we use the following REGEXP_REPLACE call:
REGEXP_REPLACE(resultText,' (@[^&]*)( )(.*&)', '\1%\3')
From that expression you can see that we are replacing the second group (which is a space) with the % character.
This way, we will only replace one space per one REGEXP_REPLACE execution.
Once we find that there are no more spaces that need to be replaced, we return the modified TEXT.
At this moment, the spaces are replaced with % characters. One last thing we need to do is to replace the multiple consecutive % characters with a single %.
That can be done with another REGEXP_REPLACE call at the end.
So for example:
SELECT REGEXP_REPLACE(replaceSpacesBetweenTwoSymbols('@','&','this @ is test &that did not @turn& out well'),'%{2,}','%');
Will return
this @%is%test%&that did not @turn& out well
as a result, while this
SELECT REGEXP_REPLACE(replaceSpacesBetweenTwoSymbols('@','&','this is @a more complex& task @test a a & w'),'%{2,}','%');
will return
this is @a%more%complex& task @test%a%a%& w
as a result.
|
Transcription factor binding at immunoglobulin enhancers is linked to somatic hypermutation targeting.
Secondary diversification of the immunoglobulin (Ig) repertoire occurs through somatic hypermutation (SHM), gene conversion (GCV), and class switch recombination (CSR)-three processes that are initiated by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). AID targets Ig genes at rates orders of magnitude higher than the rest of the genome, but the basis for this specificity is poorly understood. We have previously demonstrated that enhancers and enhancer-like sequences from Ig genes are capable of stimulating SHM of neighboring genes in a capacity distinct from their roles in increasing transcription. Here, we use an in vitro proteomics approach to identify E-box, MEF2, Ets, and Ikaros transcription factor family members as potential binders of these enhancers. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays in the hypermutating Ramos B cell line confirmed that many of these factors bound the endogenous Igλ enhancer and/or the IgH intronic enhancer (Eμ) in vivo. Further investigation using SHM reporter assays identified binding sites for E2A and MEF2B in Eμ and demonstrated an association between loss of factor binding and decreases in the SHM stimulating activity of Eμ mutants. Our results provide novel insights into trans-acting factors that dictate SHM targeting and link their activity to specific DNA binding sites within Ig enhancers. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. |
Gov. Jay Inslee announced new rules today around nursing homes and assisted living facilities that focus on better protecting older adults – a population more likely to be hit by COVID-19 (coronavirus) – during the ongoing statewide, unprecedented health crisis.
Rule changes center around visitors, screening, and precautionary measures.
“The risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 appears to be higher in people 60 years or older and in those with chronic health conditions,” Inslee said. “And we know there is an increased risk among people who live in congregated settings, such as long-term care facilities. We need to protect our older adults, and these rules will help.”
Cheryl Strange, secretary at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, joined the governor during the Olympia press conference.
Rules that go into effect today:
Visitors must be adults and the visit must take place in the resident’s room. This does not apply to end-of-life situations.
All visitors must follow COVID-19 screening and follow reasonable precautionary measures. Precautionary measures include, but are not limited to, wearing personal protective equipment, social distancing, or visiting in designated locations.
All visitors must sign into a visitor’s log. Owners and operators must retain that log for 30 days.
Employees or volunteers must be screened for COVID-19 symptoms at the start of each shift.
People who live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities and who test positive for COVID-19 must be isolated away from other people.
Owners, operators, staff and volunteers are prohibited from disclosing protected and confidential health information, except as otherwise provided by law or with the resident’s consent.
These rules remain in effect until midnight on April 9, 2020.
Inslee declared a state of emergency earlier this month because of COVID-19 |
Ethical review in Pakistan: the credibility gap.
The concept of mandatory ethical review of research involving human participants is gradually taking root in Pakistani institutions. Based on the opinions of Institutional Review Board (IRB) members from institutions across the country, the process faces several challenges which threaten its integrity. The lack of registration or accreditation for IRBs has resulted in a wide variation in the calibre and working of such Boards. Despite the recent growth in numbers of people with formal bioethics degrees in the country, a majority of membership remains without any formal training for the work expected from them in ethical review. External pressures to influence deliberations, conflict of interest issues within board leadership and inconsistent application of review requirements all contribute in undermining the reliability of the process. Some of the most significant threats to independent and uninfluenced functioning of such boards arise from institutional leadership itself. In the opinions of IRB members, the review process has to be uniform, consistent and trustworthy if it is to gain the respect of researchers, and IRB need to be given the autonomous space to make independent decisions. Otherwise there is a real danger of IRBs being relegated to being no more than rubber stamping committees. |
[Acute aspiration and trismus due to tetanus].
Tetanus is a worldwide health problem, causing the deaths of approximately 1,000,000 people every year. In Germany, about 15 infections are reported annually. The initial symptoms often develop in the head and neck region. As a result, some patients are referred to the otorhinolaryngologist. We report on a 83 year old female who suffered from recurrent aspiration and trismus. She had acquired a small injury on her lower leg 2 weeks earlier; protective antibody levels did not exist. The neurophysiological examination showed a result typical of tetanus. The patient received tetanus immunoglobulin, metronidazole and benzodiazepines. Due to respiratory problems, tracheotomy and ventilation became necessary. Elderly people often lack protective antibody levels against tetanus. If typical symptoms are manifest, tetanus has to be considered as a possibility. A complete history, including recent injuries and past vaccinations, should be compiled. |
Policy of nostalgia that threatens proud legacy
Share this
What would the MP who fought a hard-won battle to introduce comprehensive education in the 1960s make of Theresa May’s plans to expand grammar schools?
In 1945, Leeds elected its first female MP: the joint first in Yorkshire. Alice Bacon, daughter of a coal miner and herself a school teacher at an interwar secondary modern in Normanton, West Yorkshire, was about to start on a journey that would see her fulfil her ambition to introduce comprehensive education in Britain.
Bacon was passionate about the ability of education to transform people’s lives. She was one of the lucky few who got a scholarship to go to the grammar school in 1920, which opened up opportunities denied to the vast majority of children. But from an early age, Bacon knew that the system was unfair. At age 11, children were branded as successes or failures and just one test decided their fate. At that time, in Normanton, it ultimately determined for boys whether or not they were destined for a life down the pits.
It became Bacon’s political, social and personal mission to open up the chance of an excellent education for all, not just a privileged few, with all the opportunities that meant for a better future. As a Labour MP in the 1940s and 1950s, Bacon gave speech after speech in the House of Commons on the value of education and the importance of “comprehensive” schools – she spoke on the subject more than any of her Parliamentary colleagues. And she made sure it was at the top of Labour’s agenda at elections, too. In doing so, she changed an at-best ambiguous Labour position towards comprehensives in the 1940s and early 1950s to one, by the 1960s, of outright support.
Growing aspirations
It was during that decade that Bacon had the chance to put her politics into practice. With a Labour government, led by another grammar school alumnus, Harold Wilson, and with the Grimsby MP Anthony Crosland as education secretary, comprehensive education was implemented in previously selective areas of the country. The “white heat of technology”, the rise of the meritocracy, the growing aspirations of working-class parents and their children, and a Labour government determined to break down vested interests and offer opportunity combined to see the advance of the comprehensive school and the demise of the grammar and secondary modern.
Bacon was at the forefront of this movement. In 1967, she was moved from the Home Office to the Department for Education where she was responsible for schools policy. By the time Bacon left the department in 1970, 32 per cent of all children were educated in comprehensives, up from just 10 per cent six years earlier. It was a tide that even Margaret Thatcher (education secretary from 1970-74) could not reverse, with 62 per cent of children taught in comprehensives by 1974.
Bacon said that her commitment to comprehensive education “did not come from political dogma but from the reality of teaching in a secondary-modern school”. But, ultimately, establishing a system of comprehensive education was, for her, based on a belief in equality and improving the lot of working-class families – the sort she was born into and represented.
It is now 51 years since Crosland issued Circular 10/65 to local authorities nationwide – a document that transformed education in this country. Circular 10/65 did not compel local authorities to set up comprehensive schools but it did withhold money for school-building projects from those unwilling to reform their secondary education along comprehensive lines. Local education authorities were in charge of local education policy, but if they wanted money for new schools or school repairs, they were expected to follow the government’s agenda. Crosland set in train a revolution in education that has lasted, pretty much, until today. It was a revolution that Bacon helped ferment and then oversee, always keeping close to the grass roots of the National Union of Teachers and National Association of Labour Teachers, both of which she had been active in while a teacher in the 1930s and 1940s.
More than 40 years after her retirement from the Commons (having served as an MP from 1945-70), Bacon would no doubt be dismayed to see that the government is thinking of allowing more schools to select based on a crude exam.
Bacon, comparing Conservative Rab Butler’s Education Act to Thatcher’s direction of travel, once said that “Butler in 1944 was more progressive than Thatcher in 1970. She is yesterday’s woman with yesterday’s ideas”.
Today, Theresa May’s plan for grammar school expansion risks undoing social progress, which will be bad for young people’s life chances and for our economy: it risks too many young people being written off before they have the chance to fly.
From an early age, Bacon knew that the system was unfair
Selection at age 11 for two different schools is divisive, unfair and entrenches inequality. Just 2.6 per cent of children at grammar schools are on free school meals compared with more than 15 per cent for all secondary schools. Poorer kids don’t get the private tutors that are often needed to get into selective schools.
Instead of entrenching privilege and focusing on good schools for a few, the government should look at Bacon’s record and priorities: ensuring all children get a good education, reducing class sizes, especially for younger children, replacing dilapidated school buildings and improving teacher training.
Bacon was a practical politician whose concerns reflected those of the people she represented. But as a former teacher, and from her own school experience, her political passion was comprehensive education.
Crosland and Bacon left a proud legacy and have helped to open up the chance of a good education, and the opportunity to go to university, to more children. A divisive school system was wrong in the 1960s, and 50 years on it is wrong today – perhaps even more so. We can’t afford to write any child off at age 11 by closing doors in their faces, and yet to reintroduce grammar and secondary moderns will do just that.
Rachel Reeves is Labour MP for Leeds West. Her book, Alice in Westminster: the political life of Alice Bacon, will be published this month by IB Tauris
Subscribe to get access to the content on this page.
If you are already a Tes/ Tes Scotland subscriber please log in with your username or email address to get full access to our back issues, CPD library and membership plus page.
Share this
The guide by your side – ensuring you are always up to date with the latest in education.
Get Tes magazine online and delivered to your door. Stay up to date with the latest research, teacher innovation and insight, plus classroom tips and techniques with a Tes magazine subscription.
With a Tes magazine subscription you get exclusive access to our CPD library. Including our New Teachers’ special for NQTS, Ed Tech, How to Get a Job, Trip Planner, Ed Biz Special and all Tes back issues. |
Location of diphenyl-hexatriene and trimethylammonium-diphenyl-hexatriene in dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers by neutron diffraction.
Neutron scattering experiments have been performed on oriented dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers containing diphenylhexatriene (DPH) or its trimethylammonium analog (TMA-DPH). DPH and TMA-DPH were either protonated or deuterated in one of the phenyl rings which afforded by using proton-deuterium contrast methods the location of these fluorescent probes in the model membrane. Both probes exhibit bimodal distributions in DPPC. The position, population and orientation in the two sites vary depending upon the physical state of the bilayer (gel or fluid) and the presence or absence of the TMA group. In gel (L beta') phase lipids DPH is located close and parallel to the bilayer surface (site I) and near the bilayer center, oriented at approximately 30 degrees with respect to the normal to the surface (site II). On going to the fluid (L alpha) phase, a distribution of orientations around the parallel to the surface is only observed for site II. Orientation of DPH in site I is unchanged. In the gel phase TMA-DPH is found in a position close and parallel to the bilayer surface (site I) and in a position (site II) oriented at an angle of approximately 25 degrees with respect to the bilayer normal, with the trimethylammonium group anchored in the head group domain. On going to the fluid phase there is a change in molecular orientation of each of the sites. In site I the molecule penetrates deeper in the bilayer and adopts a approximately 20 degrees tilt with respect to the surface, with an orientational distribution of +/- 10 degrees. In site II the molecule becomes perpendicular to the membrane surface. Changes in population of sites, both with DPH and TMA-DPH, are observed on going from low to high temperatures. They are however difficult to quantitate due to experimental conditions. The H2O-2H2O exchange experiments afforded an estimate of the water layer thickness as well as the maximum penetration of water into the interior of the bilayer. |
Conquest of the new world
This is the end of a long journey for Simply, who has spent nearly eight years gunning for this particularly high-profile speedrunning world record. In 2015 he effectively gave up after going to college, coming to terms with the belief he'd never achieve his goal. After a brief return to speedrunning, issues with carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis forced Simply to stop playing for two years due to hand pain. In December 2019, after overcoming the hand pain, Simply returned to the scene, streaming full-time in an attempt to break the world record. Six months later, after many highs and lows, Simply now has the world record he worked so hard to achieve. … [Read more...] about Watch the wholesome moment this Super Mario 64 speedrunner broke the world record after eight years of trying
Developer Infinity Ward has confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will get a large update introducing new content later this week on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. This includes the return of an old franchise map, which is available to play right now. Hardhat, which was last seen in 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, has been added to Modern Warfare's 24/7 multiplayer playlist. It is a close-quarters map made for fast-paced skirmishes, but with enough sightlines for long-range fire as well. This should make it particularly challenging and ensure that teams make use of multiple loadouts. Without doing so, they risk leaving themselves open to ambushes or sniper fire. … [Read more...] about Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare–Here’s Why You Recognize The New Hardhat Map
1. *Twice* as many bladed limbsX-23’s bladed feet isn’t just there to make pedicurists take a step back - just like in the comics, in the movie her combat is an acrobatic snikt-fest which uses a lot more flips and cartwheels than we’re used to with the classic Wolverine. And that’s when she’s just a kid. After all, what’s the use in having knives jut out from beside your big toe if you’re not going to use them? While she’s undeniably as lethal as the mutton-chopped Logan, it’s possible that she could be (whisper it, now) more deadly. … [Read more...] about 7 reasons X-23 should be the new Wolverine – everything the Logan movie didn’t tell you |
Interpretation of synovial fluid data.
The routine battery of tests for synovial fluid analysis includes culture and Gram staining, polarizing microscopy, and total WBC and differential counts. If the volume of fluid collected is low, culture and polarizing microscopy have highest priority. Synovial fluid data are diagnostic in only two diseases: septic arthritis and crystal-induced arthritis. In traumatic arthritis, degenerative joint disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus, synovial fluid data may provide evidence supporting the diagnosis. |
Sign found at building entrances where firearms are prohibited. As of February 22, 2010, a new federal law allows people who can legally possess firearms under applicable federal, state, and local laws, to legally possess firearms in certain areas of National Park sites; however, federal law prohibits firearms in many buildings and facilities at these sites- those places are marked with signs at all public entrances (these included visitor centers and historic forts). It is the responsibility of visitors to understand and comply with all applicable state, local, and federal firearms laws before entering this park. As a starting point, please visit our state’s website at
. As a starting point, please visit our state’s website at www.sled.sc.gov/SCStateGunLaws1.aspx?MenuID=CWP to become familiar with the state gun laws in South Carolina. Firearms are prohibited in all buildings/facilities at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, including the historic forts. The following is a list of buildings where firearms are prohibited: Firearms are prohibited inside of historic Fort Sumter Photo: NPS/Taormina Historic Fort Sumter Firearms are prohibited inside of the Fort Sumter Visitor Center Photo: NPS/Taormina Fort Sumter Visitor and Education Center Firearms are prohibited inside of historic Fort Moultrie Photo: NPS/Taormina Historic Fort Moultrie Firearms are prohibited inside of the Fort Moultrie Visitor Center Photo: NPS/Taormina Fort Moultrie Visitor Center Firearms are prohibited inside of Park Headquarters Photo: NPS/Taormina Park Headquarters Firearms are prohibited in the newly restored Boathouse at the U.S. Coast Guard Historic District Photo: NPS/Taormina Boathouse at the U.S. Coast Guard Historic District |
It is highly arguable as to which system would produce the highest percentage of legal gun transactions. However, compliance with a national gun registry would probably be relatively low for many years to come. A stolen gun registry is more likely to have a higher compliance rate than a national gun registry (especially if federal law requires the reporting of stolen guns).
2. DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE SELLING TO?
This is the flip side of buying firearms privately... Trying to sell the firearm will trigger a review of the new owner's licence status.
As in item 1, expanding NICS to
all secondary transactions would determine whether the perspective seller is prohibited from owning firearms.
3. RETURN LOST OR STOLEN FIREARMS
Having registered your firearms, police can return recovered firearms to their rightful owners.
Again as in Item 1, a national stolen firearms registry would work at least as well as a national registration system for returning lost or stolen firearms.
4. HELP POLICE FIGHT CRIME
Once all law abiding owners have registered their firearms, those who haven't can be charged under the Criminal code for failure to register. This gives police a new clear cut avenue to fight criminal behavior. [The expectant result being...] Additional criminal charge against criminals (up to five years imprisonment or ten years if smuggling can be proven). [And] [b]reak up organized networks of criminals.
Unless the Supreme Court revisits its holdings in Haynes v. U.S.(1968), failure to register will not help law enforcement bring additional charges against criminals since criminals cannot be punished for "failure to register a firearm" or for "possession
of an unregistered firearm."
It would enable police to charge those without criminal records for failure to register a firearm. This would be useful against those with no criminal record, but had criminal intent, however it would also make criminals out of otherwise law abiding citizens who simply didn't trust the government.
It does require less resources to find the last legal owner of a firearm, making it quicker and easier to fight firearms trafficking and keep guns out of the hands of criminals. This is the most significant advantage of registration (unless one considers confiscation an advantage).
5. HELP POLICE AVOID UNFORTUNATE DOMESTIC INCIDENTS WITH FIREARMS
By having access to a firearms registry database, a police officer knows HOW MANY firearms to remove from harm's way.
In 1996, there were 80 spousal homicides, 40% of these homicides were done with firearms. The weapon most often used is a long gun.
Once law enforcement has obtained a search warrant, firearms can be confiscated from the premises. Any person convicted of domestic violence or under a restraining order is prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm. (See Lautenberg Amendment [scroll down to § 922(g)(9)]. See also Lautenberg Domestic Gun Ban.)
Even under a national registration scheme, due to the possibility of a lack of compliance, and the market for illegal firearms, it may not be wise to assume no firearms are present even if an offender is not in a firearms registry.
6. HELP POLICE SOLVE CRIMES
The computerized data base will make it easy to trace the last known owner of a firearm. This will give police a valuable starting point for their investigation. Potential for a higher rate of solved crimes involving a firearm
Although a few crimes will undoubtedly be solved by a criminal dumb enough to leave a traceable gun at a crime scene, such cases are going to be rare and extremely unlikely to yield a "higher rate of solved crimes involving a firearm." As stated previously, the most significant advantage of firearms registration is Item 4.
7. INCREASE PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Knowing that a firearm is registered in a database linking the individual to the firearm will ensure that gun owners take more care of firearms.
Responsible owners are:
more likely to store their firearms safely and securely to prevent loss or accidents
"Responsible owners" are no more likely "to store their firearms safely" under a registration system.
more likely to report a loss or theft
A law-abiding citizen is going to report a theft in the hope that their firearm will be recovered regardless of whether or not a registration system exists.
less likely to lend a firearm to someone they don't know
There is no statistical or anecdotal evidence to indicate that this is a problem.
8. LINK LICENCE STATUS & OWNERSHIP OF FIREARM
A discussion of licensing is forthcoming, so it won't be discussed here.
9. REDUCE SMUGGLING AT OUR BORDERS
Newly manufactured inventory will be automatically registered. Any firearm imported into Canada for sale will be traceable throughout its history. Illegal shipments will be easier to stop. Customs officers will be able to identify shipments against the database.
Only the most lazy of smugglers would be stopped by registration laws. What gun-runner would pass shipments through a customs official? Registration might prevent a small number of very under-motivated "smugglers."
10. BETTER USE OF POLICE RESOURCES
Filling out a registration form at home
as opposed to today's mandatory visit
to police stations, will eliminate
unnecessary police paperwork &
re-orient their involvement to
investigations and enforcement.
One method of implementing registration is being substituted for another, so this item is not applicable to a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of firearm registration. |
Analyst: Tesla Model X Production Ramp Up To “Progress Quickly” Once Re-Designed Parts Become Available
Ahead of tomorrow’s Q4 earnings call for Tesla Motors, most of the major industry analysts released notes in regards to the electric automaker.
Several of the notes point towards a bleaker future for Tesla, with a lot of the analysts downgrading Tesla, but Credit Suisse analyst Dan Galves reiterated his Outperform rating for Tesla and stands behind his $325 price target.
Perhaps Galves is bullish because of some inside information he’s received related to the Model X production ramp-up.
According to Galves, Tesla had some hiccups with Model X production, but the issues are now nearly a thing of the past. Quoting Galves:
“We believe that several minor but unacceptable quality issues existed on early production…the company slowed down the line to tweak the production process (fit / finish and trim issues appear to be fully fixed) and, in some cases, to wait for re-designed parts. According to mgmt., the production process is quite dialed-in right now, there are no critical unresolved design issues, and once re-designed parts are available, the ramp should progress quickly. Meanwhile, Model S production continues to run at very high levels.”
Leave a Reply
112 Comments on "Analyst: Tesla Model X Production Ramp Up To “Progress Quickly” Once Re-Designed Parts Become Available"
newestoldestmost voted
Big Solar
sounds good
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
Yes, by all means let’s be optimistic about Tesla stock price, optimistic it will go lower. The stock price is already down over 50% from its 52 week high and down over 30% in the last month alone. Investors are abandoning this stock in droves.
The stock price sold as high as 286 back in July and 210 last month but today the stock sold as low as 140 today. It looks to me like investors are running.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Texas FFE — TSLA is also up from the $20-35 dollar range it was in for years. What is your point?
All you have proven is that a volatile stock has volatile highs and volatile lows. Why choose just that one price on one day? Because it is dramatic?
Congratulations, you’ve discovered the definition of volatility, but you are no further from being able to predict the future than where you were before.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
Texas FFE claimed:
“There’s nothing wrong in my statement.”
LOL! Your statement very obviously contains a fundamental fallacy, Texas FFE. Every seller must have a buyer, so every TSLA stock sold must have a matching buyer. It’s simple sraightforward logic.
It would be accurate to say there is a lot of trading going on, probably an unusually high trade level even for such a volatile stock as TSLA. But it would be just as accurate to say “Investors are jumping into TSLA in droves” as to say they’re “abandoning this stock in droves”.
But hey, nice job of putting a bearish spin on things. I’m sure the TSLA short-sellers are very happy with the current state of things. They’d better be prepared to jump out soon, though… before the next, inevitable, short squeeze hits!
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Hari
Ha ha true.. I always think of this when people say there’s this big sale going on. A sale is a purchase from another point of view.
This is a big opportunity for all those buyers. I don’t own any stock, I want to own though!
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
jelloslug
Yep, it’s just TSLA that is down in recent history….
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
jerryd
All that means jello is a good time to pick up some Tesla stocks cheap for even more profit with one of the fastest growing companies in the world.
And a 10yr lock in EV’s and home, building battery tech, markets with a 20% advantage on the best competition means nice profits that is hard to challenge.
The only real way is with a composite body/chassis EV could one advance over Tesla with lighter weight, lower cost and longer range.
If VW was smart they would make a narrow Aero Van with a composite body on their chassis though a composite chassis would be better.
Done all composite 300 miles could be done with 60kwhr.
Though with 100kw fast charging 120-200-300 mile options are fine.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Tech01x
Hmm… sounds like Texas FFE has had a vested interest in disparaging Tesla all this time.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
That’s right I’m a confirmed Tesla basher. I think thier arrogant, elitist, predatory business practices are hurting the adoption of electric vehicles. I like the car but I will not buy a Tesla unless they change thier business practices.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
DGM73
You picked up my interest with this statement about Tesla:
“are hurting the adoption of electric vehicles”
How so?
I would argue, figures upfront, that it’s quite the opposite but maybe I’m missing something… Care to explain?
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Three Electrics
One small beef I have with them is that the federal tax credit is applied to the residual, not the capitalized cost, when leasing. This is an attempt to boost profitability of their used car business by preventing customers from buying their car at the end of the lease.
Besides that, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, aside from shamelessly using their best customers to debug their terrible production processes.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
David Murray
GM (Ally Bank) does exactly the same thing.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
Tesla has a great charging infrastructure but only Tesla owners are allowed to use it. Teslas are too expensive for most EV buyers. That charging infrastructure is a huge investment that takes funds out EV infrastructure development that could be used by everyone.
Tesla could have helped develop and adopt a common charging system but they decided to ignore everyone else and develop their own proprietary system. Even shorter range EVs would have found the Tesla charging infrastructure very useful and having a useful, well developed EV charging infrastructure would have spurred EV sales. As it is it’s going to take years for the CHAdeMO and CCS infrastructures to catch up with the Tesla charging infrastructure and that delay in charging infrastructure development is going to stifle EV sales.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
koz
You forgot to include that the CHADEMO and CCS standards and products available in 2012 sucked compared to Tesla’s Supercharging. The adapters are lousy and the charge rates were far too slow to have much value for highway driving. Tesla has absolutely done the right thing to develop a solution that is far superior. They offered the tech to all others and the rest of the industry has thumbed their nose at Tesla.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
Indeed.
Texas FFE is a dyed in the wool, true believer conspiracy theorist. His views of Tesla are, as they say, “not even wrong”. I dunno what planet he’s living on, but it ain’t the Earth.
We’ve previously explained in some detail, in response to previous posts of his, why no other plug-in EV would be physically able to use the Supercharger network, even with compatible plugs. We’ve explained that only Tesla battery packs have sufficient capacity to accept a 90-120 kWh charge.
But clearly Texas FFE prefers to live in the fantasy world he imagines, rather that the real one. I wouldn’t mind, if he didn’t keep trying to get the rest of us to buy into his counter-factual fantasies.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
Ack! That should be “a 90-120 kW charge”, not kWh charge. (Yes, I do know the difference.)
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
H-Sonic
IMO that has always been Musk’s silver lining when the right time comes Tesla charging infrastructure will be split from the Automotive business company and guess what part he is going to keep for himself? The car business is always going to have major profitability issues but the charging network on the other hand…
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
jelloslug
It’s not Tesla’s problem that other car makers chose not to take up Tesla’s offer to let them use the Supercharger network. Face it, Tesla has done all the right things to make a long range EV work. Not one other company even is close to actually competing with the entire package that Tesla offers.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
kdawg
This *logic* makes no sense.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Tech01x
Tesla was part of the SAE working group for J1772 including the J1772-DC group that worked on the CCS plug. They lobbied for a plug that would work for them in 2010/2011. They were going to ship product in 2012 and the other automakers stalled them. Was Tesla supposed to wait around for them? Even with CCS combo plug did come out, it had a 200 amp limit. Tesla’s already charge at over 300 amps, so the CCS plug is unsuitable.
The existing SAE CCS Combo 1 plug will have to be revised again to support long range BEVs.
So you’ve decided that Tesla is the wrong party when the other automakers deliberately sabotaged Tesla’s efforts?
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Tesla has openly invited any other car maker to join the Supercharger network. Tesla has opened up their patents for any company to use.
So far, no car company has taken up either of those offers.
You are correct that other standards are far behind and will take a long, long time to catch up. That is because the business model for pay-for-use public chargers doesn’t work anywhere near as well Tesla’s pre-paid access business model.
But it is absolutely hilarious that you blame Tesla for having a highly successful business model, that is working better than any other charging network in the US. Providing more Solar and green electricity for more miles of travel than any other charging network.
I find it absolutely insane that you blame Tesla for other car companies failing to take up Tesla’s offer to use their patents free of charge, and to join Tesla in building out a supercharger network that their customers can use too.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
I think we all can agree that the charging wars have hurt electric vehicle adoption, The Tesla standard is the only charging standard that can only be used by a single manufacturer,
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Texas FFE — The Tesla Superchargers can be used by ANY car maker’s vehicles who choose to take up Tesla’s offers to work with them. That is up to each car company, and they’ve refused. That’s their choice, and they own their own choices.
There is no failure at all in the Tesla supercharger system. As you have admitted elsewhere, it beats the pants off of any other charging standard, and they are all way behind.
Yes, other companies failing to keep up with Tesla has hurt their products. Their fault. Not Tesla’s.
Your sour grapes that you bought a vehicle from a manufacturer who chose to sell you a vehicle without Tesla open patent Supercharger technology, doesn’t mean Tesla is to blame for your sour grapes.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
Talk is cheap. If anybody, even aftermarket vendors, had been able to break the Tesla code and get access to the Superchargers then I would agree with you but they haven’t. No matter what Tesla’s official rhetoric is they are not letting anyone use their Superchargers.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
A perfect example of invincible ignorance.
“My mind is made up; don’t confuse me with the facts!”
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
You are insane. No, people can’t hack into Tesla’s supercharger system. Just like you can’t hack your way onto the Sprint network.
You have to go through the front door the right way by working directly with Tesla, with cars built with Tesla hardware. Name ANY company who has tried to do that and was turned away.
This is the same as I’ve got a phone that runs on the Sprint network, even though I go through a completely different company to pay my phone bill. The company I work with went through official channels directly with Sprint.
As you say, “Talk is cheap.” If you can name any reputable aftermarket company that has gone to Tesla to work on aftermarket retrofits, name them. They don’t exist. The fact that some hackers may have failed to hack their way in is meaningless.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Texas FFE — “Teslas are too expensive for most EV buyers.” Model 3. Derp. “That charging infrastructure is a huge investment that takes funds out EV infrastructure development that could be used by everyone.” No, you have it wrong. None of the other car makers are building out any charging networks. Not a single one builds a network of chargers that is publicly available to everybody else. At best, you MAY be able to ASK to borrow a PRIVATE charger built at some dealership, that is locked behind locked gates when the business is closed. Money spent on building out the Supercharger network isn’t magically going to have been spent building out some mystical high power public network that currently doesn’t exist. Other car companies have already proven that, since they haven’t put their money into building out public charging infrastructure either. Why do you hold Tesla to an insane standard of spending their money to build out a public network for everybody, when not a single other car maker has done that? You are angry that Tesla has gone and built a network of chargers everywhere — far, far beyond anything any other EV maker has done. And you… Read more »
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
ffbj
Right. Well to me it is an example of our own self-absorbtion, whereas if we want something to happen, in this case access to a supercharger system we have not even paid for, we will rationalize the situation to make it appear that the entity, in this case Tesla, that blocks the fruition of our desires, is the villain.
‘The fault in ourselves, not in their superchargers.’
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
rik
As a participant on the SAE J1772 committee developing a DCFC standard, Tesla offered their Supercharger protocol and connector design to the SAE. The SAE refused and instead adopted the Frankenplug CCS charger as the SAE DCFC standard.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Hari
Tesla is doing everything in their power for the adoption of electric mobility. They put out an open invite to everyone who wants to use their ‘far superior’ charging infrastructure with applicable cost sharing. The rest of the auto makers were the ones who couldn’t be bothered.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
DGM73
Thanks for the answer Texas FFE.
It clearly seems to me that you should actually blame the other car manufacturers who were only not able to come up with any alternative to Tesla fast charging infraestructure but also did not even tried to find an agreement with Tesla to use its superior technology.
I would say, without doubt, that you should actually be blaming them for not trying as hard as Tesla, while looking Tesla over their high shoulders, not the other way around.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
SparkEV
I would’ve strongly disagreed with Texas FFE until I read about Stewart Alsop. It does take some luster away from Tesla when the company behaves so petty against some nobody.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Aaron
This “nobody” also publicly bashes BMW at every possible opportunity because of “issues” with his X1. He calls the car almost undriveable. Tesla doesn’t need a crybaby spewing venom all over the place, so I believe they made the best decision for the company.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Tech01x
Are you privy to what Mr. Alsop said to Mr. Musk?
Various companies decide not to do business with customers all the time. They have a right to do that.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
We had a long time customer for our family business that was going around bashing all of our other customers in public forums. That customer was using our name, and lots of pejoratives.
We sent a letter “firing” this customer, and they are no longer welcome as our customer. This customer has since then bounced between 4 of our local competitors, 2 of which we work with regularly. Their feedback was that they don’t know how we managed to work with this person for as many years as we did.
Businesses aren’t like the gov’t, where you can attack them and bash them to your heart’s desire, and they still have to send your Social Security checks, give you driver’s licenses, allow you access to the courts, etc.
If this Venture Capital fund owner thinks he can bully his way around, and feel ENTITLED to have businesses enter long-term agreements with him (warranty), he is full of himself.
He isn’t entitled force Tesla to do business with him, any more than he can force his local bar to serve him drinks if he has a history of making scenes in the bar previously.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
So some rich complainer guy has to go to the used market to buy his Tesla? Boo-hoo. Non-event.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
I just read a few of Stewart Alsop’s posts, unrelated to the Tesla issue, to see if his petty, sense-of-entitlement filled rant (“they didn’t even provide real food!”) was an aberration on his part.
I wasn’t. Every post I see is the same kind of petty, extremely negative, sense-of-entitlement filled rant about how some company or other isn’t falling all over themselves to cater to his specific, individual desires.
I think any responsible company CEO would have been well advised to do the same as Elon Musk did here. That jerk of a blogger would almost certainly have used his ownership of a Tesla car as an excuse to find even more things to post public, biased rants about.
Kudos to Elon for doing the right thing, and cancelling that bloviating narcissist’s order.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
“predatory business practices”?
Oh do tell. I want to learn how an EV company, an industry known for bankruptcy more than anything else (See Think, Aptera, Coda, Miles automotive, Fiskar, Phoenix, Wheego, GreenVehicles, NMG, etc.) has gotten so much business power that the are ‘predatory’!
That ought to be a laugh.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
Meh. Tesla is stumbling. Super cheap gas prices are scaring off investors. An overly complex Model X was a mistake such that it was much delayed and ramping up production very slowly. That’s the way it goes.
But this shall pass. They’ll fix their issues with Model X and get more of them out the door. And the Model 3 hype will grow during the next month. And oil prices will eventually stabilize and start moving up. However, the oil prices will only go up slowly . . . it will take a while to burn off (literally) this oil glut.
Tesla has a great charging infrastructure but nobody is allowed to use the chargers except Tesla owners. Tesla owners have to pay for those chargers up front even if they never use them. With that kind of overhead Tesla is never going to be able to compete in a competitive market.
Yeah, and Chevy buyers pay for the all the Chevy ads even though they already have the car and may not plan to buy another Chevy. So what? Companies use proceeds from customers to pay for marketing to get more customers. It’s called business. Sounds like you’re just sore that your crappy EV can’t use the Tesla superchargers.
Tesla’s approach says you either pay to build the infrastucture, or you can’t use it. It’s a very sensible approach, because a good charging network has to have both coverage and capacity. You have to keep filling in holes, and you can’t slow the network down much under load.
At any kind of reasonable volume, I don’t see any significant disadvantage to any manufacturer that wanted to build and manage its own charging network. Capacity and reliability are so important, that a bad outsourcing deal could destroy sales. And at this point, nobody else is providing any chargers that would work for long-distance travel, so Tesla has to do it anyway.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Literally every single other car maker has been invited to make their cars compatible with the supercharger network. To date, not a single car company has taken up Tesla’s offer.
Other car companies have all the choice in the world to install whatever charging standard they want on their cars. Each car maker chooses what standards they build their cars to be compatible with. None have chosen to install Tesla compatible connectors, despite Tesla offering to work with them all.
So other companies of their own free will have decided not to give their customers cars that are compatible with the Tesla supercharger network. And you blame Tesla for the choices these other companies have made????
The only folks how have not “allowed” their customers to charge on Tesla superchargers, are the companies who built EV’s that don’t include charging hardware compatible with Tesla Superchargers.
LOL! The Supercharger infrastructure is probably one of the biggest competitive advantages that Tesla has!
Sure, GM can build the 200 mile Chevy Bolt for a reasonable price and it will attract some interest. But if you want to really drive it a long distance, you will have to rely on a small number of 50KWH CCS chargers that are haphazardly placed and poorly maintained.
With the Model S, Model X, and upcoming Model 3, the Tesla consumers will have access to a nationwide network of SuperChargers that can charge at up to 135KW and have been carefully situated such that (almost) all major long distance routes are covered. The Tesla SuperChargers are carefully monitored such that if Tesla sees that a station is getting a lot of usage they can add more stalls to that station or add another one nearby.
So which would you pay more for? A 200 mile Chevy Bolt that relies on an unreliable haphazardly placed 50KW chargers? Or a maintained network of carefully placed 135KW SuperChargers? Duh.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
pjwood1
Buy low, sell high.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
DonC
Sounds like my friends who bought Enron on the way down. Screaming deal! LOL
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nathanael
Enron was an actual fraud.
One way to beat the market is to avoid those. 🙂
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Three Electrics
At this point more Mirai have been produced than Xs. I expect that situation to reverse at some point in 2016.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
jelloslug
How many Mirais have been made?
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
ffbj
Making them is one thing, selling them is another. Tesla has probably sold more Model X, as Toyota can hardly sell them at all. I saw they suspended sales in CA, due to the inability to fuel them up. No such difficulties for the Model X.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Philip d
According to Toyota they “sold” 700 Mirai’s in 2015. Of course that was over a 6 month period to the Model X’s 2 months. And most of those went to Japanese fleets.
Also we don’t know for sure how may Model X’s were delivered in January but the estimate is around 370 with 208 being delivered in December. And none of these were fleet sales.
So if we average monthly delivery sales for the Mirai and ignore the whole fleet sales thing, 117 were delivered per month for 6 months.
If the Model X has delivered 578 units in 2 months then they have delivered around 289 a month for 2 months.
So at early ramp up the Model X has outsold the handbuilt Mirai 2 to 1.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
jelloslug
At more than double the selling price I might add…
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
DonC
If Tesla was a higher quality manufacturer with a higher quality development process you wouldn’t need redesigned parts or tweaking production for fit and finish. Some things will always slip through, and no doubt some parts which are thought to be fine today will fail down the road — that always happens and can’t be helped — but parts and basic production quality should be addressed before the car is released or at least caught in IQC.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Aaron
That would be true under normal circumstances, but due to factors out of their control (a vendor who couldn’t come through with a workable lift design for the Falcon doors) they had to rush a solution from another vendor. This caused significant unforeseen design changes in a very short period of time.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Saint
I agree. They should replace those defective ignition switches before production starts. Air bags too! They should follow VW or GMs example.
Credit Suisse ($CS) shares are back at 1992 levels – no typo! – a “great” investment. And that’s even without including inflation.
So, all their prop stock picks and estimates shpuöd be viewed with a lots of skepticism.
They should bring their own house in order first.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
james
Tesla haters amass!
I’m taking names. Just because it’ll be fun to say how wrong each one of you was when Tesla furthers the EV into the mainstream.
Reminds me of the whiners in Seattle who protested loudly when we were planning to build a new football stadium. Now, they’re on social media stating they’re the world’s biggest Seahawks fans!!! L 🙂 L
Cities are now building football stadiums costing three times as much.
Also reminds me of Lynden LeRouche, Scientology, and Communist whackos I hear deriding America as “evil”. Since they feel as they do, I sure wish they would please leave ASAP. We both would be so much happier!
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
tftf
“…when Tesla furthers the EV into the mainstream.”
What mainstream? Did you have a look at the Model X and S prices?
You must confound Tesla with Nissan-Renault or other companies who acutally offer mainstream EVs at $25-50k.
Tesla keeps talking Model3 at $35k base. Talk is cheap.
I will believe it when I see it – and by then dozens of other car makers will offer long-range PHEVs and EVs in all price classes.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
james
tftf, you believe auto companies are like tech companies. You remind me of my 10-year-old child, as do many of you Tesla critics. In the tech industry, a new iPhone is in the pipeline each year. If you bought last year’s Intel processor, it’s already outdated this year. Auto manufacturing is a whole other animal. Designs must be finalized, body dies must be designed and built, thousands of small and large, heavy and lightweight parts from plastic manufacturers, metal suppliers…down to the last tiny bit, have to be ordered and the entire complex assembly process takes place over dozens of acres, not a lab somewhere in China. Battery factories need big business deals, huge real estate deals involving state governments and foreign laywers. The sheer scale of what Tesla is attempting is unprecedented in the last 80 years. You wake up one morning and expect a Model 3 to pop out of the toaster! You crack me up! You forgot no private auto company has attempted and succeeded in starting a car company on American soil since the Dodge brothers started Chrysler 80 years ago! Chrysler is now FCA, owned by Italians and barely hanging on! If it takes 5… Read more »
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
tftf
“Battery factories need big business deals, huge real estate deals involving state governments and foreign laywers. The sheer scale of what Tesla is attempting is unprecedented in the last 80 years. ” You (still) seem to believe everything Tesla says or announces. Here’s a reality check with a few questions for you: – There is no giant battery factory. When will most financial media finally report that $TSLA talks about elephants (Gigafactory 1, 2, 3…) yet only built a mouse (battery pilot plant, just 14% of total factory size, no possibility to equip 500k+ cars/year and storage units with that plant). How to fund that huge gap? Look at Tesla’s balance sheet and other upcoming obligations (Model 3 etc.). – When will Tesla acknowledge and lift the fog about Model X production and QA problems (for example, Tesla kept talking about “seat problems” in August 2015 and didn’t mention severe issues with the falcon wing doors – a CEO pet project). Only a lawsuit between Tesla and the door parts supplier brought some light so far. – When will Tesla actually sell the Model3 and at what prices? Both “late 2017” and “$35k base” sound more unrealistic than ever at… Read more »
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
So tell us, tftf, just how much do you have invested in your TSLA short position?
As you are one of the highest volume anti-Tesla FUD posters on Seeking Alpha, I hope you’ll pardon me if I find your opinions and cherry-picked facts to be more than slightly biased.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
tftf
Further: “tftf, you believe auto companies are like tech companies.”
Very funny. I actually kept warning about this analogy for years. Tesla will be buried in very heavy cap-ex which requires more debt and/or dilution:
Of all the sources out there, seeking alpha has got it wrong on TSLA more times than any other source.
You might as well post those links with the title “Click here to see what absolutely positively WILL NOT go wrong with Tesla”.
These are the same guys who said the Roadster was vaporware, and would never get built. And the Model S was vaporware, and would never get built. And the Model X was vaporware, and would never get built. And are now saying the Model 3 is vaporware, and will never get built.
See a pattern here?
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
sven
LOL!
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
tftf
“Quoting seeking alpha for a green industry stock, is like quoting the clan for Black History month. Both instantly discredit you.”
Maybe you didn’t get that SA is user-contributed content where both TSLA longs and shorts post their opinions.
TSLA trading at $18-30 was a very different value proposition – not to mention the dangerous risk-on-square choices Tesla part-time CEO (another huge proble, Tesla should have long installed a COO to keep their house in order, more focused and with realistic deadlines) made since the IPO and launching the Model S.
I invite you to actually read the two links above where I detailed several issues with Tesla (mainly regarding the company/valuation, NOT the car).
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Maybe you don’t get that opinion pieces of people who post on some website isn’t a legitimate source.
It is like me posting a link to something Pushi posted, and then claiming that proves I’m right.
I will repeat it again. The bogus junk posted on SA has been so consistently and badly wrong over and over, that it is more of an indicator of what won’t happen with Tesla than what will happen. Anybody quoting SA has instantly discredited themselves.
You are simply regurgitating the FUD spewed by some idiot who bases his math on stuff that starts with “I estimate”, and closes with Disclosure: “I am/we are short TSLA.”
If those phrases don’t raise massive red flags for you, then I can’t help you being gullible, and buying into more FUD from a website that is infamous for being wrong about TSLA.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nathanael
“By the time Tesla scales up (best-case scenario) all large car makers will offer dozens of PHEVs and EVs – and there may be new entrants such as Faraday or Apple.”
Nope. You would have expected the large carmakers to do that. But they didn’t. They have been making mistake after mistake. How many BEVs are there with >200 mile range? Because that’s where the market is. How many have properly thermally-managed batteries? Because that’s essential. Et cetera.
As for Apple and Faraday, they have exactly the same problems scaling up as Tesla does, but they are *8 years behind*.
Does Tesla have huge capital requirements? Yes. Will they need to raise debt or equity? Yes. At the moment the plan for 2016 appears to be secured debt: Tesla is borrowing against its land, buildings, and equipment.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
lee
@james +100
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
ffbj
James, back on stride.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
There is no contradiction between realistically acknowledging Tesla’s current problems and Tesla having a great long term future.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
“Redesigned Parts” . . . a sad admission of failure. 🙁
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Tech01x
Standard part of rolling out vehicles. The Model X breaks a lot of new ground, so this is expected. Of course, the other option is stagnation which is what we get with other automakers – they show concepts, but what actually makes it to the field? Tesla pushes everyone forward.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
Indeed. But Tesla broke too much ground. And in areas that are not all that important. Do we really need fancy pedestal seats? Do we really need fancy falcon-wing doors? I guess they need those things to help rationalize the $80K to $120K price.
But what we really need is cheaper batteries, chargers, and controllers. What we really need is the Model 3. I’m glad the Model X is (mostly) done so they can go full speed on the Model 3. KISS!
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
You have answered your own question. The Tesla business model has always been clear ever since Elon released the “Secret” plan years ago. They start by burying the extra cost of an expensive electric drivetrain into highly exclusive super-cars that compete in a price bracket that can support the expensive drivetrain. That means features you would never find in cheap entry-level vehicles. This launches the industry, driving down prices for future generations of EV’s that can then be built for lower prices to compete in lower price brackets. Can they build a car that doesn’t have advanced features, and is stripped down to keep it simple? No. Not yet. That was the whole point of the “secret plan”. Tesla is starting at the top, because they can build a competitive car at that price point using current battery and drivetrain prices. As battery and drivetrain prices drop (gigafactory, etc), then the numbers will work to build an entry-level luxury car that is targeted to compete with a BMW 3-series pricepoint of vehicle, with a drivetrain and charging network that can compete with gas. Will they be able to KISS, and built a cheap $15,000 dollar stripper at that point, with… Read more »
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
Oh, I agree. I just think they shot too high with the Model X. And Elon publically admitted it himself so it is not like I’m saying anything completely crazy.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
That is true, but they also can’t shoot too low either. There is a limit on how simply they can go, and how low they can shoot. The Model 3 won’t be simple the way a Honda Fit is simple.
How the doors work out in the long term is still too early to tell. They could end up being as culturally iconic as rear suicide doors on classic Lincoln Continental’s. Or they could end up being judged as harshly as 3-wheeled Reliant Robin’s.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
If you drive a car from any major manufacturer, you are driving an entire vehicle of redesigned parts.
Completely new parts are the exception in the automotive industry, not the norm.
Even when GM builds a revolutionary car like the Volt, they start with a chassis from their existing line of gas cars, and an engine from their gas cars. Each of which are the product of endless re-designs stretching back decades.
Redesigned parts are the norm in the automotive industry. Why is this suddenly a “failure” for Tesla not to be magically immune to the same production realities as every other singe auto maker?
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
The failure here was in assuming too much risk in trying to do such fancy things. All complexity of the Model X delayed it by over a year and are making it very difficult to produce. Certainly redesigned parts are part of life but we are talking about redesigned parts that never even saw the light of day except in a few very early models. KISS!
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
Speculawyer said:
” ‘Redesigned Parts’ . . . a sad admission of failure. 🙁 ”
That seems rather more negative than is called for. Don’t other auto makers at least occasionally have the same problems when starting production of a new model?
I think it is an indication that Tesla still needs to mature as an auto manufacturer. Not too surprising, as they started work on their first wholly in-house automobile design only 8 years ago.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nathanael
The entire bumper assembly for the Model S was redesigned within the first three months. The entire hydraulic braking system was redesigned in mid-2015 (electric assist replaced power hydraulic assist).
As a new car company, Tesla has had a *lot* of redesigned parts. Even something as little as the side mirrors had the parts redesigned *twice* within the first year. Roadster had even *more* redesigns (starting with the elimination of the gearshift and the elimination of the two-speed transmission).
Teething troubles. The entire plan was to get this sort of stuff out of the way on the more expensive cars.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Ian
I remember when GM went broke and needed a billion dollar bailout…that was funny
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
ffbj
Not for share and bond holders of GM. No, for them there was little humor to be found.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
*yawn*
Tesla stock is still up a full order of magnitude over where it was before they started Model S sales.
From 2/2013 to today, TSLA is up over 250%, while the S&P is up less than 25% over the same time period.
TSLA is a volatile stock. It has has no less than 8 major reversals, and still is out-performing the market by a full order of magnitude since the Model S went into full production.
If anybody is worried about them because of their stock price only being up 250%, you must be peeing your pants about the S&P 500, which is only up 25% over the same time period.
It is like some folks have never seen a volatile start-up stock before in their lives. And yes, TSLA is still a startup stock. None of the stable old standards in the stock market are seeing growth rates and new product releases in the pipeline anything near what Tesla is still experiencing.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
The S&P 500 maintains a steady growth supported by earnings. Tesla stock achieved meteoric gains supported by speculation. I have seen many companies, especially the dot coms, achieve the same kind of stock performance as Tesla only to crash just as quickly. Five years ago might have been a good time to buy Tesla but now the S&P is a much safer bet.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Speculawyer
But as you pointed out, the price of Tesla stock has crashed down from a much higher high.
Now may be a good time to buy in. Electric cars are coming whether you like it or not. And Tesla has some great technology, a great brand, the best charging infrastructure, and a huge battery factory under construction that is supposed to push down the price of batteries by at least 30%.
Is Tesla going to go up or down from the current price? I don’t know. It could go either way. But I see a decent case for both the bull & bear position.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
The Tesla stock still has no fundamentals. Most of the car manufacturers have price/earnings ratios of around 10 but since Tesla still hasn’t shown a profit it doesn’t even have a p-e ratio. Mr. Musk said that the company may not even show a profit for five years.
Tesla hasn’t seen the bottom of this latest sell off. And even when does the stock may start a long steady decline if it can’t attract investors. Personally I have have an aversion to stock risk and I don’t touch any stock that doesn’t have strong fundamentals.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
Texas FFE said:
“…the stock may start a long steady decline…”
The one thing we can be sure about, with a stock as volatile as TSLA, is that it will never show a steady trend, either up or down.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Texas FFE — Sadly, you don’t understand how to read a P/E ratio for a rapid growth company.
P/E earnings are informative for mature companies that are not heavily reinvesting or rapidly growing. P/E has very little predictive value for high growth companies and startups.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nathanael
Valuing a “growth” company is all about projecting earnings a few years in the future.
Which is inherently full of assumptions and guesswork.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
ffbj
It is probably wise for most people to avoid volatile growth stocks, such as TSLA.
Regarding where TSLA is going as a stock is mostly speculation. I would say sell at $250, buy it at $150, which is what I just did, just a little bit. I wanted to buy at $40, way back when, but was too chicken.
Tesla reports today. I expect a good report, though I have no clue really. Tesla, the stock, is at a bottom, I believe. I could go into the nitty-gritty of the why’s and wherefore’s, of why I think this, but that would be telling.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Texas FFE — Safer? Who buys individual stocks for safety? Are you insane? You don’t buy individual stocks to seek safety. You buy individual stocks in order to take higher risks in order to beat the market. If you want safety, go buy a nice Certificate of Deposit from and FDIC backed bank, or go buy Treasuries. Those are the gold standard in safe investments in the world now. Yes, TSLA is priced based upon where the company is going in the future, not where it was last quarter or last year. And it is growing fast. How fast is the unknown that causes the speculation and the volatility. But ALL stocks are bought on speculation. That is how the stock market works. Old well established companies that aren’t growing anywhere near the growth rate as TSLA have higher convergence between speculators of where their business will be in the future, so there is less volatility. Also much less chance for profit. Buying a volatile startup stock as a “safe” investment! What a laugh! You should stay out of the stock market. You don’t even understand the basics. Try investing in one of these, it is more your speed: https://www.wellsfargo.com/savings-cds/kids/
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
For all your big talk I doubt you actually own any Tesla stock. If you really think Tesla stock is so great put your money where your mouth is. Go barrow all the money you can and buy Tesla stock with it.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Pushmi-Pullyu
Instead of getting defensive and putting words into Nix’s mouth, you should thank him for giving you some good advice.
So far as I can see, Nix hasn’t claimed to own even a single share of TSLA. But what he actually did say, is the Truth.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Daniel
@ Texas FFE, That would be “Borrow” and I don’t know about “Nix” But I personally DO own TSLA stock and am in for the long haul. I bought not long after the IPO so I can stand a great deal of volatility.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Texas FFE
Congratulations and good luck, seriously. I wish Tesla would change their business practices so I could get back onboard with them.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Believe me, there is no company in the world who is nervously chewing their fingernails praying you will “get back on board with them”.
Plenty of folks throughout history have missed the boat on investing in successful companies. The correct term being “THEY missed the boat”. The boat didn’t miss them.
Bye-bye, won’t be missing you.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Daniel
People who “Borrow” cash to invest in high risk propositions are those we see jumping out of windows when the margin call comes.
Vote Up00Vote Down Reply
2 years ago
Nix
Ah, so funny! The little troll is so concerned with investment “safety”, that he is now advocating people taking leveraged positions!! |
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
KENNETH BECKER, M.D., et ux.
Plaintiffs,
v.
Civil Action No. 15-cv-0044 (AK)
JAMES LEDERER, et al.
Defendants
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Pending before this Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment by Defendants James
Lederer and Transportation, Inc. doing business as Red Top Cab (“Defs’ Mot. for Summ.
J.”[20]) and Plaintiff Kenneth Becker’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (“Pl.’s Mot. for
Partial Summ. J.”[21].) 1 Upon consideration of the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment
[20], Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [21], Plaintiff’s Memorandum of Points
and Authorities In Opposition To Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and Plaintiff’s
Counterstatement of Material Facts [22], Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial
Summary Judgment [23], and Plaintiff’s Reply Memorandum of Points and Authorities to
Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [24], the Court
finds that a genuine dispute of material facts precludes summary judgment in this matter.
Accordingly, the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [20] shall be DENIED. Plaintiff’s
Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [21] shall also be DENIED. An appropriate Order
accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
1
Plaintiff Kenneth Becker moves for Partial Summary Judgment as to liability on Counts I and II of the Complaint.
1
I. BACKGROUND
On January 12, 2015, Plaintiff (“Plaintiff” or “Dr. Becker”) filed a Complaint with the
District Court to recover for injuries caused when a Red Top Cab struck him as he attempted to
cross the street after exiting his vehicle near the 1500 block of 35th Street, N.W. (Pl.’s Complaint
[1], ¶¶ 15-16.) 2 On December 14, 2013, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Dr. Becker exited his
vehicle and locked the driver’s door. He began “walking along his vehicle toward the rear of his
car” when he was struck by the Red Top Cab driven by Defendant (“Defendant” or “Mr.
Lederer”). (Id.)
Plaintiff contends that Mr. Lederer was driving at an excessive speed for the road
conditions and was unable to avoid hitting Dr. Becker. (Id. ¶ 20(A).) Plaintiff claims he
suffered “painful, very serious, and permanent injuries which required major surgery, and a long
period of hospitalization and institutional care.” (Id. ¶ 24(A).) He asserts that the detrimental
effect on his overall physical and emotional well-being and the need for additional surgery will
extend into the future. (Id. ¶ 24(B-D).) Plaintiff seeks to recover $1 million of compensatory
damages under Count I for common law negligence. (Id. ¶¶ 27-30.) Under Count II for
negligence per se, Plaintiff seeks to recover $1 million of compensatory damages. (Id. ¶¶ 31-35.)
Under Count III, loss of consortium, Plaintiff Nicole Becker seeks to recover $100,000. (Id. ¶¶
36-40.)
On January 20, 2015, Defendants filed their answer denying the allegations of
negligence. (Defs’ Answer [6] at 2-4.) On March 23, 2015, the parties consented to proceeding
before Magistrate Judge Alan Kay for all purposes. (Consent [12].) On August 27, 2015, this
2
Page numbers cited are ECF page numbers.
2
matter was assigned to the Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program with joint agreement
by the parties. (Order [16].)
On January 14, 2016, Defendants filed their Motion for Summary Judgment. (Defs’ Mot.
for Summ. J. [20].) Mr. Lederer claims that he stopped at a stop sign on Q Street, proceeded
through the intersection, past the opposite crosswalk and travelled approximately 100 feet before
his vehicle collided with Dr. Becker’s left leg. (Defs’ Statement of Material Facts Not In Issue
[20], ¶ 2.) At the time of the accident it was dark, raining, there was poor visibility, Plaintiff was
wearing dark clothing, and Mr. Lederer was driving 5-10 miles per hour. (Id. ¶ 3.) Mr. Lederer
claims that he did not see Dr. Becker until the point of collision because Dr. Becker was not in
the crosswalk. (Id. ¶ 2.) Defendants assert that Plaintiff parked his vehicle on the west side of
35th Street, southbound, 100 feet south of the intersection and the crosswalk, and attempted to
walk in an easterly direction across 35th Street to his home on 34th Street. (Id. ¶ 4.)
Defendants argue that the Plaintiff is contributorily negligent and barred from recovery in
the District of Columbia, and the Plaintiff has not presented any evidence of Defendants’
negligence. (Defs’ Mem. of P. & A. [20] at 9.) According to Defendants, Plaintiff admitted that
he was not in the crosswalk and stepped into the travel portion of the roadway without seeing the
taxicab. (Id.) Further, Defendants contend that there is “no evidence of negligence, no evidence
of speed, inattention, distraction or impairment regarding the defendant’s actions.” (Id.)
Plaintiff counters that he has consistently “provided sworn statements that he was in the
crosswalk.” (Pl.’s Mem. of P. &A. in Opp’n to Defs’ Mot. for Summ. J. and Pl.’s
Counterstatement of Material Facts [22] at 3.) Further, Plaintiff claims that there is nothing in
Defendants’ statements that supports the proposition that Mr. Lederer drove 100 feet past the
crosswalk before striking plaintiff. (Id.) In his deposition, Mr. Lederer stated that he did not
3
know precisely how far past the crosswalk he had driven before striking Plaintiff. (Id.)
Moreover, Mr. Lederer did not know how fast he was driving. In his deposition, Mr. Lederer
states that he may have been driving between 10 to 15 miles an hour, but he also states he was
simply driving below the speed limit. (Id. at 4.) The range of speeds provided in Mr. Lederer’s
deposition is somewhere between 5 and 25 miles an hour. (Id. at 4.)
Plaintiff filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgement with respect to liability only on
Counts I and II of the Complaint. (Pl.’s Mot. for Partial Summ. J. [21].) Plaintiff argues that he
was struck while in a crosswalk and that Mr. Lederer admitted that Dr. Becker was in the
crosswalk during his deposition. (Pl.’s Mem. of P. & A. in Support of Mot. for Partial Summ. J.
[21-1] at 2.) Plaintiff notes that Mr. Lederer filed an errata sheet five months after the deposition
transcript was available that would change his testimony to insert “not” before the statement that
Dr. Becker was in the crosswalk. (Id.) Plaintiff claims that Defendants’ effort to change the
deposition transcript is barred under Fed. R. Civ. P. 30, because the request exceeds the 30 day
limitation on review of the transcript. (Id. at 8-9.) Without a change to the deposition, Plaintiff
argues that the record indicates that Dr. Becker was in the crosswalk when he was struck. (Id.)
Moreover, Plaintiff argues that “[e]ven if Dr. Becker’s conduct had been egregious (which
Defendants have never claimed), he would still be protected under the law in the District of
Columbia based on the last clear chance doctrine. (Id. at 3) (citing Juvenalis v. District of
Columbia, 955 A.2d 187 (D.C. 2008); Long v. Mercer, 125 A.2d 685 (D.C. 1956); Mahnke v.
Washington Metro Area Transit Auth., 821 F. Supp. 2d 125 (D.D.C. 2011); Washington Metro.
Area Transit Auth. v. Young, 731 A.2d 389 (D.C. 1999)).
In their reply, Defendants clarify that the counsel for Mr. Lederer waived the reading of
Mr. Lederer’s deposition. (Defs’ Opp’n to Pl.’s Mot. for Partial Summ. J. [23] at 7.) On
4
October 22, 2015, the transcription error came to light during the Mediation Conference. (Id.)
Within five days, Defendants obtained an affidavit from the court reporter which reflects that Mr.
Lederer had stated that, “he’s not in the crosswalk” during deposition. (Id.) According to
Defendants, the “transcription error was confirmed as an error by affidavit of the court reporter
after checking stenographic notes and listening to the backup tape.” (Id.)
II. LEGAL STANDARD
A court should grant summary judgment if the pleadings, depositions, answers to
interrogatories, and affidavits demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact in
dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Cartrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986); Tao v. Freeh, 27 F. 3d 635, 638
(D.C. Cir. 1994). The mere existence of some factual dispute is insufficient on its own to bar
summary judgment; the dispute must pertain to a “material” fact. Id. Accordingly, “[o]nly
disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will
properly preclude the entry of summary judgment.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S.
242, 248 (1986). Nor may summary judgment be avoided based on just any disagreement as to
the relevant facts; the dispute must be “genuine,” meaning that there must be sufficient
admissible evidence for a reasonable trier of fact to find for the non-movant. Id.
In order to establish that a fact is or cannot be genuinely disputed, a party must (a) cite to
specific parts of the record—including deposition testimony, documentary evidence, affidavits or
declarations, or other competent evidence—in support of her position, or (b) demonstrate that the
materials relied upon by the opposing party do not actually establish the absence or presence of a
genuine dispute. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). Conclusory assertions offered without any factual
basis in the record cannot create a genuine dispute sufficient to survive summary judgment.
5
Ass’n of Flight Attendants—CWA, AFL—CIO v. U.S. Dep’t of Transp., 564 F.3d 462, 465–66
(D.C.Cir.2009). Moreover, where “a party fails to properly support an assertion of fact or fails to
properly address another party’s assertion of fact,” the district court may “consider the fact
undisputed for purposes of the motion.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e).
When faced with a motion for summary judgment, the district court may not make
credibility determinations or weigh the evidence; instead, the evidence must be analyzed in the
light most favorable to the non-movant, with all justifiable inferences drawn in her favor. Liberty
Lobby, 477 U.S. at 255 (1986). If material facts are genuinely in dispute, or undisputed facts are
susceptible to divergent yet justifiable inferences, summary judgment is inappropriate. Moore v.
Hartman, 571 F.3d 62, 66 (D.C.Cir.2009). In the end, the district court’s task is to determine
“whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or
whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Liberty Lobby, 477
U.S. at 251–52 (1986). In this regard, the non-movant must “do more than simply show that
there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts,” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v.
Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); “[i]f the
evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be
granted.” Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 249-50 (1986) (internal citations omitted).
To prevail on a motion for summary judgment as to liability, Defendants must establish
that they were not negligent as a matter of law. Furthermore, because “[t]he District of
Columbia is one of the few jurisdictions in which the claimant’s contributory negligence can act
as a complete defense to the defendant’s liability for negligence,” Jarrett v. Woodward Bros.,
Inc., 751 A.2d 972, 985 (D.C.2000), Plaintiff must also demonstrate the absence of a genuine
issue of material fact as to his own contributory negligence. See Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. at 248
6
(“disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will
properly preclude the entry of summary judgment.”).
Issues of negligence and contributory negligence are rarely appropriate for summary
judgment. As courts in the District of Columbia have repeatedly noted, “[o]nly in exceptional
cases will questions of negligence [and] contributory negligence ... pass from the realm of fact to
one of law.” Paraskevaides v. Four Seasons Wash., 292 F.3d 886, 893 (D.C.Cir.2002) (quoting
Shu v. Basinger, 57 A.2d 295, 295–96 (D.C.1948)); see also Lyons v. Barrazotto, 667 A.2d 314,
322 (D.C.1995) (“[i]ssues of contributory negligence, like issues of negligence, present factual
questions for the trier of fact [u]nless the evidence is so clear and undisputed that fair-minded
men can draw only one conclusion.”) (internal citations omitted). This is no less true in tort
claims involving car accidents, as “[a]utomobile collisions at street intersections nearly always
present questions of fact ... Only in exceptional cases will questions of negligence, contributory
negligence, and proximate cause pass from the realm of fact to one of law.” Aqui v. Isaac, 342
A.2d 370, 372 (D.C.1975) (citation omitted); see generally Mahnke v. Washington Metro. Area
Transit Auth., 821 F.Supp.2d 125, 132–33 (D.D.C.2011) (summarizing case law in this area).
III. DISCUSSION
Both the Defendant and Plaintiff move for summary judgment. Defendants argue that the
factual record conclusively establishes Plaintiff’s contributory negligence while the Plaintiff
argues that the record establishes the Defendants’ negligence as a matter of law. This Court
concludes otherwise. A genuine dispute over multiple issues of material fact precludes summary
judgment. Accordingly, summary judgment is inappropriate on the issue of liability.
7
1. Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.
Defendants claim that Plaintiff crossed the street without looking for cars or crossing at
the crosswalk and his contributory negligence bars him from recovery. (Defs’ Mot. for Summ. J.
[20] at 9.) Further, the Defendants assert that the Plaintiff has provided no evidence of
negligence on the part of Defendants. (Id.) These claims will be addressed in order.
a. Contributory Negligence.
Under the substantive tort law of the District of Columbia, the doctrine of contributory
negligence completely bars a plaintiff’s recovery where his failure to use ordinary care
proximately caused his injuries. See Andrews v. Wilkins, 934 F.2d 1267, 1272 (D.C.Cir.1991)
(citing Wingfield v. Peoples Drug Store, 379 A.2d 685, 687 (D.C.1977)). Because contributory
negligence is an affirmative defense, the defendant must “establish, by a preponderance of the
evidence that the plaintiff failed to exercise reasonable care.” Poyner v. Loftus, 694 A.2d 69, 71
(D.C.1997) (citing Singer v. Doyle, 236 A.2d 436, 438 (D.C.1967)). Questions of negligence and
contributory negligence are ordinarily decided by the trier of fact. Poyner, 694 A.2d at 71.
In the District of Columbia the pedestrian owes a duty of care not to cross a street in front
of a moving vehicle.
Each pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk, or
within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, shall yield the right-of-way to all
vehicles upon the roadway. D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 18, § 2304.2.
No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb, safety platform, safety zone, loading platform,
or other designated place of safety and walk or turn into the path of a vehicle which is so
close that it is impossible for the driver to yield. D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 18, § 2303.2.
In the light most favorable to the non-moving party, Plaintiff, a genuine dispute of a
material fact prevents the conclusion that the Plaintiff was contributorily negligent as a matter of
8
law. Defendants argue that the record indicates, without dispute, that the Plaintiff was not in the
crosswalk. However, the deposition of the Plaintiff indicates otherwise. (Pl.’s Dep. [22-2] at 2.)
Q. When you looked to see if there was any traffic going southbound on 35th Street, were
you standing next to your car?
A. Yes.
Q. Were you at the crosswalk?
A. Yes. Right on the crosswalk.
b. No Evidence of Negligence.
Defendants further contend that there is no evidence of negligence. “The elements of a
common law action for negligence are (1) a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff,
(2) a breach of that duty by the defendant, and (3) damage to the plaintiff, proximately caused by
the breach of duty.” Powell v. District of Columbia, 634 A.2d 403, 406 (D.C.1993) (citation
omitted). A “duty of care will arise with respect to a condition that poses an ‘unreasonably great
risk of harm.’” Lipnick v. United States, 717 F. Supp. 902, 904 (D.D.C.1989) (quoting
Westinghouse Electric Corp. v. Nutt, 407 A.2d 606, 609 (D.C.1979)). The only element in
dispute is whether either party breached a duty of care. Neither party has argued that a duty of
care was not owed to the Plaintiff nor that the Plaintiff’s injuries were not proximately caused by
the taxicab striking the Plaintiff.
Plaintiff argues that Defendant Lederer violated his duty of care by driving too fast for
the prevailing conditions at the time of the accident. In the District of Columbia, “speed shall be
so controlled as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any person, vehicle, or other
conveyance on or entering the street or highway in compliance with legal requirements and the
duty of all persons to use due care.” D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 18, § 2200.4. Defendant contends that
he was driving under 15 miles per hour at the time of collision. (Defs’ Mot. for Summ. J. [20] at
9.) Plaintiff argues that Defendant did not know how fast he was driving thus allowing the
9
inference that he was driving too fast for the conditions. (Pl.’s Mem. of P. & A. in Opp’n to
Defs’ Mot. for Summ. J. and Pl.’s Counterstatement of Material Facts [22] at 4.) When the
Defendant was asked in his deposition, “And I believe you said you were going about 5 to 10
miles an hour?” he responded, “Yeah. Something about that, 10, 12, no more than 15. I was
definitely driving well under the speed limit.” (Id. [22-1] at 3). Based on the variety of
statements made in the deposition by Mr. Lederer, a reasonable jury could infer that Defendant
did not know how fast he was driving and that his speed was excessive for the conditions.
The Defendant further owed a duty of care to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk.
The driver of a vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the
roadway within any marked crosswalk, or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, when
the pedestrian is upon the lane, or within one lane approaching the lane, on which the
vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning. D.C. Code Ann. § 50-2201.28 (West).
Mr. Lederer claims that he drove 100 feet past the crosswalk before colliding with the Plaintiff.
(Defs’ Statement of Material Facts Not in Issue [20], ¶ 3.) Plaintiff countered that the Defendant
is unsure of how far past the crosswalk he drove. (Pl.’s Mem. of P. & A. in Opp’n to Defs’ Mot.
for Summ. J. and Pl.’s Counterstatement of Material Facts [22] at 3.) A reasonable jury could
conclude that if the Defendant drove past the crosswalk any distance then the Plaintiff could not
have been in the crosswalk. A jury could also make any number of reasonable inferences
regarding the negligence of the Defendant or contributory negligence of the Plaintiff based on
exactly where the collision occurred, a material fact that is not clearly evident in the record.
The record indicates that a genuine issue of material fact exists regarding whether or not
Plaintiff was in the crosswalk, Defendant was driving too fast for the conditions, or the Plaintiff
was struck in the crosswalk or some distance from the crosswalk. These material issues of fact
are for the jury to decide after weighing the credibility of the evidence presented and they
preclude the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment.
10
2. The Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
The Plaintiff asserts that whether or not Dr. Becker crossed in the crosswalk, as the
Plaintiff contends, Dr. Becker is still entitled to summary judgment on liability because of last
clear chance doctrine. (Pl.’s Mot. for Partial Summ. J. [21].) Further, Plaintiff insists that both
Defendant Lederer and Plaintiff Becker have testified that Dr. Becker was in the crosswalk when
he was struck. Therefore, Plaintiff alleges that he is entitled to summary judgment on Count I
(common law negligence) and Count II (negligence per se).
a. Last Clear Chance
Plaintiff claims that the last clear chance doctrine allows the Plaintiff to recover as a
matter of law. To prevail under this doctrine, the plaintiff must show:
(1) the plaintiff was in a position of danger caused by the negligence of both plaintiff and
defendant; (2) the plaintiff was oblivious to the danger, or unable to extricate [himself]
from the position of danger; (3) the defendant was aware, or by the exercise of reasonable
care should have been aware, of the plaintiff's danger and of [his] obliviousness to it, or
[his] inability to extricate [himself] from it; and (4) the defendant, with means available
to [the defendant], could have avoided injuring the plaintiff after becoming aware of the
danger and [the plaintiff's]inability to extricate [himself] from it, but failed to do so.
Juvenalis v. District of Columbia, 955 A.2d 187, 196 (D.C. 2008) (citation omitted).
The Plaintiff cites to the jury instructions in several cases suggesting that the last chance
doctrine demonstrates Dr. Becker is entitled to summary judgment. Juvenalis, 955 A.2d at 191
n. 2 (citing Hall v. Carter, 825 A.2d at 958); Evans v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 674
F.Supp.2d 175, 182 n. 2 (D.D.C.2009) (citing Queen v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 842
F.2d 476, 481 (D.C.Cir.1988)); Felton v. Wagner, 512 A.2d 291, 296 (D.C.1986). However,
each of the four elements listed above are issues of fact appropriate for a jury. See D.C. Std. Civ.
Jury Instr. No. 5-18 (Last Clear Chance - allows plaintiff to receive damages even if
contributorily negligent). While the Plaintiff successfully argues that the last clear chance
11
doctrine may allow him to recover even if Dr. Becker is considered contributorily negligent, this
argument fails to demonstrate that he is entitled to summary judgment on liability. All of the
cases cited by Plaintiff illustrate that the courts have consistently viewed the last clear chance
doctrine as an issue of fact that must be weighed by the jury. See Washington Metro. Area
Transit Auth. v. Jones, 443 A.2d 45, 50 (D.C.1982) (noting that the jury weighs witness
credibility and resolves disputes regarding speed and distances). See Long v. Mercer, 125 A.2d
685, 688 (D.C. 1956) (the jury decided that the taxi cab owed a duty to ensure the crosswalk was
clear before driving through the intersection). Mahnke v. Washington Metro Area Transit Auth.,
821 F.Supp.2d 126, 136 (D.D.C. 2011) (the court noted that a reasonable juror could conclude,
based on the testimony, that the WMATA bus driver could have stopped after seeing the plaintiff
enter the intersection and therefore had the last clear chance to avoid the accident).
b. Plaintiff Was in the Crosswalk
The Plaintiff further argues that the testimony on record indicates that both the Plaintiff
and Defendant testified that Dr. Becker was in a marked crosswalk when he was struck by the
taxicab. (Pl.’s Mem. of P. & A. in Supp. of his Mot. for Partial Summ. J. [21-1] at 2.) Plaintiff
contends that Defendant is now “trying to escape from his admission by filing an errata sheet
five months after the transcript was available that would change his testimony that Dr. Becker
was in the crosswalk by inserting ‘not’ before the statement that Dr. Becker was in the
crosswalk.” (Id.) According to Plaintiff, this attempted change is barred under Rule 30 of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Id. at 9.) While federal courts have strictly applied the 30
day limit to review and submit errata sheets for depositions, this Court does not need to decide
this issue as part of summary judgment. Courts are entitled to enforce Rule 30(e)'s time limit
strictly and strike untimely errata, but a Court may also extend the time at the Court’s discretion.
12
See EBC, Inc. v. Clark Bldg. Sys., Inc., 618 F.3d 253, 266 (3d Cir. 2010); see also Holland v.
Cedar Creek Mining Inc., 198 F.R.D. 651, 653 (S.D.W.Va 2001) (“This court, like most courts,
will insist on strict adherence to the technical requirements of Rule 30(e).”).
Defendants argue that Mr. Lederer’s statement was a transcription error “confirmed as an
error by Affidavit of the court reporter after checking stenographic notes and listening to the
backup tape.” (Defs’ Opp’n to Pl.’s Mot. for Partial Summ. J. [23] at 7.) The so-called “sham
affidavit rule,” precludes a party from creating an issue of material fact by contradicting prior
sworn testimony unless the “shifting party can offer persuasive reasons for believing the
supposed correction” is more accurate than the prior testimony. Galvin v. Eli Lilly & Co., 488
F.3d 1026, 1030 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (citation omitted). The purpose of the doctrine is to spare the
moving party the needless effort and cost when a party's prior statements show no actual factual
dispute exists. Hinch v. Lucy Webb Hayes Nat. Training Sch. for Deaconesses & Missionaries
Conducting Sibley Mem'l Hosp., 814 A.2d 926, 929 (D.C. 2003). In this case, Defendants have
offered a persuasive explanation for the error backed by the Affidavit of the court reporter. In
the light most favorable to the non-moving party, Defendants, Mr. Lederer’s explanation of his
deposition change as a transcription error confirmed by the court reporter is sufficient to allow it
to be considered as part of the record for summary judgment. The intended change in the record
demonstrates that there is a genuine dispute as to whether Dr. Becker was in the crosswalk when
struck.
IV. CONCLUSION
In order to prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must
demonstrate that there are no disputed genuine issues of material fact. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c),
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (1986). In order to defeat a motion for summary
13
judgment, the nonmoving party’s opposition “must consist of more than mere unsupported
allegations or denials and [it] must be supported by affidavits or other competent evidence
setting forth specific facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial.” Marshall v. Shalala, 16 F.
Supp. 2d. 16, 18 (D.D.C. 1998).
In the instant case, a genuine dispute over several material facts precludes summary
judgment. Whether or not Plaintiff crossed at the crosswalk, was struck at the crosswalk or
some distance from the crosswalk, how fast the Defendant was driving and whether or not last
clear chance doctrine applies to this case are all issues of material fact that the jury must
decide after weighing the sufficiency and credibility of the evidence presented at trial. For the
foregoing reasons, this Court concludes that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [20]
and Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgement [21] are both DENIED. A separate Order
accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
Date: April 13, 2016 /s/
ALAN KAY
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
14
|
Older migrants reflecting on aging through attachment to and identification with places.
With increasing numbers of older migrants adopting a transnational lifestyle or returning to their country of origin following retirement, the sense of attachment to and identification with the places they inhabit remains an under explored field of enquiry. Through an ethnographic approach, this paper seeks to raise awareness of the diversity within a group of older migrants, given the heterogeneity of affective bonds established with places. By highlighting the perspective of older Italian migrants living in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, this paper illustrates the role of a sense of identification with the context of migration in later life. In referring to migration as a process of transformation, some older Italians re-define their identities, as these become interwoven with the characteristics of the places in which they grow older. However, older migrants' sense of attachment to places also reveals the complexity of aging in the context of migration, when a sense of identification with these is never fully achieved in older age. This paper argues that the notion of aging that these older Italian migrants uphold is not only altered by their experience of migration, but also shaped through their identification with the places they inhabit, given formal and informal practices of identification. Thus, by addressing the determinants for a positive experience of aging in the context of migration, this paper challenges the ways in which older migrant groups are conceptualized in gerontological scholarship. |
American Christmas traditions for a very American Christmas
Hey there, and welcome to Speak English with Christina, where you’ll have fun becoming fluent in American English. I’m your English coach Christina, and today, we’re getting into the holiday spirit with some American Christmas Traditions. Christmas is a HUGE holiday in the US! Probably because it’s very commercial, but, anyway….
We have so many Christmas traditions, and today, I want to share the holiday joy with you, in case you want to bring an American touch to your own celebrations. Ho, ho, ho! Let’s go!
Their article hit the nail on the head, meaning, it was absolutely right about how we celebrate Christmas in the US. So I asked if I could make an episode based in their article, and they kindly said “Oui!” Thank you, Back to the States!
Christmas decorations
Of course we have a Christmas tree, decorated with Christmas ornaments–not “Christmas balls”, careful!, candy canes, candy canes, garland, and lights. Some people even get a flocked tree that is covered in artificial snow, or they take care to use the same colors in all their decorations so it looks perfect! Gotta look good for all those family pictures in front of the tree!
One popular decoration is a popcorn garland, and it’s simple to make! You only need popcorn, a needle, and string. And time. But it’s a fun Christmas decoration you can make with your kids!
Garlands, wreaths, and stockings
One popular Christmas carol starts with “Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la. Decking the halls, or just decorating in everyday English is super important at Christmas. Americans go all out, meaning, they do it big.
Every room in the house might be transformed with Christmas magic! Or at least the kitchen, living room, and even the bathrooms!
In the living room, we put maybe a wreath above the fireplace. The wreath is often made of pine branches decorated with things like ribbons, jingle bells, pine cones, maybe some artificial snow.
And we definitely put one on the front door of the house, to welcome visitors with a festive spirit! Inside, we might put pine garlands on the mantel above the chimney, or on the rail of the stairway.
And of course, Christmas stockings are a must! Each member of the family, especially children, have their own Christmas stocking, hung by the fireplace, or on the stairway.
When Santa comes to visit on the night of Christmas Eve, he fills the stockings with small gifts, candy, and maybe even some money. If you’ve been good all year, of course!
And as a thank you, and to make sure that Santa has enough energy to continue his Christmas Eve journey around the world, it’s nice to leave some Christmas cookies, and a glass of milk for the jolly old elf.
A Christmas Carol
Another Christmas tradition? A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Theaters all over the US run shows of this popular story of a mean, cold, bitter old man named Ebeneezer Scrooge, who only loves money.
Then, on Christmas Eve, he’s visited by three Christmas spirits who show him the joy of the holidays, and the consequences of his greedy behavior. Overnight, he’s transformed into a loving, generous, joyful old man who learns to love others and celebrate life.
Santa Claus, snowmen and nutcrackers
There will also be perhaps statues of Santa Claus, the big fat man who brings presents, or a snowman. Back home in Mississippi, the only snowmen we ever saw were statues!
Nutcrackers are a symbol of Christmas too, and back in the US, I had an entire collection of maybe 10 different nutcrackers. Speaking of which, the ballet “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky is a big Christmas tradition. Local ballet companies and big theaters do productions of “The Nutcracker.” I try to see it every year!
The Elf on the Shelf
This cute little guy is named “The Elf on the Shelf”, and he looks innocent, but he’s a spy (or as they say on the website, “a scout”)!
The story says that Santa Claus sends an elf to each home to watch the children. This way, Santa knows if the children have been naughty, naughty, bad, or nice.
During the day, the elf can’t move, but each night, they go back to the North Pole to give a report to Santa on everything they observed. Were the children naughty or nice?
Each morning, the children find the elf in a different place in the house, and it’s great fun to see where the elf will be each morning.
Something else that’s great fun? Watching this episode on American Christmas traditions!
Of course, there are many, many other Christmas traditions in the USA. We didn’t even talk about food, or Christmas Carols, or how some American houses are decorated with enough lights to decorate an entire village.
I’ll save all of that for next year! But these were just a few of the most popular traditions for a very American Christmas.
Now, what about you?
How do you celebrate Christmas in your country? Or do you celebrate Christmas at all?
I love learning about other cultures, and I know that other Speak English Ambassadors do too. So please, share your Christmas traditions with us! Or tell us about the biggest holiday in your country.
Now, for the next 2 weeks, we’re taking a break to celebrate, so let me wish you lots of joy, happiness, and love for the holiday season! See you in the new year! |
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, center, holds hands with her husband, Mark Kelly, while exiting Town Hall at Fairfield Hills Campus in Newtown, Conn. after meeting with Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra and other officials on Friday, Jan. 4, 2013. At far left is Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman; behind Giffords to the left is U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Giffords also met with families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre that left 26 people dead. (AP Photo/The News-Times, Jason Rearick)
State Rep. DebraLee Hovey, R-112, who last week on her Facebook page called on shooting victim Gabrielle Giffords to "stay out of my towns," issued an apology Monday.
"The remarks I made regarding Congresswoman Gifford's visit were insensitive and if I offended anyone I truly apologize," Hovey said in a statement issued by her office, referring to Giffords' visit on Friday to Newtown.
Giffords, a former congresswoman from Arizona, was critically injured when a gunman opened fire two years ago at one of her constituent meet-and-greets in Tuscon, killing six people and wounding 12 others.
She and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, visited Newtown where they met privately with several government officials before talking with some of the families of the 20 children and six teachers killed in a shooting spree by lone gunman, Adam Lanza, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School last month.
Advertisement
The couple has been lobbying for stricter gun laws and improved access to mental health treatment in reaction to the Tuscon attack and now the Newtown massacre, which is the worst elementary school slaying in the country.
Hovey represents the towns of Newtown and Monroe.
The state representative further commented on Friday that the visit by Giffords was political as the officials in attendance were U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, both Democrats. Also at the meeting however, was Newtown's First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra, who is a Republican.
"It was political. The Lt. Gov. was there, Blumenthal was there and ALL political types know it is courteous to let sitting Reps know when another political is in their district so ... there was pure political motives," she wrote on Facebook.
Both meetings were closed to the press.
Hovey's office said the state representative was in Florida to attend a board meeting of Women in Government, a national group, and her comments were intended to shield the families of the victims.
"My comments were meant to be protective of the privacy of the families and our community as we work to move on, and were in no way intended as an insult to Congresswoman Giffords personally. Our community has struggled greatly through this tragedy, and we are all very sensitive to the potential for this event to be exploited for political purposes. This is what I wish to avoid," Hovey said in her statement.
Hovey's remarks set off a slew of reaction on social media, both critical of her and in her defense.
State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, said it would probably have been better if Hovey had contacted sponsors of the meeting before she reacted on Facebook.
"Caution is always better in the end," Holder-Winfield said.
He said while he represents New Haven and parts of Hamden, he doesn't feel he "owns those areas" in the sense of telling people to stay out of them. He had no opinion if the visit by Giffords and her husband was political.
"I don't think it matters. ... If it makes people feel better, so what?" Holder-Winfield said of their visit to the families of the victims.
Giffords, who suffered a brain injury from being shot and is partially blind with a paralyzed right arm, was in New York to meet with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been a national voice for tougher gun laws, before coming to Connecticut .
"It is never helpful to ascribe motives to people when they do something," Looney said of describing Giffords' meeting in Newtown as political.
Hovey said she, like many others, was "still working through my grief and trying to come to terms with what happened, how we as a community and a state move forward and how we can prevent horrific events like this from occurring in the future," she said. "My deepest condolences continue to go out to the families, the community of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown and Connecticut."
Hovey's spokeman, Jamison Bazinet, said she was not issuing any other statements and did not answer an email requesting comment on proposed gun control legislation that is bring contemplated in Connecticut, from making public a list of gun permit holders to disallowing felons from buying ammunition to stricter definitions of assault weapons and limits on high capacity magazines.
State Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, said Hovey's apology was "genuine and heartfelt. She cares deeply about her constituents and she is desperately trying to ensure they are not exploited during the aftermath of this tragedy."
Lemar however said the most important thing is that everyone address gun violence in Connecticut, whether that looks to prevent another Newtown massacre or the 17 deaths in New Haven in 2012.
"Every gun death in this state is a preventable tragedy and we should all be more concerned about each and every life that is lost across our state due to outdated and insufficient gun laws. A comprehensive reform of our gun laws is needed, and I hope we can all come together to enact strict laws to prevent as many senseless deaths as possible," said Lemar. |
MERS Virus
MERS Virus
South Korean health officials reported 14 more cases of the deadly Mers virus 06/06/15, bringing the total in the country’s outbreak to 64, and said a fifth person infected with the virus had died.South Korea’s outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, first reported on 20 May, is the largest outside the Middle East, prompting public fear and questions about the government’s initial response.
About MERS-
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness that is new to humans. It was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to several other countries, including the United States. Most people infected with MERS-CoV developed severe acute respiratory illness, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Many of them have died.
Health officials first reported the disease in Saudi Arabia in September 2012. Through retrospective investigations, health officials later identified that the first known cases of MERS occurred in Jordan in April 2012. So far, all cases of MERS have been linked to countries in and near the Arabian Peninsula.MERS-CoV has spread from ill people to others through close contact, such as caring for or living with an infected person.MERS can affect anyone. MERS patients have ranged in age from younger than 1 to 99 years old.
PreventionCurrently, there is no vaccine to prevent MERS-CoV infection. The U.S. National Institutes of Health is exploring the possibility of developing one. |
Connect with TRB
ECONOMIC INVESTIGATION OF NUCLEAR POWERED TANKERS
The primary objectives of this investigation were to establish the economics of a tanker powered by an AMF closed cycle boiling water reactor, compare the transportation costs of the nuclear tanker to the conventional design, and determine the important parameters affecting this economic analysis. This analysis was based upon the cost data developed for the reference design which was a 38,000 DWT tanker powered by a 22,000 SHP propulsion plant of either conventional or nuclear design. The analysis shows that all variations in the cost parameters within practical reason result in the nuclear transportation costs being consistently higher than the conventional and that this condition is brought about by the high cost of the nuclear equipment. Suggestions for reducing these costs include design improvement, government subsidy, and standardization of nuclear components.
Supplemental Notes:
This document is available for review at the Department of Commerce Library, Main Commerce Building, Washington, D.C., under reference number AMF-GR-22-57. |
Q:
PHP order array by date?
Possible Duplicate:
PHP Sort a multidimensional array by element containing date
I have some data from XML or JSON in a PHP array that looks like this:
[0]= array(2) {
["title"]= string(38) "Another title"
["date"]= string(31) "Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:55:57 +0200"
}
[1]= array(2) {
["title"]= string(38) "My title"
["date"]= string(31) "Mon, 16 Jun 2010 06:55:57 +0200"
}
What I want to do is order the two items by date.
Is it possible to sort by date, when the sort value is inside every item?
Do I need to convert the date format to timestamp?
What I don't want to do
I could use date and set it as the ID but that don't feel right, because two items can have the same date and then it would not be unique.
A:
You don't need to convert your dates to timestamp before the sorting, but it's a good idea though because it will take more time to sort without it.
$data = array(
array(
"title" => "Another title",
"date" => "Fri, 17 Jun 2011 08:55:57 +0200"
),
array(
"title" => "My title",
"date" => "Mon, 16 Jun 2010 06:55:57 +0200"
)
);
function sortFunction( $a, $b ) {
return strtotime($a["date"]) - strtotime($b["date"]);
}
usort($data, "sortFunction");
var_dump($data);
A:
Use usort:
usort($array, function($a1, $a2) {
$v1 = strtotime($a1['date']);
$v2 = strtotime($a2['date']);
return $v1 - $v2; // $v2 - $v1 to reverse direction
});
A:
I recommend using DateTime objects instead of strings, because you cannot easily compare strings, which is required for sorting. You also get additional advantages for working with dates.
Once you have the DateTime objects, sorting is quite easy:
usort($array, function($a, $b) {
return ($a['date'] < $b['date']) ? -1 : 1;
});
|
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//Boost//DTD BoostBook XML V1.0//EN" "http://www.boost.org/tools/boostbook/dtd/boostbook.dtd">
<article id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5" last-revision="DEBUG MODE Date: 2000/12/20 12:00:00 $"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
<title>Identifiers in quickbook 1.5</title>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h0">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.test_heading_with__code__phrase_role__identifier__code__phrase___code_"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.test_heading_with__code__phrase_role__identifier__code__phrase___code_">Test
heading with <code><phrase role="identifier">code</phrase></code></link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h1">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10_0"/><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10_0">Identifier
10</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h2">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10_1"/><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10_1">Identifier
10</link>
</bridgehead>
<table frame="all" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10_2">
<title>Identifier 10</title>
<tgroup cols="1">
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h3">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_several_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_several_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h4">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d0">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h5">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_lots_of_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_lots_of_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having lots of headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h6">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d1">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having lots of headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h7">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d2"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d2">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having lots of headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h8">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d3"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d3">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h9">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d5"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d5">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h10">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d6"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d6">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h11">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d7"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d7">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h12">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_too_many_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_too_many_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h13">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d8"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d8">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h14">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d9"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d9">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h15">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_0">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h16">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_1">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h17">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_2"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_2">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h18">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_3"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_3">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h19">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_4"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_4">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h20">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_5"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_5">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h21">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_6"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_6">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h22">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_7"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_7">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h23">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_8"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_8">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h24">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_9"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_9">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h25">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_10"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_10">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h26">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_11"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_11">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h27">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_12"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_12">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h28">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_13"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_13">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h29">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_14"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_14">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h30">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_16"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_16">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h31">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_17"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_17">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h32">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_18"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_18">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h33">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_19"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_19">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h34">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_20"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_20">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h35">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_21"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_21">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h36">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_22"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_22">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h37">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_23"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_23">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h38">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_24"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_24">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h39">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_25"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_25">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h40">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_26"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_26">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h41">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_even_more_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_even_more_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having even more headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h42">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_27"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_27">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having even more headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h43">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_28"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_28">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having even more headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h44">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_29"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_29">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h45">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d4"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d4">Generate
a really long id and d4</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h46">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_15"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_15">Generate
a really long id and 15</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h47">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_30"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_30">Generate
a really long id and d4</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h48">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_31"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.generate_a_really_long_id_and_31">Generate
a really long id and 15</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h49">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.a2345678901234567890123456789012"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.a2345678901234567890123456789012">a2345678901234567890123456789012</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h50">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.a0"/><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.a0">a2345678901234567890123456789012</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h51">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h52">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde0">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h53">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde1">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h54">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde2"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde2">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h55">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.markup_in__code__phrase_role__identifier__heading__phrase___code___in__emphasis_role__bold__order__emphasis__to_test_normalization"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.markup_in__code__phrase_role__identifier__heading__phrase___code___in__emphasis_role__bold__order__emphasis__to_test_normalization">Markup
in <code><phrase role="identifier">heading</phrase></code> in <emphasis role="bold">order</emphasis>
to test normalization</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h56">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden0">Markup
in <code><phrase role="identifier">heading</phrase></code> in <emphasis role="bold">order</emphasis>
to test normalization</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect2" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.h57">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden1">Markup
in <code><phrase role="identifier">heading</phrase></code> in <emphasis role="bold">order</emphasis>
to test normalization</link>
</bridgehead>
<section id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10">
<title><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10">Identifier
10</link></title>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h0">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_several_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_several_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h1">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d0">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h2">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_lots_of_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_lots_of_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having lots of headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h4">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d1">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having lots of headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h5">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d2"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d2">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having lots of headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h6">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d3"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d3">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h7">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d5"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d5">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h8">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d6"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d6">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h9">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d7"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d7">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h10">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_too_many_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_too_many_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h11">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d8"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d8">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h12">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d9"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d9">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h13">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_0">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h14">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_1">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h15">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_2"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_2">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h16">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_3"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_3">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h17">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_4"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_4">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h18">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_5"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_5">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h19">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_6"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_6">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h20">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_7"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_7">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h21">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_8"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_8">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h22">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_9"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_9">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h23">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_10"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_10">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h24">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_11"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_11">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h25">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_12"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_12">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h26">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_13"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_13">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h27">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_14"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_14">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h28">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_16"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_16">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h29">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_17"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_17">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h30">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_18"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_18">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having too many headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h31">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_19"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_19">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h32">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_20"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_20">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h33">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_21"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_21">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h34">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_22"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_22">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h35">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_23"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_23">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h36">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_24"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_24">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h37">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_25"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_25">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h38">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_26"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_26">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h39">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_even_more_headers"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_duplicate_it_by_having_even_more_headers">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having even more headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h40">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_27"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_27">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having even more headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h41">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_28"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_28">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having even more headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h42">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_29"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_29">Generate
a really long id and duplicate it by having several headers</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h43">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d4"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_d4">Generate
a really long id and d4</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h44">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_15"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_15">Generate
a really long id and 15</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h45">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_30"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_30">Generate
a really long id and d4</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h46">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_31"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.generate_a_really_long_id_and_31">Generate
a really long id and 15</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h47">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.a2345678901234567890123456789012"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.a2345678901234567890123456789012">a2345678901234567890123456789012</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h48">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.a0"/><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.a0">a2345678901234567890123456789012</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h49">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h50">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde0">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h51">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde1">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h52">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde2"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde2">abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h53">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.markup_in__code__phrase_role__identifier__heading__phrase___code___in__emphasis_role__bold__order__emphasis__to_test_normalization"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.markup_in__code__phrase_role__identifier__heading__phrase___code___in__emphasis_role__bold__order__emphasis__to_test_normalization">Markup
in <code><phrase role="identifier">heading</phrase></code> in <emphasis role="bold">order</emphasis>
to test normalization</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h54">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden0"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden0">Markup
in <code><phrase role="identifier">heading</phrase></code> in <emphasis role="bold">order</emphasis>
to test normalization</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h55">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden1"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.markup_in_code_phrase_role_iden1">Markup
in <code><phrase role="identifier">heading</phrase></code> in <emphasis role="bold">order</emphasis>
to test normalization</link>
</bridgehead>
<table frame="all" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h3">
<title>h3</title>
<tgroup cols="1">
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<table frame="all" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.identifier_10.h3_0">
<title>h3</title>
<tgroup cols="1">
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</section>
<section id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff">
<title><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff">Punctuation
& stuff</link></title>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff.h0">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff.a___b"/><link
linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff.a___b">A + B</link>
</bridgehead>
<bridgehead renderas="sect3" id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff.h1">
<phrase id="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff.a_b0"/><link linkend="identifiers_in_quickbook_1_5.punctuation___stuff.a_b0">A
+ B</link>
</bridgehead>
</section>
</article>
|
Q:
Homotopy classes relative endpoints of the circle
Is there a way to determine explicitly the homotopy classes relative to their endpoints for the circle $S^1$?
We say that two paths $\gamma_1, \gamma_2 :[0,1] \to S^1$ are homotopic relative to their endpoints if there is a homotopy $F:[0,1] \times [0,1] \to S^1$ between $\gamma_1$ and $\gamma_2$ such that $F(0,t) = \gamma_1(0) = \gamma_2(0), \forall t \in [0,1]$ and $F(1,t) = \gamma_1(1) = \gamma_2(1), \forall t \in [0,1].$
Can we determine the general classes of such homotopies for the circle? That is, if we fix $p,q \in S^1$, how could we determine $$\{\gamma:[0,1] \to S^1 \ \mid \ \gamma(0) = p, \gamma(1) = q \} / \{\text{homotopic relative to their endpoints} \}?$$
Of course, if $p = q$, then we already know that every such path is homotopic to a path of the form $z \mapsto z^k$ for some $k \in \mathbb{Z}$.
When $p \neq q$, I believe we can do the same thing (i.e. classify paths by the number of "turns" they do around the circle): take the "usual" path between $p$ and $q$ on $S^1$, that is: $$\gamma:[0,1] \to S^1, \gamma(t) = \frac{tq+(1-t)p}{|tq+(1-t)p|}. $$ This is a path that does no "turns" around $S^1$, but how would a path that does $k$ "turns" around $S^1$ look and like and how would we prove that any other path between $p$ and $q$ must be homotopic to $\gamma$ raised to some integer?
Edit: the above $\gamma$ doesn't work if $p$ and $q$ are antipodal points, i.e. $p = -q$, since $tq + (1-t)p = 0$ when $t = 1/2$ in that case. But we can consider the paths between $p$ and another point $s \in S^1$ and then the path between $s$ and $q$.
A:
Try to prove the following:
Two paths $\gamma_1,\gamma_2\colon I\to X$ from $p$ to $q$ are homotopic relative the endpoints if and only if the loop $\gamma_1*\overline{\gamma_2}$ at $p$ is null-homotopic (relative the basepoint).
Here $\overline{\gamma_2}$ denotes the reversed path of $\gamma_2$ and $*$ denotes concatenation of paths.
From this it then follows that the homotopy class of a path $\gamma\colon I\to S^1$ relative the endpoints consists of all paths $\gamma'$ such that the loop $\gamma*\overline{\gamma'}$ has winding number $0$.
The idea of going from a homotopy $H\colon I\times I\to X$ with $H(0,-)=\gamma_1*\overline{\gamma_2}$, $H(1,-)= p$ and $H(-,0)=H(-,1)=p$ to a homotopy from $\gamma_1$ to $\gamma_2$ is shown in the following picture. You can transform $\gamma_1$ into $\gamma_2$ like the blue lines show, keeping $\gamma(0)=p$ and $\gamma(1)=q$ at all times.
|
Dietary sources of energy and nutrients in the contemporary diet of Inuit adults: results from the 2007-08 Inuit Health Survey.
To characterize the major components of the contemporary Inuit diet and identify the primary sources of energy and essential nutrients. Dietary data were derived from the 24 h recall collected by the Inuit Health Survey (IHS) from 2007 to 2008. The population proportion method was used to determine the percentage contribution of each group. Unique food items/preparations (ninety-three country foods and 1591 market foods) were classified into eight country food groups and forty-one market food groups. Nutrient composition of each food item was obtained from the Canadian Nutrient File. Thirty-six communities across three Inuit regions of northern Canada. A representative sample (n 2095) of non-pregnant Inuit adults (≥18 years), selected through stratified random sampling. Despite their modest contribution to total energy intake (6·4-19·6 %, by region) country foods represented a major source of protein (23-52 %), Fe (28-54 %), niacin (24-52 %) and vitamins D (up to 73 %), B6 (18-55 %) and B12 (50-82 %). By contrast, the three most popular energy-yielding market foods (i.e. sweetened beverages, added sugar and bread) collectively contributed approximately 20 % of total energy, while contributing minimally to most micronutrients. A notable exception was the contribution of these foods to Ca (13-21 %) and vitamins E (17-35 %) and C (as much as 50 %). Solid fruits were consumed by less than 25 % of participants while vegetables were reported by 38-59 % of respondents. Country foods remain a critical dimension of the contemporary Inuit diet. |
Fewer abortions in Arizona as new laws take hold
The number of abortions performed in Arizona dropped by about a third in September after implementation of new state restrictions and requirements.
The new restrictions and requirements took effect in August and September.
State figures indicate 729 abortions were performed in September. That’s down 32 percent from August, 31 percent from September 2010, and 39 percent from the previous 12-month average.
Planned Parenthood Arizona CEO Bryan Howard says availability of abortion services is reduced mainly because of new laws requiring all abortion facilities to have physicians involved in certain aspects of all abortions.
Planned Parenthood dropped abortion services at seven of 10 locations statewide, including all three clinics in cities outside Tucson and metro Phoenix.
Abortion opponent Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy hails the reduction. |
Search This Blog
The Hills Are Alive, and They Are Taunting Me
Kevin and I have very different theories on family vacations.
Kevin's is no doubt carefully constructed, thoroughly researched, and bolstered by a number of scientific studies regarding childhood development, parenting, human nature, and economics. And of course a heavy dose of his ridiculously happy childhood. But those of you who know Kevin know that he has full academic citations for everything he utters out loud. If he doesn't, he doesn't say it out loud. He may even source his thoughts for all I know. Just in case you are wondering, this penchant makes arguing with Kevin an extremely frustrating and ultimately futile exercise. But I've probably already said too much about Kevin, per our non-binding prenuptial agreement.
Kevin's Theory of Family Vacations is elaborate, but in practical terms boils down to a progressive stage of vacation types correlating to the children's ages that goes like this:
Stage One--Beach Vacations. You do this when the children are babies through preschool because it minimizes logistics and walking. Also presumably small children like sand and water. Ours didn't, of course, but most children do. You get a beach house and just kind of hang around for a week.
Stage Two--Theme Parks. You do this when the children are early-to-mid elementary school. They can now ostensibly walk more than a few feet, but only when motivated by cool rides, games, shows, gift shops, cotton candy and other overpriced sugar and plastic, and various other things that I would categorize as Gimmicky Clap Trap. Presumably the children will be so excited by all the ways to spend their parents' money on worthless crap that they won't complain. Ours do, but most children don't. At least not in the advertisements.
Stage Three--National Parks. You do this when the children are late elementary-middle school. They can now ostensibly hike and appreciate the natural world. You Go West and show them the wonders of America and spend time walking and talking and bonding as a family. Presumably the children will like this, but I would not count on it.
Stage Four--International Travel, to include Europe. You do this when the children are in high school, if they are still speaking to you. They can now ostensibly understand that America is not the only country, get something out of a five-hundred-year-old cathedral other than there are dead people underneath it, and appreciate that in other cultures, people eat things that don't come out of a box. And if that doesn't work, you can tell them that the boys/girls in Country X are extremely attractive and also that there is WiFi.
We have indeed proceeded mostly a pace through these stages, although we are only now in Stage Two, and also I have thrown in Africa, because if you can get there in one piece, children ostensibly like animals and also I am from Africa so we are going there now and shut up. Kevin knows not to mess with that.
My Theory of Family Vacations goes something like this: The children are going to complain and hate it regardless, so pick something that will keep the adults mostly happy and calm, preferably with built-in strategies of avoiding the children altogether. The beach house thing was actually perfect. You may recall that no one in my family actually liked the beach except for me, and I got to read a book by the ocean by myself for a solid week. There were virtually no logistics and no crowds, both of which are the bane of my existence and in fact my anxiety disorder's number one and two triggers.
But now we are done with Stage One, per Kevin. We are on to Stage Two. In that vein, we took our second trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee over spring break. So, if you haven't been to Pigeon Forge, it's like Branson, Missouri. If you haven't been to either place, it's like a family-friendly version of Vegas. If you haven't been there either, pick a scenic location and then carpet bomb it with expensive, tacky-looking, low-brow-culture attractions and activities that obscure all natural beauty in the vicinity and remove any temptation for vigorous outdoor activity. Like take the Sistine Chapel ceiling and paint cute, hot pink, faux fur vests on everyone and give them all pet yellow flamingos and laser guns. In the case of Branson and Pigeon Forge, add 50,000 American flags and God, as if he couldn't already be experienced in the majesty of the surrounding mountains. Oh right, you covered those up with mini-golf. Make the mini-golf a Stations of the Cross theme.
We went to Pigeon Forge in August for a few days, and the kids actually seemed to enjoy it, which was confusing. So Kevin decided we should go back. I decided that since Kevin had decided this, he would get to plan and execute the entire thing. Which was brilliant. I left all the logistics to him and remained mostly emotionally divested in the success of the trip. I still didn't really enjoy it, but I didn't have a panic attack either. There were a few moments when we were 30 minutes behind Kevin's stated schedule that I started getting heart palpitations, and then I reminded myself that I DIDN'T WANT TO DO ANY OF THIS ANYWAY so it should not matter to me if we were late.
Last time we had stayed in a cute, quiet cabin with a view of the mountains and at least did one outdoor activity (a raft trip). This time Kevin decided to go full-on Tourist Trap. We stayed in a massive hotel/indoor water park/arcade. This involved pressing the flesh with millions of people everywhere we went, inhaling massive amounts of chlorinated air, begging Lawson to try a water slide, and spending $50,000 on video games that earned the children enough tickets to purchase a whoopee cushion and a few packets of sugar "dip"/Kid Cocaine.
Parental torture chamber
Other activities we did:
1) The Alpine Slide. I must admit this is pretty cool. It is a bobsled ride built on a mountain. Not only is it a great ride, you do actually enjoy some scenery.
2) A mirror maze. There are quite a few of these in PF, and I don't recommend them if you have an anxiety disorder. It's endlessly confusing, frustrating, and dizzying, and you think you'll never get out. It's basically like living through the Trump Administration, which I do not consider a vacation activity. I think I might have cried out for Bob Mueller a few times.
3) MagiQuest. This was the kids' absolute favorite, although it was so emotionally involving, everyone melted down at some point. It's hard to describe so google it. For me, it entailed following Charlotte all over these three big rooms looking for stuff and trying to help her solve riddles for hours at a time. I had it easy though, because Kevin was Lawson's escort, and his time was spent talking Lawson off various ledges of frustration that were then compounded by Kevin's attempts to help him, a fun "I can't do this!"-"Let me help you"-"I don't need your help!" loop of despair and insanity. Then we all spent like 2 hours trying to defeat the last dragon without success. That thing is rigged.
Charlotte battling one of the dragons.
3) Some kind of jurassic boat ride where you are terrified by fake dinosaurs.
4) Some kind of VR laser game where it feels like you are on a run away train and are shooting at bad people.
5) Ropes courses, laser tag, mini golf. More video games.
6) Shows. This time we went to Dolly Parton's Stampede, an impressive horse-trick-riding show that comes with a massive plate of meat. Also, America.
7) An escape room. In this case, we had to bust out of Al Capone's apartment before he came back and killed us. This was fun for the adults and one child, but Lawson was unimpressed. He wanted Al Capone to actually come back and kill us.
Things we did not do:
1) The Titanic Museum, complete with massive replica of the Titanic. Because everyone knows Pigeon Forge, Tennessee was integral to the story of the Titanic in that one of the passengers passed through there once.
2) Hollywood Wax Museum. Because who doesn't want to pay $50 to see wax statues of celebrities to you can pay $5 to see in a People magazine? I seriously don't get wax museums, but they seem to be a fixture in any place with ambitions of tourist-trapdom. There's even one in Gettysburg. I don't get the thought process there--the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the turning point in the fight for the very future of our nation isn't compelling enough so you add a wax Robert E. Lee and that makes it exciting? I don't get it.
3) Dollywood. I know, going to Pigeon Forge and not going to Dollywood is like going to Rome and skipping the coliseum, and yes, the two are of equal cultural importance. But we've done it twice.
4) Christmas Village. There is a massive store and hotel complex in which it is always Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas just fine, but I don't usually find it a vacation. Also, I highly doubt Jesus would approve.
And of course....
5) HIKING IN THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS. Which are so beautiful, people. And it was Easter weekend with perfect weather. But according to Kevin's Theory of Family Vacations, we were not yet ready to hike in a national park. So I simply stared forlornly at the mountains in the distance, trying not to notice that even my kids were not completely happy--certainly they were not enchanted, the way kids in commercials for all these places are--doing all the crap they supposedly wanted to do. I can't imagine they'd be any less disgruntled in the wild. And I might actually have a good time. Someone should. |
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Immersion Heater Washer
For fittings like the polythene Immersion Heater Washer and other such products, shop online at Low Cost Plumbing Supplies for the best deals. We have the widest range of heating, plumbing and bathroom products available for you to order through our website, with deliveries being made to every part of UK. We also have a number of pipe washers, consumables, compression fittings, pipe clips, pipe insulation, gas fittings, screws, fixings, access bends, connectors, flue guards, inhibitors and many other similar products.
Whether you are a consumer looking for materials to do a simple repair or a skilled tradesman on the hunt for top quality professional equipment, Low Cost Plumbing Supplies has everything that you need. We understand that plumbing and heating are two of the vital needs that anyone will come across while constructing a house or building. Moreover, in order for the fixtures and hardware you install in your structure to last longer than other cheaper goods, we only source and stock products from reliable manufacturers for assured quality. In fact we are so sure of our superior quality that under our ‘Satisfaction Guarantee’ arrangement we promise to fully refund the price of any item, provided you notify us within 14 days of delivery date, if you are not a 100% satisfied with it. Click here for more details
It is of great importance to us that we only stock the best quality durable products from well-known and reliable manufacturers; and with over 18 years of experience in the industry, we have continually added to our range providing better and more innovative products to satisfy our clientele’s high expectations. We invite you to browse through our online shop and purchase from us with the full confidence that a complete refund will be offered in case you are not a 100% satisfied with any product. We also have a price match guarantee where you can simply send us information about any product that is cheaper elsewhere and we assure to MATCH that price.
If you would like to know more about our Immersion Heater Washer or any other product please call us on 0845 309 6417 or leave your contact details here to receive a call back. We will aim to get back regarding your query within the next 24 hours. Our office is located at 44 Masters Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 9HL. |
Dr. Gabelmann has an undergraduate degree from University of Oxford in England in Natural Sciences (Physics) and her master's and doctorate degrees from University of Cincinnati in low temperature solid state physics.
Work Experience
She taught at Marymount College in Salina, Kan., for seven years and Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan., for 10 years before being named vice president for instruction and student services at Barton. Gabelmann also has served as executive director for EduKan. In the community, she serves on the Let’s Help Board of Directors.
Career Accomplishments
Dr. Gabelmann has expertise in developmental education, online learning and grant writing including TRAC-7 and several state grants. In the community, she serves on the Let’s Help Board of Directors. |
/*
* Copyright notice
*
* (c) 2005-2006 Darron Schall, Claus Wahlers. All rights reserved.
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
* Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
*/
package c64.screen
{
import flash.display.*;
import flash.utils.*;
import flash.events.*;
import flash.geom.*;
import core.memory.*;
import core.misc.*;
import core.cpu.*;
import c64.memory.*;
import c64.events.*
import core.exceptions.BreakpointException;
// import c64.sid.SIDRenderer;
import c64.memory.io.CIA1;
import c64.memory.io.VICSpriteInfo;
[Event(name="frameRateInfoInternal", type="c64.events.FrameRateInfoEvent")]
[Event(name="rasterInternal", type="c64.events.RasterEvent")]
[Event(name="stopInternal", type="c64.events.DebuggerEvent")]
public class Renderer extends Sprite
{
private var cpu:CPU6502;
private var mem:MemoryManager;
// public var sidRenderer:SIDRenderer;
private var displayBack:BitmapData;
private var displayFore:BitmapData;
private var displayBorder:BitmapData;
private var colors:Array;
private var raster:int;
private var cycles:int;
private var newRasterLine:Boolean;
private var tmpRowColors:ByteArray;
private var collisionBackground:ByteArray;
private var collisionSprite:ByteArray;
private var frameTimer:Timer;
private var fpsSum:uint;
private var fpsCount:uint;
private var _frameRateInfoEventInterval:int;
private var _rect:Rectangle = new Rectangle();
public static const CYCLES_PER_STEP:uint = 63;
public function Renderer(cpu:CPU6502, mem:MemoryManager)
{
init(cpu, mem);
}
public function init(cpu:CPU6502, mem:MemoryManager):void
{
this.cpu = cpu;
this.mem = mem;
colors = [
0xff000000, 0xffffffff, 0xffe04040, 0xff60ffff,
0xffe060e0, 0xff40e040, 0xff4040e0, 0xffffff40,
0xffe0a040, 0xff9c7448, 0xffffa0a0, 0xff545454,
0xff888888, 0xffa0ffa0, 0xffa0a0ff, 0xffc0c0c0
];
cycles = 0;
raster = 0;
newRasterLine = false;
fpsSum = 0;
fpsCount = 0;
frameRateInfoEventInterval = 25;
tmpRowColors = new ByteArray();
tmpRowColors.length = 40;
// background bitmap
displayBack = new BitmapData(403, 284, false, 0x000000);
addChild(new Bitmap(displayBack));
// foreground bitmap
displayFore = new BitmapData(403, 284, true, 0x00000000);
addChild(new Bitmap(displayFore));
// border bitmap
displayBorder = new BitmapData(403, 284, true, 0x00000000);
addChild(new Bitmap(displayBorder));
// setup frame timer
frameTimer = new Timer(1, 0);
frameTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, frameLoop);
}
public function start():void
{
if(!frameTimer.running) {
frameTimer.start();
}
}
public function stop(breakpointType:uint = 0):void
{
if(frameTimer.running) {
frameTimer.stop();
if(breakpointType != 0) {
dispatchEvent(new DebuggerEvent("stopInternal", breakpointType));
}
}
}
public function step():void
{
if(!frameTimer.running) {
if(newRasterLine) {
if(++raster == 312) {
raster = 0;
}
checkRaster();
newRasterLine = false;
}
executeInstruction(false);
if(cycles >= CYCLES_PER_STEP) {
cycles -= CYCLES_PER_STEP;
drawRaster();
newRasterLine = true;
}
}
}
private function frameLoop(event:TimerEvent):void
{
var t:int = getTimer();
displayBack.lock();
displayFore.lock();
displayBorder.lock();
dispatchEvent(new RasterEvent("rasterInternal", 0xffff));
while(raster < 312)
{
// update raster (check irq condition, fire if met)
var cyclesRasterIRQ:uint = checkRaster();
if(cyclesRasterIRQ != 0) {
dispatchEvent(new RasterEvent("rasterInternal", raster));
}
try {
// execute 63 cycles minimum
while(cycles < CYCLES_PER_STEP) {
executeInstruction();
}
} catch(e:BreakpointException) {
// CPU has hit a breakpoint:
// update cycles and CIA timers
cycles += e.cyclesConsumed;
updateTimers(e.cyclesConsumed);
// if needed, reset cycles and draw raster
if(cycles >= CYCLES_PER_STEP) {
cycles -= CYCLES_PER_STEP;
drawRaster();
raster++;
}
// stop timer
stop(e.type);
// break out of loop
break;
}
// reset cycles
cycles -= CYCLES_PER_STEP;
// render current raster line
drawRaster();
// uncomment to enable sid
// Update sid renderer
// sidRenderer.getMem();
// uncomment to visualize raster irq
//if(cyclesRasterIRQ > 0) {
//displayBorder.fillRect(new Rectangle(0, raster-16, 403, 1), 0xff00ff00);
//}
raster++;
}
displayBorder.unlock();
displayFore.unlock();
displayBack.unlock();
if(frameTimer.running) {
fpsSum += (getTimer() - t);
if(++fpsCount == _frameRateInfoEventInterval) {
dispatchEvent(new FrameRateInfoEvent("frameRateInfoInternal", fpsSum / _frameRateInfoEventInterval));
fpsCount = 0;
fpsSum = 0;
}
event.updateAfterEvent();
raster = 0;
}
}
private function checkRaster():uint
{
var cyclesRasterIRQ:uint = 0;
// update VIC raster
mem.vic.rasterPosition = raster;
// check for raster IRQ
if(mem.vic.rstIRQEnabled && mem.vic.rstIRQLatch) {
cyclesRasterIRQ = cpu.IRQ();
cycles += cyclesRasterIRQ + 10; // CW: the '+ 10' is a hack
}
return cyclesRasterIRQ;
}
private function executeInstruction(checkBreakpoints:Boolean = true):void
{
// execute instruction at pc
// (throws BreakpointException)
var cyclesConsumed:uint = cpu.exec(checkBreakpoints);
// update cycles
cycles += cyclesConsumed;
// update timers
updateTimers(cyclesConsumed);
}
private function updateTimers(cyclesConsumed:uint):void
{
var cia1:CIA1 = mem.cia1;
// update CIA1 Timer A
var underflow:Boolean = false;
if(cia1.taStarted && cia1.updateTimerA(cyclesConsumed)) {
cycles += cpu.IRQ();
cia1.resetTimerA();
underflow = true;
}
// update CIA1 Timer B
if(cia1.tbStarted && cia1.updateTimerB(cyclesConsumed, underflow)) {
cycles += cpu.IRQ();
cia1.resetTimerB();
}
}
private function drawRaster():void
{
if(raster > 15 && raster < 300)
{
var y:uint = raster - 16;
var yOffs:int = mem.vic.verticalRasterScroll - 3;
if(raster > 50 + yOffs && raster <= 250 + yOffs) {
// draw raster line
if(mem.vic.displayModeValid) {
if(mem.vic.screenVisible) {
if(mem.vic.bitmapMode) {
drawRasterBitmap(y, mem.vic.multiColorMode);
} else {
drawRasterText(y, mem.vic.multiColorMode, mem.vic.extBackgroundMode);
}
if(mem.vic.spritesEnabled) {
drawRasterSprites(y);
}
} else {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(48, y, 320, 1), mem.vic.borderColor);
}
} else {
// invalid display mode
displayFore.fillRect(rect(48, y, 320, 1), 0xff000000);
}
}
// draw border
var bTop:uint = 50;
var bBottom:uint = 250;
if(mem.vic.screenHeight == 24) {
// top border extends 4px down
// bottom border extends 4px up
bTop = 54;
bBottom = 246;
}
if(raster <= bTop || raster > bBottom) {
// draw vertical border
displayBorder.fillRect(rect(0, y, 403, 1), mem.vic.borderColor);
} else {
// draw horizontal border
var bLeft:uint = 48;
var bRight:uint = 35;
if(mem.vic.screenWidth == 38) {
// left border extends 7px right
// right border extends 9px left
bLeft = 55;
bRight = 44;
}
// left border
displayBorder.fillRect(rect(0, y, bLeft, 1), mem.vic.borderColor);
// right border
displayBorder.fillRect(rect(403 - bRight, y, bRight, 1), mem.vic.borderColor);
// make middle transparent
displayBorder.fillRect(rect(bLeft, y, 403 - bLeft - bRight, 1), 0x00000000);
}
}
}
private function translateChar(ch) {
var ret;
if (ch==0)
ret="";
else if (ch>=1 && ch<=26)
ret=String.fromCharCode(64+ch);
else if (ch==32 || (ch>=48 && ch<=57))
ret=String.fromCharCode(ch);
else if (ch==42)
ret="*";
else if (ch==46)
ret=".";
else if (ch==160)
ret="_";
else
ret="<"+ch+">";
return ret;
}
private function drawRasterText(y:uint, isMultiColor:Boolean, isEnhancedColor:Boolean):void
{
var backgroundColors:Array = mem.vic.backgroundColors;
// the relative y position
var xOffs:uint = mem.vic.horizontalRasterScroll;
var yDisp:uint = y - 32 - mem.vic.verticalRasterScroll;
var yDispScreenOffset:uint = ((yDisp >> 3) * 40);
// the vic base address (0x0000, 0x4000, 0x8000 or 0xc000)
var vicBaseAddr:uint = mem.cia2.vicBaseAddr;
// the character data base address
var charDataBaseAddr:uint = mem.vic.characterMemoryAddr;
// here we determine the actual address of the character data area
// the vic reads from character *rom* at $d000 only if:
// - character data base address is 0x1000 or 0x1800, and
// - vic banks 0 or 2 are active (vic base address 0x0000 or 0x8000)
// otherwise it reads from ram at (vic base address) + (character data base address)
var getCharDataFromRom:Boolean = ((charDataBaseAddr == 0x1000 || charDataBaseAddr == 0x1800) && (vicBaseAddr & 0x4000) == 0);
var charDataAddr:uint = charDataBaseAddr + (getCharDataFromRom ? 0xc000 : vicBaseAddr);
// the screen base address
var screenAddr:uint = mem.vic.screenMemoryAddr + vicBaseAddr;
// draw background
displayBack.fillRect(rect(48, y, 320, 1), backgroundColors[0]);
displayFore.fillRect(rect(48, y, 320, 1), 0x00000000);
var x:int;
var foregroundColor:uint;
var bm:BitmapData;
// draw the line
var screen:String="";
for(var xDisp:int = 0; xDisp < 316; xDisp += 8) {
var screenOffset:uint = yDispScreenOffset + (xDisp >> 3);
var screenCode:uint = mem.read(screenAddr + screenOffset);
// if (screenCode!=0 && screenCode!=32) print("screenCode: "+translateChar(screenCode));
screen+=translateChar(screenCode);
var c:uint = mem.read(0xd800 + screenOffset) & 0x0f;
var b:uint = mem.readCharacterData(charDataAddr + (screenCode << 3) + (yDisp & 0x07), getCharDataFromRom);
if(!isMultiColor || (c < 8)) {
// monochrome text mode
var colorIndex:int;
if(b == 0xFF) {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48 + xOffs, y, 8, 1), colors[c]);
} else if(b != 0x00) {
x = xDisp + 48 + xOffs;
if(isEnhancedColor && screenCode > 63) {
colorIndex = (screenCode >> 6);
bm = (colorIndex > 1) ? displayFore : displayBack;
bm.fillRect(rect(x, y, 8, 1), backgroundColors[colorIndex]);
}
foregroundColor = colors[c];
if(b & 0x1) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+7, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x2) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+6, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x4) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+5, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x8) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+4, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x10) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+3, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x20) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+2, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x40) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+1, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x80) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+0, y, foregroundColor); }
} else if(isEnhancedColor && screenCode > 63) {
colorIndex = (screenCode >> 6);
bm = (colorIndex > 1) ? displayFore : displayBack;
bm.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48 + xOffs, y, 8, 1), backgroundColors[colorIndex]);
}
} else {
// multicolor text mode
if(b == 0) { continue; }
if(b == 0xFF) {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48 + xOffs, y, 8, 1), colors[c & 0x07]);
} else if(b == 0xAA) {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48 + xOffs, y, 8, 1), backgroundColors[2]);
} else if(b == 0x55) {
displayBack.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48 + xOffs, y, 8, 1), backgroundColors[1]);
} else {
x = xDisp + 48 + xOffs;
c &= 0x07;
var v:uint = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
foregroundColor = (v == 3) ? colors[c] : backgroundColors[v];
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+7, y, foregroundColor);
bm.setPixel32(x+6, y, foregroundColor);
}
b >>= 2;
v = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
foregroundColor = (v == 3) ? colors[c] : backgroundColors[v];
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+5, y, foregroundColor);
bm.setPixel32(x+4, y, foregroundColor);
}
b >>= 2;
v = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
foregroundColor = (v == 3) ? colors[c] : backgroundColors[v];
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+3, y, foregroundColor);
bm.setPixel32(x+2, y, foregroundColor);
}
b >>= 2;
v = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
foregroundColor = (v == 3) ? colors[c] : backgroundColors[v];
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+1, y, foregroundColor);
bm.setPixel32(x, y, foregroundColor);
}
}
}
}
while (screen.length>0 && screen.substr(0,1)==' ')
screen=screen.substr(1);
while (screen.length>0 && screen.substr(screen.length-1)==' ')
screen=screen.substr(0,screen.length-1);
if (screen.length>0)
Screen.logToScreen(screen);
}
private function drawRasterBitmap(y:uint, isMultiColor:Boolean):void
{
print("drawRasterBitmap");
var bm:BitmapData;
var backgroundColors:Array = mem.vic.backgroundColors;
// the relative y position
var yDisp:uint = y - 32 - mem.vic.verticalRasterScroll;
var yDispScreenOffset:uint = ((yDisp >> 3) * 40);
// the vic base address (0x0000, 0x4000, 0x8000 or 0xc000)
var vicBaseAddr:uint = mem.cia2.vicBaseAddr;
// the bitmap data base address
var bitmapDataAddr:uint = vicBaseAddr + mem.vic.bitmapMemoryAddr;
// the screen base address
var screenAddr:uint = vicBaseAddr + mem.vic.screenMemoryAddr;
// check bad line condition
if((yDisp & 0x07) == 0) {
if(!isMultiColor) {
// get color data for current row
tmpRowColors.position = 0;
mem.copyRam(tmpRowColors, screenAddr + yDispScreenOffset, 40);
// get background color for first 8x8 cell
var bgColor:uint = tmpRowColors[0] & 0x0f;
var startColumn:uint = 0;
for(var column:uint = 1; column < 40; column++) {
// check if background color of next 8x8 cell is the same
// as the background color of the previous cell(s)
if(bgColor != (tmpRowColors[column] & 0x0f)) {
// it's not the same:
// draw background for previous cell(s)
// CW: TODO: do we need to distinguish between fore and background here?
displayBack.fillRect(rect((startColumn << 3) + 48, y, (column - startColumn) << 3, 8), colors[bgColor]);
// remember current background color and cell index
bgColor = tmpRowColors[column] & 0x0f;
startColumn = column;
}
}
// draw background for remaining cell(s) of current row
// CW: TODO: do we need to distinguish between fore and background here?
displayBack.fillRect(rect((startColumn << 3) + 48, y, (40 - startColumn) << 3, 8), colors[bgColor]);
} else {
displayBack.fillRect(rect(48, y, 320, 8), 0x00000000);
}
}
displayFore.fillRect(rect(48, y, 320, 1), 0x00000000);
// draw the line
for(var xDisp:int = 0; xDisp < 316; xDisp += 8) {
var b:uint = mem.read(bitmapDataAddr + (yDispScreenOffset << 3) + (yDisp & 0x07) + xDisp);
if(!isMultiColor) {
// monochrome bitmap mode
if(b == 0xFF) {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48, y, 8, 1), colors[tmpRowColors[xDisp >> 3] >> 4]);
} else if(b != 0x00) {
var x:int = xDisp + 48;
var foregroundColor:uint = colors[tmpRowColors[xDisp >> 3] >> 4];
if(b & 0x1) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+7, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x2) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+6, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x4) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+5, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x8) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+4, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x10) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+3, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x20) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+2, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x40) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+1, y, foregroundColor); }
if(b & 0x80) { displayFore.setPixel32(x+0, y, foregroundColor); }
}
} else {
// multicolor bitmap mode
var screenOffset:uint = yDispScreenOffset + (xDisp >> 3);
var screenCode:uint = mem.read(screenAddr + screenOffset);
var foregroundColors:Array = [
0,
colors[screenCode >> 4],
colors[screenCode & 0x0f],
colors[mem.read(0xd800 + screenOffset) & 0x0f]
];
if(b == 0) { continue; }
if(b == 0xFF) {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48/* + xOffs*/, y, 8, 1), foregroundColors[3]);
} else if(b == 0xAA) {
displayFore.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48/* + xOffs*/, y, 8, 1), foregroundColors[2]);
} else if(b == 0x55) {
displayBack.fillRect(rect(xDisp + 48/* + xOffs*/, y, 8, 1), foregroundColors[1]);
} else {
x = xDisp + 48/* + xOffs*/;
var v:uint = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+7, y, foregroundColors[v]);
bm.setPixel32(x+6, y, foregroundColors[v]);
}
b >>= 2;
v = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+5, y, foregroundColors[v]);
bm.setPixel32(x+4, y, foregroundColors[v]);
}
b >>= 2;
v = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+3, y, foregroundColors[v]);
bm.setPixel32(x+2, y, foregroundColors[v]);
}
b >>= 2;
v = b & 0x03;
if(v != 0) {
bm = (v == 1) ? displayBack : displayFore;
bm.setPixel32(x+1, y, foregroundColors[v]);
bm.setPixel32(x, y, foregroundColors[v]);
}
}
}
}
}
private function drawRasterSprites(y:uint):void
{
print("drawRasterSprites");
//var d:String = "";
//y -= 16;
var yDisp:uint = y + 32;
var spritePointers:uint = mem.vic.screenMemoryAddr + mem.cia2.vicBaseAddr + 0x03f8;
for(var i:int = 0; i < 8; i++) {
var sprite:VICSpriteInfo = mem.vic.sprites[i] as VICSpriteInfo;
// check if sprite is enabled at all
if(sprite.enabled) {
// check if sprite is visible in the current raster line
var h:uint = (sprite.expandVertical) ? 42 : 21;
var ySprite:uint = sprite.y - 16;
if(y >= ySprite && y < ySprite + h) {
var spriteRaster:int = y - ySprite;
if(sprite.expandVertical) { spriteRaster >>= 1; }
var addr:uint = mem.cia2.vicBaseAddr + (mem.read(spritePointers + i) << 6) + spriteRaster * 3;
var v:uint = mem.read(addr) << 16 | mem.read(addr+1) << 8 | mem.read(addr+2);
// all transparent?
if(v != 0) {
var c:uint;
var xCur:uint;
var x:uint = sprite.x + 24;
var y1:uint = y;
var bm:BitmapData = sprite.foreground ? displayFore : displayBack;
if(sprite.multicolor) {
var spriteColors:Array = [
0,
mem.vic.spriteMulticolor0,
sprite.color,
mem.vic.spriteMulticolor1
];
if(sprite.expandHorizontal) {
xCur = x + 44;
while(v != 0) {
c = v & 3;
if(c != 0) { bm.fillRect(rect(xCur, y1, 4, 1), spriteColors[c]); }
v >>= 2;
xCur -= 4;
}
} else {
xCur = x + 22;
while(v != 0) {
c = v & 3;
if(c != 0) {
bm.setPixel32(xCur, y1, spriteColors[c]);
bm.setPixel32(xCur+1, y1, spriteColors[c]);
}
v >>= 2;
xCur -= 2;
}
}
} else {
if(sprite.expandHorizontal) {
xCur = x + 46;
while(v != 0) {
c = v & 1;
if(c != 0) {
bm.setPixel32(xCur, y1, sprite.color);
bm.setPixel32(xCur+1, y1, sprite.color);
}
v >>= 1;
xCur -= 2;
}
} else {
xCur = x + 23;
while(v != 0) {
c = v & 1;
if(c != 0) { bm.setPixel32(xCur, y1, sprite.color); }
v >>= 1;
xCur--;
}
}
}
//if(i == 0) {
// trace(mem.vic.toStringSprite(i));
//}
//d += i + " " + spriteRaster + ", ";
}
}
}
}
//if(d != "") {
// trace(d);
//}
}
public function set frameRateInfoEventInterval(val:int):void {
if(val < 5) {
val = 5;
}
_frameRateInfoEventInterval = val;
}
public function get frameRateInfoEventInterval():int {
return _frameRateInfoEventInterval;
}
protected function rect(x:Number, y:Number, width:Number, height:Number):Rectangle {
_rect.x = x;
_rect.y = y;
_rect.width = width;
_rect.height = height;
return _rect;
}
}
}
|
Sam Forencich/Getty Images
PORTLAND, Ore. — Exactly a year ago, Rajon Rondo was in this same position.
After an up-and-down season with the Chicago Bulls that included an extended benching, Rondo transformed in the playoffs. He was stellar in the first two games of the first round, as the Bulls stunned the top-seeded Boston Celtics to take a 2-0 series lead on the road.
That he was playing against his former team, in a city where he won a championship in 2008 and was a part of several deep postseason runs, made it easy to buy into a trend: No matter how frustrating the veteran point guard is during the regular season, his unique combination of generational basketball intellect and craftiness will be more effective in the playoffs.
The "Playoff Rondo" narrative only grew in subsequent days, as he suffered a season-ending thumb injury before Game 3 and the Bulls' fortunes immediately unraveled. They lost the next four games in a row, as they were unable to replace Rondo's contributions with an assortment of less-talented backups.
One year later, Rondo is starting on a sixth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans team that has taken a 2-0 series lead on the road against the No. 3 seed Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference quarterfinals.
Randy L. Rasmussen/Associated Press
Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday were the stars of the Pelicans' first two wins against the Blazers, but Rondo was also integral. He racked up 17 assists in Game 1—the same number as Portland had as a team—and came just one assist shy of a triple-double in Game 2, with 16 points, 10 rebounds and nine dimes.
And so continues the legend of Playoff Rondo, one of the strangest trends in the NBA.
Ask anybody who's coached or played with Rondo in his 12-year career, and they'll all tell you the same thing: He's one of the smartest ever to play the game. He has a singular obsession with studying film, and he sees the game several plays ahead of everybody else on the floor.
His abrasiveness can rub teammates and coaches the wrong way—just ask Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle—and pundits often accuse him of hunting assists to pad his gaudy averages. But his younger teammates in Chicago swore by him as a teammate and mentor, and his experience and demeanor have been a calming force for a Pelicans team making an unlikely playoff push after losing All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to a season-ending Achilles injury in January.
"He's one of the smartest guys I've ever been around," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said last week. "I've had the opportunity to coach Steph [Curry] and Chris Paul and Steve Nash and Grant Hill. So you're talking about extremely smart players, and he's right there with those guys. He has a way of giving confidence to the other guys. He makes them believe in themselves, even if they're struggling. He has a tendency to go to a guy and try to pick him up. Those are the kinds of things that, as coaches, you really can't do and only a guy like that can. I know it's like an old cliche, but having a guy like that is like having an extra assistant coach."
Pelicans forward Nikola Mirotic saw Playoff Rondo firsthand last season in Chicago. He knows Rondo's approach changes on this stage, making him uniquely equipped to lead a team in the postseason.
"It's true," Mirotic said. "I had that experience with him last year when we played in Boston. It's just completely different the way he approaches the game. You can see him now, talking to the guys and locking in."
Cameron Browne/Getty Images
For Rondo, it comes down to his obsessive preparation. In the playoffs, there are no back-to-backs, and players have to scout only one team's film. While every player watches film, not all of them have Rondo's innate, savant-like understanding of an opponent's every nuance. It's a reputation he shares with few others in recent NBA history, the likes of Nash and LeBron James.
"To me, it's like having answers to the test," Rondo said. "You study these guys and you learn tendencies. Even though basketball is off of reaction and skills, guys for the most part tend to do things over and over again, and you watch those tendencies and learn from that."
Rondo's approach hasn't worked at every NBA stop of his career, or with every coach he's played under. His relationship with Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was rocky at times, but their collective competitiveness won out and led to an extended run in Boston with the Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen-Paul Pierce core.
He clashed with Carlisle during his half-season in Dallas in 2014-15, as his desire to call plays and control the offense were at odds with the coach's hands-on approach. Things got so bad by the end that he was ultimately exiled from the Mavericks during the playoffs, with his teammates voting not to give him a share of the playoff bonus pool, according to ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon.
Rondo's single season in Chicago was the most bizarre of his career. The "Three Alphas" pairing with Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade was an awkward on-court fit, and Rondo's reaction to his December benching led many to believe he would seek a buyout. He ultimately returned to Chicago's rotation, however, and he eventually rejoined its starting lineup.
By the playoffs, Rondo had become so crucial to the Bulls' success that they folded once he got hurt. According to many in the organization, Chicago likely would have re-signed him this past summer had it not decided to trade Butler and undergo a full-blown rebuild.
Gentry has largely taken the same successful approach to managing Rondo as Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg did last season. He'll offer his input on play calls, but he's fully aware that in most cases, Rondo knows best.
"He takes every practice and every game and puts it on his computer and watches it," Gentry said. "He wants to know the first play we run. That's just the kind of guy that he is. If you want to have him on your team, you have to believe in him enough to understand that he's going to put guys in the right position. When you're out on the floor, sometimes you have a better feel than the coach. My philosophy has always been, if I call a play and he calls a different play, his play will always succeed."
Rondo appreciates the leeway that Gentry has given him. Combined with the added time to prepare for the Blazers without any distractions, it's led to yet another chapter in this beguiling tale.
Rondo doesn't like to acknowledge the "Playoff Rondo" narrative, but given the results, it's tough for even him to deny.
"Knowing guys' tendencies has been a habit of mine," Rondo said. "'Playoff Rondo' is pretty much about the team allowing me to be me and trusting me. It's not just something that happens overnight. It's a matter of trust."
The series shifts to New Orleans on Thursday, where the Pelicans will have the chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Blazers. The collective dominance of Davis and Holiday in the first two games have led them to that point, as well as the struggles of Blazers guard Damian Lillard.
But Playoff Rondo is the engine, the undefinable ingredient that continues to get results against all odds.
"He's up all night watching film," Davis said. "He's calling their plays out before they even have a chance to run it. He's just in a different mode." |
This invention relates generally to the field of dentistry. More specifically, the present invention relates to a posterior tooth shade guide and a method of selecting characterization for a tooth prosthesis.
Accurate communication between dentists and laboratories that manufacture tooth prostheses has been a subject of continuous concern as technology progresses. When instructing the laboratory to construct a tooth prosthesis, it is desirable to manufacture the prosthesis in such a manner that it is virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding natural teeth.
Many manufacturers of tooth prostheses provide performes samples of multi-color, multi-layer fabricated teeth as references for color. The dentist may communicate to the lab regarding the desired color of the tooth prosthesis utilizing a shade guide having a number of these fabricated teeth for reference. In this regard, the dentist typically holds a sample tooth against the mouth in an attempt to find the closest sample to the natural tooth.
Such dental shade guides typically include a number of anterior tooth-shaped and detailed samples that neither resembled posterior teeth nor have the descriptive details of posterior teeth. These anterior tooth samples are used by the dentists for both anterior and posterior tooth color matching.
The prior shade guides are inadequate for purposes of describing the unique characterizations that posterior teeth have and which are not usually found with anterior teeth. In particular, to manufacture a tooth prosthesis for a posterior tooth, characteristics such as the brown stain, the white stain, and the color of the incisal should be taken into account.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a posterior tooth shade guide and method of selecting characterization for a tooth prosthesis which can simply, yet effectively, facilitate accurate communication of the desired characteristics of a tooth prosthesis from the dentist to the laboratory. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages. |
Introduction {#s1}
============
The acceptability of HIV testing has increased dramatically in the last few years in countries with generalized HIV epidemics, as evidenced by increasingly low refusal rates when adults are directly offered convenient HIV testing either in health facilities [@pmed.1001102-Odhiambo1],[@pmed.1001102-Topp1] or through home-based HIV testing [@pmed.1001102-Lugada1]--. In Southern Africa, where adult HIV prevalence is far higher than in any other region [@pmed.1001102-World1], only a small minority of adults who do not already know their HIV status have no intent to test in future [@pmed.1001102-World1],[@pmed.1001102-Angotti1]. However, use of facility-based and free-standing voluntary HIV testing and counseling services has remained well below levels of expressed interest and intent, particularly for men, rural populations, and the very poor [@pmed.1001102-Helleringer1],[@pmed.1001102-World1]--[@pmed.1001102-Makwiza1]. The inconvenience and cost involved in visiting fixed-site services, as well as a general aversion to visiting health facilities, appear to be major deterrents [@pmed.1001102-Negin1]--[@pmed.1001102-Helleringer1],[@pmed.1001102-World1]--[@pmed.1001102-Obermeyer1].
Home-based HIV-testing services bypass these barriers, have much greater acceptability at population level [@pmed.1001102-Negin1],[@pmed.1001102-Obare1],[@pmed.1001102-Angotti1],[@pmed.1001102-Obermeyer1], and are being adopted as national policy in a number of countries [@pmed.1001102-Ganguli1],[@pmed.1001102-World1],[@pmed.1001102-Kenya1]. Unfortunately, a common finding is that many people do not want to be counseled and tested by someone they know personally, or even access services being used by people they know [@pmed.1001102-Obare1],[@pmed.1001102-Ganguli1],[@pmed.1001102-Obermeyer1]. This situation creates a strong tension between confidentiality and convenience, and adds considerably to the cost and logistical difficulty of providing home-based services [@pmed.1001102-Negin1],[@pmed.1001102-Obare1],[@pmed.1001102-Ganguli1],[@pmed.1001102-Obermeyer1],[@pmed.1001102-Bwambale1].
Self-testing in private has considerable unexplored potential to contribute to first-time and repeat testing for HIV, and could potentially meet the requirement for anonymity at the time of home-testing [@pmed.1001102-Ganguli1],[@pmed.1001102-Spielberg1],[@pmed.1001102-Spielberg2],[@pmed.1001102-Wright1]. Self-testing, however, raises a number of issues, relating to its accuracy, the potential for adverse psychological reactions in the absence of face-to-face counseling [@pmed.1001102-Wright1], and the difficulty in organizing subsequent linkage into HIV/AIDS care [@pmed.1001102-Spielberg2]--[@pmed.1001102-Branson1]. Reassuring results have been obtained from the US, where home collection of specimens followed by telephoned results and counseling has been available for over a decade [@pmed.1001102-Wright1]: postmarketing surveillance has not identified any increased risk of suicide, and subsequent linkage into care appears similar to that obtained with other testing options [@pmed.1001102-Campbell1].
Given the need to further scale up HIV testing and counseling in Africa [@pmed.1001102-World1] and encourage regular repeat testing [@pmed.1001102-World1], we carried out a mixed quantitative and qualitative study of self-testing for HIV using oral test kits in urban Blantyre, Malawi, with confirmatory blood-based HIV testing and post-test counseling. To the best of our knowledge, this constitutes the first study of the use of oral self-testing among the general population of a country affected by a generalized epidemic. The main aim was to test whether supervised oral self-testing could yield accurate results. We also explored reasons for accepting self-testing and respondents\' preferences for HIV testing.
Methods {#s2}
=======
Community and Participant Selection {#s2a}
-----------------------------------
Population-weighted random cluster sampling, using community-health worker catchment areas as the primary sampling unit, was used to select four community-health worker catchment areas from Ndirande, Likhubula, and Chilomoni high-density residential suburbs of Blantyre, Malawi. Boundaries were defined by capturing Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates on a circumferential walk. These coordinates were superimposed onto high resolution satellite maps (March 2010 images: Geo Eye-1/Eurimage SpA) using Google Earth Pro software. Between March and July 2010, two groups of participants were randomly selected from within these catchment areas for interview and offer of HIV counseling and testing.
Adults in Randomly Selected Households {#s2b}
--------------------------------------
Identity numbers were assigned to all visible dwellings, followed by random selection of 15 dwellings from each selected catchment area. A random list of five further dwellings was available to replace any abandoned or nonresidential buildings. Dwellings were visited to introduce the study, identify all individual households (defined by sharing food), and allow a final random selection of a single household from each dwelling. All adults (≥16 y) were then invited to participate in interview and optional HIV testing and counseling ([Figure 1](#pmed-1001102-g001){ref-type="fig"}) carried out in the participant\'s home.
{#pmed-1001102-g001}
Purposive sampling was then used to select participants for in-depth interviews held within a few days of self-testing, aiming to include up to 36 participants to represent single men, single women, and couples, and to explore choice between the different HIV test options (see below). Interview guides aimed to situate individual experiences of self-testing within broader lifestyle narratives including decision-making, testing preferences and practices, health seeking experiences, and individual level barriers and facilitators.
Community Peer-Group Members {#s2c}
----------------------------
To facilitate informative focus group discussions, peer groups, such as sports teams, micro-finance, and church groups, that were active in the four selected catchment areas were identified through situational analysis and community mapping exercises. Eligibility was restricted to groups without a health or HIV theme. Six groups were randomly selected for inclusion, followed by random selection of 12 individuals from each group for a 2-h focus group discussion held at a local community venue. These discussions explored community views on barriers and facilitators to self-testing including use amongst couples, the role of supervision and counseling, preferences for different voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) options, and a demonstration and discussion of the self-testing process. All participants were then offered HIV testing and counseling on an individual basis (see [Figure 1](#pmed-1001102-g001){ref-type="fig"}).
Optional HIV Testing and Counseling {#s2d}
-----------------------------------
Consenting adults selected as above were asked to consent to a questionnaire capturing demographic and socioeconomic data, previous HIV test history, and test preferences (with a stigma module also administered to adults from randomly selected households), before being offered the choice between: self-test for HIV followed by standard VCT; standard VCT only; and no HIV testing or counseling.
Participants were asked to consider HIV testing even if they knew themselves to be HIV positive, to allow general population HIV prevalence to be estimated and to maximize power to investigate specificity.
Participants opting to self-test had pretest counseling and a brief demonstration of an oral test kit. They then collected their own specimen without intervention, developed and read the results, guided by illustrated instructions. A brief anonymous self-administered questionnaire captured participant recruitment group, 10-y age band, results, ease, credibility, self-identified errors, and self-test results. This questionnaire was read to illiterate participants. Participants could request additional help if needed. After self-testing, a counselor reread the self-test kit, completed a checklist of potential errors, and confirmed the result using two rapid HIV test kits run in parallel from a finger-prick blood specimen. After post-test counseling and (where indicated) written referral into HIV care services, an exit interview was conducted by a research assistant unaware of the participant\'s HIV result. The exit questionnaire included a section filled by the counselor on self-test accuracy, and errors made, but not the test result.
Ethical Considerations {#s2e}
----------------------
All participants provided written (or witnessed if illiterate) informed consent. Pre- and post-test counseling was provided to all participants. All participants testing positive were referred to the nearest primary health center for HIV care. Approval was obtained from the ethics committees of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) and College of Medicine Research Ethics Committee, Blantyre, Malawi.
Laboratory Methods {#s2f}
------------------
Self-testing used OraQuick ADVANCE HIV I/II (OraSure Technologies) run from an oral mucosal transudate specimen. Confirmatory testing used Determine (Abbott Laboratories) and Unigold (Trinity Biotech plc), with a third test (SD Bioline HIV I/II Standard Diagnostics, Inc.), together with repeat of all three previously used kits, used in the event of any discordance. Test kits were stored in a temperature-controlled laboratory in compliance with recommended storage between 2 to 27°C, before use at ambient temperatures that were within the manufacturers recommendations (15--37°C) at the time of the study.
Sample Size {#s2g}
-----------
Sample sizes were based around sufficient precision to exclude accuracy of self-testing worse than 95% if our measured estimate was 98%. Our sampling strategy aimed to provide 200 to 250 participants accepting self-testing, on the basis of three adults per household and an 80% or higher uptake of self-testing in community participants.
Statistical Methods {#s2h}
-------------------
Quantitative data were entered and managed using Epi info version 3.4.3 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, US). Analysis used Stata version 10.0 (Stata Corporation).
Questionnaires used mainly close-ended questions with predefined categorical coding, on the basis of previously published and author-supplied questionnaires as far as possible [@pmed.1001102-UNAIDS1]--[@pmed.1001102-Wolfe1]. Demographic variables were recoded into categorical variables on the basis of frequency of responses before substantive data analysis. Where possible, variables with similar themes were combined. Occupation was classified into six categories, using the nature of the job and security of contract. Twelve questions related to stigma were combined into an ordered categorical scale, having first shown acceptable internal consistency using Cronbach\'s alpha [@pmed.1001102-Terwee1].
95% confidence intervals for the proportion of self-tests accurately read, and for sensitivity and specificity of the tests were calculated using the Agresti-Coull approach [@pmed.1001102-Agresti1]. Participants with no confirmatory results were excluded; inconclusive results were treated as inaccurate for sensitivity and specificity analyses. The clustered sampling design was taken into account using the complex survey commands in Stata, which use linearization to estimate standard errors. Categorical baseline characteristics were compared between the two selection groups, and between males and females, using design-based *F*-tests calculated from applying the second order Rao and Scott correction [@pmed.1001102-Rao1],[@pmed.1001102-Rao2] to the usual Pearson chi-squared test statistic for two-way tables. Continuous baseline characteristics were compared between selection groups using logistic regression, adjusted for clustering.
Risk factors were explored for the main outcomes of interest (uptake, accuracy, acceptability, and reported ease of self-testing) using the *F*-test described above for categorical variables and logistic regression, adjusted for clustering, for continuous or ordered categorical variables. Logistic regression, adjusted for clustering was used for multivariate analysis, including variables identified as having a priori association with outcomes of interest, as well as other variables with univariate association at *p*≤0.1. Thereafter a stepwise approach was taken, removing variables with *p*\>0.1 from the multivariate model.
Qualitative data were recorded, transcribed, translated, quality checked, imported to NVIVO software for qualitative data analysis version 8.0 (QSR), and coded thematically using a framework developed deductively from the study objectives and reordered inductively from a grounded approach to theme identification. Analysis used a constant comparative approach, identifying patterns in the data, situating these and testing developing hypotheses on all cases, reexamining data contradictions within broader social contexts.
Results {#s3}
=======
Participants {#s3a}
------------
283 (95.6%) of 298 selected individuals consented to interview, including 216 of 226 (95.6%) adults from the 60 randomly selected households, and 67 of 72 (93.1%) community peer-group members (see flow diagram, [Figure 1](#pmed-1001102-g001){ref-type="fig"}).
Baseline characteristics by selection group are shown in [Table 1](#pmed-1001102-t001){ref-type="table"}. 147 (51.9%) of participants were women, with median age of 27 y. Only 30 (10.6%) participants were in regular employment, and regular or recent food shortage in the household was reported by 39 (58.2%) peer-group members and 55 (25.5%) adults from randomly selected households (design-based *F*(1,3) = 15.65, *p* = 0.029). Peer-group members were significantly more likely to report worrying a lot about HIV (27; 41.5%) than adults from randomly selected households (42; 19.4%, design-based *F*(1,3) = 85.69, *p* = 0.003). Otherwise baseline characteristics were similar between selection groups.
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001102.t001
###### Participant characteristics by selection group.
{#pmed-1001102-t001-1}
Characteristic Peer-Group Member (*n* = 67) Household Member(*n* = 216) *p*-Value
-------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ----------------------------- ------------------------------------------
**Gender**
Male 30 (44.8%) 106 (50.9%) 0.532[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
Female 37 (55.2%) 110 (49.1%) ---
**Age**
Median (IQR) 27 (23--32) 26.5 (22--32) 0.302[\*\*](#nt102){ref-type="table-fn"}
**Occupation**
Regular employment 8 (11.9%) 22 (10.2%) 0.726[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
**Marital status**
Single 20 (29.9%) 66 (30.6%) 0.977[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
Married 40 (59.7%) 128 (59.2%) ---
Divorced/widowed 7 (10.4%) 22 (10.2%) ---
**Stigma score**
Low ND 94 (44.1%) ND
Low-medium ND 52 (24.4%) ---
Medium-high ND 46 (21.6%) ---
High ND 21 (9.9%) ---
**Literacy**
Unable to read 4 (6.0%) 19 (8.8%) 0.611[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
**Education**
Part primary/None 5 (7.5%) 17 (7.9%) 0.176[\*\*](#nt102){ref-type="table-fn"}
Primary or lower 20 (29.9%) 72 (33.3%) ---
Higher 42 (62.7%) 127 (58.8%) ---
**Goes hungry**
Sometimes 27 (40.9%) 52 (24.1%) 0.029[\*\*](#nt102){ref-type="table-fn"}
Often/always 12 (18.2%) 3 (1.4%) ---
**Previous HIV test**
Ever tested before 38 (56.7%) 137 (63.4%) 0.372[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
**HIV test within last year**
Yes 16 (23.9%) 48 (22.2%) 0.652[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
**HIV Risk: own perception now or future**
Medium 16 (24.6%) 35 (16.2%) 0.570[\*\*](#nt102){ref-type="table-fn"}
High 19 (29.2%) 79 (36.6%) ---
**Worries a lot about HIV**
Yes 27 (41.5%) 42 (19.4%) 0.003[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
**Knows AIDS death personally**
Yes 50 (74.6%) 171 (79.2%) 0.657[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
**Testing choice**
Self-test + VCT 62 (92.5%) 198 (91.7%) 0.842[\*](#nt101){ref-type="table-fn"}
No test 5 (7.5%) 18 (8.3%) ---
\**p*-Value from *F*-test (categorical variables).
\*\**p*-Value from logistic regression (ordered categorical/continuous variables) adjusted for clustered design.
ND, not determined.
Approximately two-thirds of the women (118, 67.4%), but only one-third (55, 32.6%) of the men had previously tested for HIV (design-based *F*(1,3) = 56.20, *p* = 0.005). Recent HIV testing (within the last year) was reported by 47 (32.0%) women and 17 (12.5%) men (design-based *F*(1,3) = 18.01, *p* = 0.024).
Uptake of Offer of Self-Testing and HIV Prevalence {#s3b}
--------------------------------------------------
Choices made between the three testing options (no test, VCT only, self-test plus VCT) are shown in [Table 1](#pmed-1001102-t001){ref-type="table"}. All 260 (91.9%) participants who consented to VCT also opted to self-test, with the remaining 23 (8.1%) choosing not to self-test. Differences between those accepting and declining self-testing were minor, with significant differences being limited to a higher proportion of those who reported to be worried a lot about having HIV (design-based *F*(1,3) = 14.44, *p* = 0.016).
Two participants with missing confirmatory results (one opt out, one incomplete form) were not included in accuracy analyses. HIV prevalence was 18.5% (48 of 260), with positive results in 37 (18.8%) of 197 randomly selected community adults, and 11 (17.5%) of 63 community peer-group members. HIV prevalence among participants who had previously tested HIV-negative or not tested at all was 12.0% (29 of 241 participants).
Accuracy of Self-read Self-testing Compared to Confirmatory Blood Testing {#s3c}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Self-testing was highly accurate, with clear and concordant results for 256 (99.2%; 95% CI 97.0--100.0%) of 258 participants with both self-test and blood results ([Table 2](#pmed-1001102-t002){ref-type="table"}). One HIV-positive participant was unable to interpret a faint positive test (recording the result as "uncertain"), and one HIV positive participant had no discernible line within the recommended test period. In both cases a repeat test performed by the counselor gave the same findings.
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001102.t002
###### Cross tabulation of OraQuick and confirmatory blood test results in all participants and participants not already known to be HIV positive.
{#pmed-1001102-t002-2}
OraQuick Self-test Positive Negative Inconclusive Unconfirmed Total
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- ---------- -------------- ------------- -------
***All participants***
Positive 46 0 0 0 46
Negative 1 210 0 2 213
Inconclusive 1 0 0 0 1
Total 48 210 0 2 260
***Excluding HIV-positive participants who have tested positive before***
Positive 27 0 0 0 27
Negative 1 210 0 2 213
Inconclusive 1 0 0 0 1
Total 29 210 0 2 241
Participants with no confirmatory results are not included in sensitivity and specificity analyses. Inconclusive results are considered to be inaccurate (false) results in sensitivity and specificity analyses.
Overall sensitivity for self-test self-read was 97.9% (95% CI 87.9%--100.0%) with specificity of 100% (95% CI 97.8%--100%), respectively ([Table 2](#pmed-1001102-t002){ref-type="table"}). Results according to previous test results (positive, negative, or no previous test) are summarized in [Figure 2](#pmed-1001102-g002){ref-type="fig"}. [Table 2](#pmed-1001102-t002){ref-type="table"} shows the cross-tabulation of self-test and confirmatory results in 241 participants not previously known to be HIV positive. In this subgroup sensitivity was 96.4% (81.7%--99.9%) with specificity 100% (98.3%--100.0%).
{#pmed-1001102-g002}
Reported Ease of Self-testing, Need for Help and Errors {#s3d}
-------------------------------------------------------
At exit interview, 256 (98.5%) of participants rated self-testing as "very easy" to do. The visual and verbal demonstration of kit use was considered as useful as the illustrated instructions provided by the counselor when carrying out self-testing (250/260, 96.2% and 252/260, 96.9% respectively).
Additional help beyond a brief demonstration and illustrated instructions was requested by 26 (10.0%) of self-test participants ([Table 3](#pmed-1001102-t003){ref-type="table"}), most commonly to clarify taking the mouth swab. Illiterate individuals (6/22, 27.3% compared to 15/236 literate, 6.4%; design-adjusted *F*(1,3) = 7.51, *p* = 0.071), those with lower levels of schooling (design-based *F*(1,3) = 7.93, *p* = 0.067) and women (15/134, 11.2% compared to 6/124, 4.8% men, design-adjusted *F*(1,3) = 12.14, *p* = 0.040) requested significantly more assistance. The nature of help requested is summarized in [Table 3](#pmed-1001102-t003){ref-type="table"}.
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001102.t003
###### Help required and errors made by participants when self-testing.
{#pmed-1001102-t003-3}
Category *n* Percent
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- ----------
**Needed help**
Asked counselor to watch and confirm correct approach to taking mouth swab 8 3.1
Asked for clarification after making a minor error 6 2.3
Asked for help opening developer fluid vial 4 1.5
Unable to use timer 2 0.8
Unable to take own mouth swab (asked counselor to do for them) 2 0.8
Unable to read result (asked counselor to read with them) 2 0.8
Wanted counselor present during collection 2 0.8
***Total*** **26** **10.0**
**Errors made**
Incorrect or incomplete swab of upper and lower gums 4 1.5
Touched flat pad 15 5.8
Spilt developer fluid 2 0.8
Fumbled vial or cap when opening developer fluid 1 0.4
Removed kit from developer too early 3 1.2
Read incorrectly (faint positive read as negative) 1 0.4
***Total*** **26** **10.0**
Required second kit because of inconclusive result 2 0.8
Procedural errors were identified for 26 participants (10.0%, [Table 3](#pmed-1001102-t003){ref-type="table"}). The most serious errors, with highest potential to affect the results were: removing kit from developer too early (three participants, 1.2%) and spilling the developer fluid (two participants, 0.8%). Two participants (0.8%) required a second kit because of inability to read a very faint test line on a self-test result.
Acceptability of Self-testing in the General Community {#s3e}
------------------------------------------------------
Acceptability was assessed both before and after self-testing, with results summarized for adults from randomly selected households in [Table 4](#pmed-1001102-t004){ref-type="table"}. As detailed in the [Methods](#s2){ref-type="sec"}, self-testing options were ranked second to door-to-door standard VCT by an external provider as being most likely to successfully increase HIV testing in the community ([Table 4](#pmed-1001102-t004){ref-type="table"}). Local provision of standard VCT by a neighbor was unacceptable to most women 71 (64.6%) and a substantial minority of men 41 (38.7%, design-based *F*(1,3) = 13.13, *p* = 0.036), whereas local distribution of self-test kits by a neighbor without having to disclose results was acceptable to 205 (94.5%) of participants with no differences between males and females (design-based *F*(1,3) = 0.03, *p* = 0.878).
10.1371/journal.pmed.1001102.t004
###### Preferences and acceptability of HIV testing and counseling options.
{#pmed-1001102-t004-4}
Adults from Randomly Selected Households in Blantyre *n* = 110 Women (%) *n* = 106 Men (%) *p*-Value[\*](#nt106){ref-type="table-fn"} (Gender)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- ------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
**Before self-testing**
*Willingness to test if HIV services were provided by a neighbor?* --- --- 0.036
Willing to self-test (do not have to reveal result) 66 (60.0) 38 (35.9) ---
Willing to accept both self-testing and standard VCT 38 (34.6) 63 (59.4) ---
Not willing to accept either self-testing or standard VCT 6 (5.5) 5 (4.7) ---
*Strategy most likely to be successful in increasing testing in the community*
Door-to-door testing by counselor from outside community 59 (53.6) 50 (47.2) 0.737
Door-to-door testing with local person as counselor 11 (10.0) 15 (14.2) ---
Mobile clinics providing VCT 12 (11.0) 10 (9.4) ---
Free self-test kits available from local vendors and stores 14 (12.7) 6 (5.6) ---
Door-to-door self-testing provided by local person 14 (12.7) 25 (23.6) ---
Either of above self-testing option as most/next-most successful 68 (61.8) 76 (71.7) ---
*Agree strongly/somewhat "these days if people have tested before"*
No need for counseling 12 (10.9) 10 (9.4) 0.378
Telephone hotline sufficient 32 (29.1) 28 (26.4) 0.282
Information leaflet 42 (38.2) 33 (31.1) 0.323
Community worker available 54 (49.1) 53 (50.0) 0.67
**At exit interview**
Would recommend this kit for self-testing to friends and family[a](#nt105){ref-type="table-fn"} 100 (100) 97 (100) ND
If testing for HIV in future would want next HIV test to be --- --- 0.078
In a VCT centre 3 (2.7) 12 (11.4) ---
At a hospital or clinic 25 (22.7) 13 (12.4) ---
Provided by a counselor at home (door-to-door service) 16 (14.6) 11 (10.5) ---
Self-testing at home 64 (58.2) 68 (64.8) ---
Testing campaign in community (mobile clinic/stand) 2 (1.8) 1 (1.0) ---
Question only asked to those who accepted self-testing (100 women and 97 men).
\**F*-test adjusted for the clustered design.
ND, not determined.
After self-testing, all participants would recommend self-testing to friends and family. Self-testing at home was the preferred option for future HIV tests among both men and women ([Table 4](#pmed-1001102-t004){ref-type="table"}) and did not significantly vary by age, marital status, schooling, or socioeconomic status (unpublished data).
Counseling {#s3f}
----------
Despite the popularity of the concept of self-testing, all but a small minority of individuals (22/216, 10.2%) disagreed that people "these days know enough about HIV to do without counseling for a repeat HIV test." Alternatives to face-to-face counseling for repeat testers, such as telephone helpline, information leaflets, or availability of a local community health worker were also not considered acceptable substitutes by most participants ([Table 4](#pmed-1001102-t004){ref-type="table"}).
Discussion {#s4}
==========
The main findings of this study of self-testing for HIV are that high levels of accuracy (99.2%) were obtained from oral self-testing after a brief demonstration and illustrated instructions, and that there were strong indicators of community readiness to adopt self-testing alongside other HIV counseling and testing strategies in an African urban high HIV prevalence setting. Self-testing was the preferred option for future HIV tests for 56.4% of participants, being the most common choice for both men and women. There was no obvious subgroup for whom self-testing was not acceptable. These findings are strengthened by our having used random selection of participants from the main high-density residential areas in urban Blantyre, and by the 95.6% participation rate. High-density areas are particularly interesting for self-testing because of the difficulty in securing confidential space for HTC due to lack of soundproofing and intense crowding. The high accuracy contrasts with much lower levels obtained from blood-based self-testing with a less simplified test kit in Singapore [@pmed.1001102-Lee1], but is in the same range as reported for oral self-testing in Americans attending public hospital services [@pmed.1001102-Gaydos1],[@pmed.1001102-Gaydos2].
Also remarkable is that 91.9% of individuals who agreed to be interviewed opted to test for HIV, all choosing self-test plus VCT. This finding concurs with results from other recently conducted community-based studies [@pmed.1001102-Negin1],[@pmed.1001102-Helleringer1] and indicates that knowledge of HIV status has now become sufficiently desirable in many parts of rural and urban Africa to make universal knowledge of recent HIV status by all adults a realistic goal. Given the accuracy achieved and strong preferences around future testing, we consider our results to be sufficiently promising to warrant further exploration of self-testing options as a potential way to make progress towards meeting Universal Access goals [@pmed.1001102-World1].
The need for innovation around community-based testing is underscored by the identification of previously undiagnosed HIV in 29 (12.0%) of our participants in this current study. Despite the highly effective public health approach to HIV testing and care taken in Malawi, which is among the most successful programmers in Africa and considered a model for the continent [@pmed.1001102-World3],[@pmed.1001102-UNGASS1], less than half of HIV-infected participants were previously diagnosed, and just over half of undiagnosed HIV infections were in individuals who had previously tested HIV negative. Self-testing may prove especially valuable for encouraging regular repeat-testing, couple testing, and first-time testing in otherwise hard-to-reach groups such as men and older individuals [@pmed.1001102-Obare1],[@pmed.1001102-World1],[@pmed.1001102-Bwambale1],[@pmed.1001102-Spielberg2].
Other investigators have shown high acceptability, uptake, and high accuracy of oral self-testing in American populations [@pmed.1001102-Gaydos1],[@pmed.1001102-Gaydos2], and home-collection of specimens for laboratory HIV testing and telephone results and counseling is well established in America and also available in Europe [@pmed.1001102-Spielberg2],[@pmed.1001102-Wright1],[@pmed.1001102-Branson1]. Kenya was the first country in Africa to develop policy guidelines for self-testing, although no kit has yet been fully registered [@pmed.1001102-Kenya1]. The manufacturers of the kit used in this study have applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for registration as an over-the-counter test, and it is likely that self-testing options will become available in many different countries over the next few years.
The high uptake and high proportion of participants selecting self-testing at home as the preferred "next test" option in this current study suggest that carefully considered promotion of self-testing has potential to contribute greatly to scale-up of HIV testing in Africa. For example HIV prevention through "universal test-and-treat" [@pmed.1001102-Spielberg3]--[@pmed.1001102-Wolfe1],[@pmed.1001102-Granich1],[@pmed.1001102-DeCock1] strategies are being considered with the goal of reducing HIV transmission by prompt identification and initiation of antiretroviral treatment in HIV-infected individuals irrespective of extent of immunosuppression. To be effective such strategies require a high proportion of HIV-infected individuals in communities to be diagnosed and started on treatment within 12 mo of infection, calling for highly acceptable and convenient initial and repeat HIV testing strategies.
The high uptake of home-based testing for HIV and much higher rates of couple testing than alternative strategies, make it the ideal community arm to complement facility-based routine provider-initiated testing in countries with generalized HIV epidemic [@pmed.1001102-Lugada1]--[@pmed.1001102-Ganguli1]. However, sustainability is a key issue, which is compounded by the requirement for counselors who come from outside the community [@pmed.1001102-Negin1],. Home-based self-testing provides privacy from neighbors and may allow development of novel local community strategies: although most of our participants were not willing to accept VCT from a neighbor, 94.9% indicated willingness to accept a self-test kit from a neighbor if they did not have to confide the results. Support is still needed at the time of a positive test, with most participants in the current study considering telephone hot line or information leaflets to be inadequate replacements for face-to-face counseling. Operational research will be needed to investigate whether or not linkage into HIV care is any worse after self-testing than it is for current facility-based HIV testing and counseling services in Africa (estimated linkage into care of less than 50% within 1 y), and ways of providing psychological support following a positive self-test. Examples of potential models include 24-h telephone hotlines, or community workers trained in pretest counseling, distribution of kits, and available for face-to-face post-test counseling. The private nature of self-testing, low potential for inadvertent breach of confidentiality, and ease of incorporating self-testing into busy daily lives, particularly for couple testing, should ideally be retained.
Limitations of the study include the lack of data on linkage into care following a positive HIV test. This area needs to be investigated in any program implementing self-testing, as risk of drop-out between testing HIV positive and entering HIV care is known to be high even under standard VCT models [@pmed.1001102-Rosen1]. Linkage into care was not investigated in this study because self-testing was offered in a supervised context, as a first step, so that HIV counselors were able to immediately refer participants into care. Our data on acceptability and accuracy include 19 (7.3% of 260) participants who already know themselves to be HIV-positive and so may have been more willing to test and able to read positive test results accurately. Regulatory strengthening may be required to prevent sales of counterfeit and substandard test kits (as for example has been described in TB diagnostics) [@pmed.1001102-Steingart1]. The need to avoid storage over 27°C may be a practical barrier to scale up in hotter climates, although this same recommendation applies to most rapid HIV test kits currently in programmatic use.
In conclusion, we have shown high willingness to self-test for HIV at home when self-testing was linked to confirmatory blood tests, with self-testing the preferred option for future tests. Highly accurate results were obtained by randomly selected African adults in a poor urban setting following a brief demonstration and illustrated instructions. Africans have been living with the spectra of HIV for two decades, bringing personal loss, hardship, and a more uncertain future to almost everyone in the high HIV prevalence Southern region [@pmed.1001102-World1],[@pmed.1001102-Angotti1],[@pmed.1001102-Obermeyer1]. With the scale up of HIV care, home-based testing and counseling has become a welcome intervention with very high uptake rates [@pmed.1001102-Negin1]--[@pmed.1001102-Ganguli1],[@pmed.1001102-Angotti1]. In settings where regular annual visits to every home by external VCT providers are not feasible, options based on self-testing may offer a more readily sustainable approach that can contribute towards Universal Access goals, provided that mechanisms can be identified to ensure that safety, accuracy, and post-test support are not unduly compromised.
We thank Frieda Spielberg for providing some data tools, all participants, and our whole team.
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust, and sponsored by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and hosted by the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust, Blantyre - Malawi. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
HTC
: HIV testing and counseling
VCT
: voluntary counseling and testing
[^1]: Conceived and designed the experiments: ATC ND ELW KC SNM CAG SDM TC SBS NF VM ELC. Performed the experiments: ELC ND ATC KC. Analyzed the data: ELC ND ATC ELW KC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ELC ND ATC ELW CAG. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: ELC ATC. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: ATC ND ELW KC SNM CAG SDM TC SBS NF VM ELC. ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: ATC ND ELW KC SNM CAG SDM TC SBS NF VM ELC. Agree with manuscript results and conclusions: ATC ND ELW KC SNM CAG SDM TC SBS NF VM ELC.
|
uuid: 6623d2bb-f443-409b-9cda-5872b91d1116
langcode: en
status: true
dependencies:
config:
- field.storage.paragraph.field_video_caption
- paragraphs.paragraphs_type.overview
module:
- text
id: paragraph.overview.field_video_caption
field_name: field_video_caption
entity_type: paragraph
bundle: overview
label: 'Video Caption'
description: 'Optional caption to display beneath the video'
required: false
translatable: false
default_value: { }
default_value_callback: ''
settings: { }
field_type: text_long
|
Cesar Millán isn’t a household name yet, but as dog trainer to Hollywood celebs and star of a TV show, it won’t be long before Millán becomes the next Dr. Phil — for pooches, of course.
Millán, who hosts the National Geographic Channel’s program “The Dog Whisperer,” will come to El Paso on Aug. 21.
“He’s amazing, really; he definitely has a gift,” said Loretta Hyde, Animal Rescue League shelter manager. “He never raises his voice; he never hits the animals. He doesn’t just train dogs, like in obedience school; he rehabilitates them.”
The nonprofit league, which operates a no-kill shelter for dogs and cats in Canutillo, is sponsoring Millán’s seminar on dog behavior.“He’s a hot item in California, and his popularity is really growing,” Hyde said.
He’s being propelled to fame because so many of Hollywood’s elite swear by his techniques.
Millán’s celebrity clients include Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Vin Diesel, Nicolas Cage, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay and Hilary Duff.Millán, a native of Sinaloa, Mexico, who now lives in Inglewood, Calif., owns the Dog Psychology Center of Los Angeles. He is nicknamed The Dog Whisperer for the successful, yet calm, skills he exhibits when training troubled canines.
“What I do is fulfill the dog’s need,” Millán said in a telephone interview from California. “If we just learn to fulfill their needs before we fulfill our needs, they will never develop instability.”
Millán isn’t talking about spoiling a dog, either.
In fact, he said, many of the behavioral problems dogs develop are a result of people misunderstanding that a dog is, by nature, a pack animal. Instead, many dog owners — particularly in American cities — tend to view a dog as a little person and to deal with it as a person and not as a pack animal that is primarily ruled by instinct.Millán said dogs develop “problems” only when they live with human beings. “They learn emotions when they live with humans; that’s where they get a taste of that.”
What dogs need more of, Millán suggests, is exercise — and not just a few minutes around the block.
“To any dog in America, it’s very important to walk every day, because it gives them access to feel that they are migrating,” Millán explained. “Birds need to fly. Fish need to swim, and the dog, he needs to walk. That’s how he becomes in tune with Mother Nature.”Millán, who grew up on his grandfather’s ranch in Mexico, said movement to dogs is so important — physically and psychologically — because dogs are a migratory species.
That doesn’t change, even with domestication, Millán said, pointing out that humans still like to “migrate” and travel, too.
Source of the problem
Dogs’ behavioral problems are caused by people, Millán said.On the Web site for his Dog Psychology Center, which is in South-Central Los Angeles, Millan candidly states: “I rehabilitate dogs ... and train people.”
“A lot of people think that dogs think like people do, and that’s just not the case,” said Morgan, who co-owns Barkerhaus Kennels with her husband and fellow trainer, Jim.
“People like to treat their pets like babies or little people, and this can confuse the dogs and, later, frustrate the owners,” Morgan said.Millán said most dog owners in the United States are very loving with their pooches, which is fine, but only if the people understand that there has to be a certain order, routine and consistency in the treatment of the dog.
For example, in nature, the first thing a dog would do upon awakening is stretch itself and then immediately begin walking and sniffing about to search for food.
“Why do (dogs) develop separation anxiety? Well, because of lack of physical exercise and psychological stimulation,” Millán said.He recommends that pet owners take the dog out every morning and walk it, with the owner assuming “dominance,” and leading the dog out — not letting the dog drag the owner along.
Mastering “the walk,” as Millán calls it, will give a pet owner or dog handler “90 percent access to the brain of a dog,” he said.
Morgan, who has seen Millán’s show on the National Geographic channel, said it’s clear he understands dog behavior.
“He’s good at what he does,” she said. “Working with dogs really is all about pack dominance and pack relationships. Understanding the way dogs think and the dominance issues can make a huge difference in the way you train a dog or deal with a problem.”
On his show, Millán is always shown training other errant canines in a pack. And he is, quite clearly, the leader of the pack. He walks in front and the dogs follow — as they would follow the alpha dog in the wild.
“The only time dogs develop issues is when they live with humankind,” he said. “And all because humans, especially in America, begin with affection, affection, affection instead of, first, exercise, discipline and then affection.”
The right touch
Part of what makes Millán special, Hyde says, is that he controls dogs with natural, and
[send green star]
Millán, who has been working with dogs for 20 years — since boyhood — was nicknamed El Perrero, or dog man, in Mexico because he often had several dogs at his side.
Millán never yells at the problem pooches that he’s trying to rehabilitate. He is firm and assertive.
“Humans need to learn how to use physical touch with dogs but not touch that comes from anger,” Millán said.
That provokes a fearful response in a dog that may get results but does not achieve balance.
“Any species on Earth uses physical touch, but (the animals) don’t come from an unstable state of mind,” Millán said. “They discipline with calm, assertive touch. You have to learn to be calm and assertive.”
Hyde said the Aug. 21 seminar will be Millán’s first in El Paso.“We wanted to bring him to El Paso to help educate the public,” Hyde said. “There’s a huge problem here with people’s attitudes about dogs, how they treat them and the high number that are euthanized every year.”
Each year in El Paso, more than 22,000 unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized.
“People need to understand that choosing to have a dog or a cat is a lifetime commitment,” Hyde said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people view a dog or cat like a piece of luggage, something they can just get rid of when they don’t want it any more.”
Hyde said the league is thrilled to have Millán come to El Paso because he demonstrates that most pet problems can be resolved — with some changes from pet owners.
“I’m planning on going to the seminar to see if I can learn some new techniques,” said professional pet-sitter Vivian Ortiz of Sit, Pet, Sit.Ortiz was injured earlier this summer when she was knocked to the ground and dragged while walking other people’s dogs.
“I want to learn more techniques on controlling the larger dogs in a situation like that,” Ortiz said.
Millán said he’s seen homeless people develop better skills in controlling dogs, in part because they walk so much with the dog and establish that they’re the leader.
“There is no doubt that America can make you very rich,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you can control a dog. You can be Bill Gates, but if you don’t project calm, assertive energy, (people or dogs) will not see you as a leader.”
Bernadette Sedillos Self can be reached at [email protected]; 546-6155.
Courtesy of National Geographic
Cesar Millán, owner of the Dog Psychology Center of Los Angeles and host of National Geographic’s TV show “The Dog Whisperer,” will present a seminar in El Paso on Aug. 21. Millán, who has loved dogs since childhood, is gaining fame for his gentle, effective techniques with problem pooches. |
I thought it would be interesting to compare which countries the U.S. has embassies/consulates in to which countries have embassies and consulates in the U.S. Read the notes on the maps for details about counting, as what to include/exclude required some thought.
For the most part, the maps are quite balanced, but there are a few differences. The U.S. places an equal emphasis on having embassies/consulates in Asia and Europe. After Mexico (13), the U.S. has an equal number in Canada, China, and France (8), and six each in Germany, Japan, and India. In contrast, there are 17 cities that have embassies/consulates in more than 25 U.S. cities. Thirteen of them are in Europe, with France leading the way; it has even more than Mexico, which comes in second. The other non-European countries in this group are Japan, Canada, and Guatemala.
Data sources: http://www.usembassy.gov/index.html
http://www.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/fco/c58132.htm
http://www.embassy.org/ |
Recipes For Success
Fargo, ND – Mr. Lonnie Clayhanger had just had the ultimate solution to the Global Climate Change problem suddenly dawn on him. While he was then attempting to carefully walk across the street to jot it down at a Subway...
Brainerd, MN – Recent scientific studies show that people who are wanting to collect cardboard boxes in order to store all their belongings in such an organized fashion is a sign of a much higher intellect. Dr. Debra...
Fargo, ND – After the exciting announcement that the UBER RideShare Program was coming to Fargo, the FM Observer is excited to make another big announcement: People from the Fargo area will be able to catch a ride to...
Washington, D.C. – Research from the American Medical Association has uncovered a new disease silently plaguing our society: Mediabetes. Mediabetes is defined as a condition in which the brain’s inability to produce...
Palo Alto, CA – Stanford University researchers have been conducting top-secret experiments in an effort to dramatically increase day-to-day smartphone battery longevity. Scientific trials have been performed on lithium-ion... |
Genetic studies suggest that genes have a big influence on a child’s reading ability. Twins, for example, tend to share similar reading skills regardless of whether they share the same teacher. On the other hand, other studies have found that the quality of teaching that a child receives also has a big impact on their fluency with the written word. How can we make sense of these apparently conflicting results? Which is more important for a child’s ability to read: the genes they inherit from their parents, or the quality of the teaching they receive?
According to a new study, the answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is both. Genes do have a strong effect on a child’s reading ability, but good teaching is vital for helping them to realise that potential. In classes with poor teachers, all the kids suffer regardless of the innate abilities bestowed by their genes. In classes with excellent teachers, the true variation between the children becomes clearer and their genetic differences come to the fore. Only with good teaching do children with the greatest natural abilities reach their true potential.
This study demonstrates yet again how tired the “nature versus nurture” debate is. As I wrote about recently in New Scientist, nature and nurture are not conflicting forces, but partners that work together to influence our behaviour.
This latest choreography of genes and environment was decoded by Jeanette Taylor from Florida State University. She studied over 800 pairs of Florida twins in the first and second grades. Of the pairs, 280 are identical twins who share 100% of their DNA, and 526 are non-identical twins who share just 50% of their DNA. These twin studies are commonly used to understand the genetic influences of behaviour. If a trait is strongly affected by genes, then the variation in that trait should be less pronounced in the identical twins than the non-identical ones.
Florida just happens to collects data on the reading skills of its young children, using a test called the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) test. The twins’ scores told Taylor how good they were at reading, and the improvement in the scores of their classmates told her how good their teachers were. Crunching the numbers, Taylor found that genes influenced around half of the variation in reading scores (47%), while shared environments (like a common household) accounts for 37% and non-shared environments accounted for 16%.
Genes are clearly important, but teaching mattered too. At the highest echelons of teaching quality, genes explained around 70% of the variance in reading scores. At the lowest troughs, they only accounted for around 30%.
Taylor confirmed the effect of teaching quality in a couple of different ways. She took a sample of 42 pairs of identical twins and found that those whose reading skills were below average did indeed have poorer teachers than those with above-average skills. She also looked at 216 pairs of identical twins, where each twin had a different teacher. Among these children, the difference in quality between their teachers strongly predicted the difference in their reading abilities.
These results are somewhat different to previous genetic studies, which found that around 65% of the variation in children’s reading skills can be explained by genetic factors. These same studies have suggested that outside influences, like family and school, are far less important – the genes are at the wheel, and the environment is in the backseat shouting instructions.
But Taylor says that the twins in these earlier studies often came from similar and wealthy backgrounds. If they all get similar educations, that would mask the effect of teaching. So she deliberately set out to recruit twins from a wide variety of ethnic groups and social backgrounds. A third were Hispanic, a third were white, and around a quarter were black. Half of the children came from families that qualified for free lunches on the grounds of low income.
There are many caveats to the study, which Taylor herself lists. The reading improvements of a classroom may reflect the school, students or resources, as well as the quality of teaching. You might see different results if you used different measures of teaching quality (like class observations), or of reading skill. The effect of teaching quality might also be different in higher education, or in richer schools.
Nonetheless, Taylor’s work does demonstrate that poor teaching constricts genetic variation in reading ability so that it never germinates. Only in the light of quality teaching does that variation bloom. Teachers should be pleased with the result, for, as Taylor says, “Reading will not develop optimally in the absence of effective instruction.” Likewise, putting really good teachers into a classroom won’t magically make all the students into literary Jedis, and (contrary to what some parents expect) it won’t benefit all students equally.
I wrote about something similar in my New Scientist piece – a variant of the MAOA gene can lead to aggressive behaviour, but only in people who were raised in abusive environments. Again, the environment sets the stage in which genetic actors can express themselves.
Related
11 thoughts on “Good teachers help students to realise their genetic potential at reading”
sounds interesting. the only thing i can think of is if there is some correlation between perceptions of students, and which teachers they get sent to. for example, not to put a too fine a point on it, but in elementary school we had two tracks, one for smart kids and one for dumb. the dumb kids track classes were always staffed by the dumber teacher (1 half day out of the week we’d switch teachers, and it was invariably obvious that the kids tracked into the less academic trough had the duller teacher). i doubt this can explain these findings though since i doubt florida’s program would be so systematic.
Quite interesting. It seems that in most schools/subjects, the gap widens even with poor teachers – since the smart students can self-study or their parents pursue additional resources for them. But this is 1st/2nd grade reading.
Interesting. I’m troubled by some of the way this is expressed, although I know what you’re trying to say. If all of the environmental factors are balanced by good teaching, then the variation that’s left is much better explained by genetic variation. The genetic variation is always there (it doesn’t have to germinate…), but its effects may be compounded with other factors.
Oral fluency sounds like a good measure, actually, because it’s open-ended; lots of measures are subject to floor and ceiling effects.
Only with good teaching do children with the greatest natural abilities reach their true potential.
Well, I’d read that slightly differently: good teaching benefits everyone, and helps everyone reach their reading potential. The difference made by good teaching to a poor reader may make a huge difference to their performance.
(disclaimer: am reading as mother of dyslexic daughter – deeply depressed by the focus on high achievement, even if that’s exactly how I used to think)
This study is good for helping explain to people that teachers can not be blamed for every student that fails, but good teachers do make a difference.
However, I would have thought it patently obvious by now that genetics can only set parameters of performance, genes determine potential. The environment determines how much of that potential is reached. The smartest person in the world will not prosper intellectually if beaten, deprived of decent food, and denied access to informative material. Surely everyone knows this by now? Are people really still debating this?
Springs Alive Children’s Centre(SPACC) has some international schools we are having collaboration with but havenot really figured out a project to do with them,we even have signed Memorandum of Understanding with them.
If we can have projects that SPACC can have with each of these schools for the benefit of either the children,teachers or our communities then please pass on those ideas we see how to set the ball-rolling.
Our schools’ cooperations need to be kept alive
Thanks alot
jdmimic: my thoughts exactly. In a psychology textbook I had for a psych 101 class, it had a chapter devoted to this, saying it was both but there was some debate still going just because the idea of genes dictating life is so strong (this was in 2003). But if the official word was “both” in a textbook, I thought the debate was pretty much over. Maybe now that the whole epi-genetics idea is starting up, that genes can be altered during the course of ones lifetime by the environment, we’ll get some more balance. Or at least the realization that things are always more complicated than we give credit for (which I thought THAT debate was over too haha).
It would be truly wonderful if research like this focused on dyslexia and dyscalculia. A treatment would be ideal, but just knowing that the child had a higher-than-normal risk would help the family and teachers choose teaching strategies.
Children have enough to go through without being surrounded by baffled adults unintentionally making things worse.
There is a potential downside that worries me. I would not want a perceived “biological ceiling” to achievement. I would not want an excuse for the educational abandonment of a child.
This is truly an informative article. Genes are in one way or another play a big part on how children can read. I just wonder how a good teacher copes up with those students who have ADHD and reading disabilities. I agree that those who usually handle them are those who are trained to do so but sometimes teaching kids goes beyond what is in text books. A teacher who has the heart to teach others the joy of reading will benefit from the knowledge that they are making a large contribution to molding young minds in the right direction.
Having the knowledge that genes as its way of influencing the pace of how a person can easily or have a hard time reading one can only wonders if what will works best.
Having a highly skilled teacher can make all the difference in the world even in just helping those who have a hard time learning move even an inch better in improving themselves. Some people who have the affluence may have the edge because they have better resources to give themselves the right care and nourishment while the baby is still in the womb. The right vitamins and minerals given to a growing baby inside the womb and outside can help create a better brain.
Who We Are
Phenomena is a gathering of spirited science writers who take delight in the new, the strange, the beautiful and awe-inspiring details of our world. Phenomena is hosted by National Geographic magazine, which invites you to join the conversation. Follow on Twitter at @natgeoscience.
Ed Yong is an award-winning British science writer. Not Exactly Rocket Science is his hub for talking about the awe-inspiring, beautiful and quirky world of science to as many people as possible.
Follow @edyong209
Subscribe via RSS |
Sex offender admits to kissing 9-year-old boy in Wendy's bathroom
SPRINGDALE, OH (FOX19) - A registered sex offender is under arrest after police say he admits to kissing a 9-year-old boy in the bathroom of a Wendy's fast food restaurant.
This is the second time Douglas Strohofer has been accused of sex crimes involving young children, court records show.
The 37-year-old Springdale man was taken into custody Wednesday, five days after the boy’s mother reported the alleged incident to authorities.
She called 911 on Friday from the Wendy’s on Northland Boulevard after her son emerged from the bathroom and told her a man kissed him while he was inside, court records show.
Strohofer walked into the men’s restroom and saw the school-aged boy near the sink about 6 p.m., according to police.
"Stohofer admitted that he was not thinking and kissed the 9 y/o male o the lips," an officer wrote in an affidavit filed in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
The child left the bathroom and told his mother.
Strohofer was booked into the county jail on a gross sexual imposition charge shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday and held overnight without bond.
He is scheduled to face a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge Thursday.
Strohofer was declared a Tier I Sex Offender in 2014. He pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of sexual imposition after he was indicted for gross sexual imposition, court records show.
He was accused of purposely having sexual contact with a child under the age of 13, his indictment states.
In addition to the sex offender designation, Strohofer was put on community control for three years, referred to sex offender treatment and ordered to pay court costs.
A Tier 1 sex offender is the lowest level of sex offender designations. Offenses ranging from voyeurism, sexual imposition, pandering obscenity, menacing by stalking with sexual motivation and importuning. Tier 1 offenders must register their address every year for 15 years. |
Expression of the Stp1 LMW-PTP and inhibition of protein CK2 display a cooperative effect on immunophilin Fpr3 tyrosine phosphorylation and Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth.
Although the yeast genome does not encode bona fide protein tyrosine kinases, tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins are numerous, suggesting that besides dual-specificity kinases, some Ser/Thr kinases are also committed to tyrosine phosphorylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we show that blockage of the highly pleiotropic Ser/Thr kinase CK2 with a specific inhibitor synergizes with the overexpression of Stp1 low-molecular-weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) in inducing a severe growth-defective phenotype, consistent with a prominent role for CK2 in tyrosine phosphorylation in yeast. We also present in vivo evidence that immunophilin Fpr3, the only tyrosine-phosphorylated CK2 substrate recognized so far, interacts with and is dephosphorylated by Spt1. These data disclose a functional correlation between CK2 and LMW-PTPs, and suggest that reversible phosphorylation of Fpr3 plays a role in the regulation of growth rate and budding in S. cerevisiae. |
Eden Restored
Eden Restored
Copyright 2017 John Dunn
Published by F I Group, Inc. at Shakespir
Shakespir Edition License Notes
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Shakespir.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
In Revelation Chapter 21 we read, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (verses 3 and 4). See Future Glory Romans 8:18-39.
Eden restored is the heading for Revelation Chapter 22 in the latest online NIV Bible. The tree of life in Genesis 2:9, becomes the river of life with the tree of life on each side in Revelation 22:1-3a: “Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. . .” Note: The curse happened in Genesis Chapter 3, when Adam and Eve disobey God.
Why do they need “leaves for the healing of the nations” in the Holy City where there is no more death, mourning, crying or pain? In the first two chapters of Genesis, God gave humankind freedom to multiply, subdue, have dominion and keep and till the earth. Is there any reason to believe that God will not still give humankind freedom in the Holy City? If so, they may mess up from time to time even in the Holy City. Once they are made aware of their mistake, take responsibility and repent (turn around) isn’t it reasonable that God will use the leaves of the tree of life for their healing?
Watch for the Signs of the End Times in Matthew 24:32 and Mark 13:28; but, watch out for false prophets who say The time is near(Luke 21.8). Several of Jesus’ parables stress watchfulness, because the event, for which a person is waiting, is likely to happen at a time a person does not expect. The next to last verse in the Bible says, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
Summary
The Bible goes from two people in a Garden with God (in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2) to a multitude in a Golden City with God dwelling with them (in Revelation Chapters 21 and 22).
1. The Bible begins with everything in existence created by The Word of God.
2. God placed Adam and Eve in a Garden and gave them four responsibilities: Be Fruitful and Multiply; Subdue; Rule; and, Work in and Take Care of God’s Creation.
3. God intended that Adam and Eve would live forever in harmony with God, themselves, others and nature. This harmony was based on obeying the word of God.
4. In the third chapter in the Bible Adam and Eve disobey the Word of God. Disobedience was bad enough, but Adam and Eve did not take responsibility for their actions. As a result, a disease sets in and things do not work as God intended. Throughout the rest of the Bible God works through obedient humans. In Genesis 6:3 God indicated that sinful human beings would live a maximum of 120 years on earth.
5. The Word of God became flesh and dwells with us in the form of Jesus Christ. Jesus takes away the sin of the world. Jesus shows us the way through his love (what he has done for us) and commands us to Love One Another. When Jesus ascended to heaven, all believers became the Body of Christ in the world. Each person has an important function in the body of Christ.
6. By Faith we believe all that exists was created by the Word of God; and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to him. By Faith Noah built, Abraham went, Moses led, etc. Those who have faith, those who obeyed God’s word throughout the Bible, did not receive what had been promised. Yet they, and all of God’s obedient children, look forward to living with God in his holy city (the New Jerusalem) where there is no more death, mourning, crying or pain (See Revelation 21:4 and Isaiah 25:8).
7. Eden is restored. The Tree of Life created by God in the second chapter of the Bible becomes the River of Life in the last chapter of the Bible. Jesus shows us the way through His Life. As in Hebrews Chapter 11 we are not there yet, but we are on the way!
God Placed Humankind Above All Creatures
A. All creatures are created with specific abilities. For example, dogs have a much better sense of smell than that of humans. Some birds can tell direction because they have an unique ability to tell north from south. Some fish go back to the area where they were born to spawn (reproduce).
B. All creatures involuntarily respond to various things. For example, the heart beats without any thought. The pupil of the eye constricts in bright light or expands in dim light. When threatened nearly all creatures tend to run away or fight. Sometimes they just freeze in place unable to move for a short period of time.
C. Most creatures can be taught to respond to various signals or events. When they respond in the desired way, they usually are rewarded. The reward reinforces the reaction and the creatures (including humans) are more likely to continue responding in the same way to the signal or event.
D. Human beings, however, were created with a brain. Humans can think, plan, dream, reason, etc. This makes humans unique among all of the creatures that God created. In the Study / Discussion Topics section of this eBook, note topic D titled How do you use your brain?
Study / Discussion Topics
A. The restoration of Eden has been a dream since shortly after Genesis Chapter 3
1. Why has it taken so long? Is humanity ready for the restoration of Eden?
2. Are we any closer to the restoration of Eden today than people were at the resurrection of Jesus? What will it take, in your opinion, for humanity to be ready for the restoration of Eden?
3. Can we, in faith, move forward toward God’s Holy City, like the people in Hebrews Chapter 11, even though the completion may be in the distant future?
B. The 1000 years in Revelation Chapter 20
1. What is the difference between the 1000 years and the New Jerusalem?
2. Is the 1000 years a new era before the New Jerusalem?
3. Or is the New Jerusalem in Chapters 21 and 22 a more detailed account of the 1000 years in Chapter 20? Why? Why not?
C. Forgiveness and healing
1. What is the relationship between admitting sin, repenting and accepting forgiveness?
2. Discuss the connection between forgiveness and the tree of life.
3. Would a person go to the tree of life to be healed if he or she did not think they had done anything wrong? If he or she did not want to change his or her ways and seek healing?
D. How do you use your brain?
1. Do you spend a lot of time felling sorry for yourself? Do you ever wonder?
c. Getting absorbed in work, discussion, pleasant-activities, etc. to the point where they distract you from dealing with your problems?
3. Do you have a clear understanding of where you are at, acknowledge your failures, seek forgiveness, deal with where you are at and go forward?
4. What have you learned from the past? Where are you today?
5. What are your dreams and visions of the future? What are your plans for the future?
a. What steps are you taking to improve yourself?
b. Where does God’s Word fit into your plans?
c. How can you overcome setbacks and road-blocks that interfere with your dreams, visions and plans?
d. What are you praying about? What do you think you should be praying about?
e. How does your plan for the future fit in with God’s plan for you?
f. What is God’s plan for you?
E. Read the Lord’s Prayer(Mathew 6:9-13; also see Luke 11:2-4)
1. Why does it start with, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name?”
2. “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Is Jesus looking forward to the restoration of Eden as described in Revelation Chapters 21 and 22?
3. “Give us today our daily bread.” Jesus fed the 5,000 and 4,000 in Mark. Does this mean that no one needs to work to obtain his/her daily bread? Why? Or why not?
4. “And forgive us our debts (sins), as we also have forgiven our debtors (those who sin against us).” Is there a relationship between being forgiven and how we forgive others? Why? Or why not? (See Mathew 6:14-15.)
5. “And lead us not into temptation (testing), but deliver us from evil (the evil one). Would God lead us into temptation? Why? Or why not? Discuss how the word of God may deliver us from evil.
6. Some manuscripts add, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Amen.” Discuss the reference to the kingdom of God in the Lord’s Prayer. (See 1 Chronicles 29:11.) How does the kingdom of God relate to the body of Christ?
~~~~~~
Thank you for reading this eBook. If it helped you, please take a moment to leave a comment at your favorite eBook retailer. Thanks! John Dunn
~~~~~~
Books in the “Seven Chapter Bible Overview” Series
Book 1: Seven Chapter Bible Overview
Book 2: Created By: The Word of God
Book 3: Harmonious Life and Responsibilities
Book 4: It Is Not My Fault!
Book 5: Role Model
Book 6: We Live By Faith
Book 7: Eden Restored (This eBook)
Book 8: The New Jerusalem
About the Author
John Dunn is very interested in long term forecasting, prophesy, and Biblical studies. Relatively early in life he completed a teacher’s training course in the Bethel Bible Series. Later John wrote an extremely limited circulation newsletter for a few years titled, “The Association of Christians in Secular Careers.”
John spent most of 2004 going through the Bible and writing a brief overview of what he considered to be the main concepts presented in each book. Currently he is updating and expanding his 13-year-old writings.
The author may be contacted at: [email protected] Please place “7 Chapter” in the subject line (or the email may go in the junk folder!). Thank you.
John Dunn’s website: john-dunn.figroupbooks.com
John Dunn has two series of eBooks:
Seven Chapter Bible Overview
Revelation: Transition to New Era
~~~end~~~
Eden Restored
In the last two chapters of the Bible God assures us we will dwell with him in his dwelling place. The Tree of Life in the second chapter of the Bible becomes the River of Life in the last chapter in the Bible. This eBook includes a short summary of the seven chapters of the Bible reviewed in this series of eBooks. Study / Discussion Topics are included.
We suggest you use the eBooks in this series in group study / discussion sessions. Select a time and place for a group discussion. Then give invitations showing time and place of meeting along with the web address where each person can obtain their own eBook copy. Most of the eBooks in this series are very short, so it will take only a few minutes to read the eBook.
The eBooks in this series will lend themselves to one or two half-hour or one one-hour discussion sessions.
The chapters in the Bible covered in the "Seven Chapter Bible Overview" series are:
Genesis Chapters 1, 2 and 3
John Chapter 1
Hebrews Chapter 11
Revelation Chapters 21 and 22.
Books in the "Seven Chapter Bible Overview" Series include:
Book 1: Seven Chapter Bible Overview
Book 2: Created By: The Word of God
Book 3: Harmonious Life and Responsibilities
Book 4: It Is Not My Fault!
Book 5: Role Model
Book 6: We Live By Faith
Book 7: Eden Restored
Book 8: The New Jerusalem |
What are the Chances of Going to Jail for a Driving Offense?
Can a DUI or other serious driving charge land you in the slammer?
Although no statistician has determined the odds of going to jail for a driving offense, the following conclusions can be made based on existing statistics:
Vehicular homicide: A defendant is likely to go to jail if someone dies as a result of driving carelessly.
1st DUI: Depending on the state, a defendant may go to jail (and it is mandatory in a few states).
2nd DUI: Depending on the state, a defendant may go to jail (and it is mandatory in many states).
Location: Getting sentenced to jail time sometimes has more to do with where you are than what you did. Know your state’s laws.
Vehicular Homicide: A Defendant Is Likely To Go To Jail If Someone Dies As a Result Of Driving Carelessly
Although it’s known by various names (vehicular homicide, homicide by vehicle, vehicular manslaughter, etc.) the charge is typically that the defendant negligently operated a motor vehicle which resulted in someone’s death. A few states do not have vehicular homicide laws – Alaska, Montana and Arizona – and in these states, defendants are usually charged with manslaughter or murder, depending on the circumstances. For example, a drunk driver in Alaska who kills someone might be charged with criminally negligent homicide, second-degree murder, or manslaughter depending on the defendant’s conduct.
The victim. Vehicular homicide statutes may include a broad range of victims including a pedestrian, a passenger in the defendant’s car, a cyclist or another driver. Surprisingly, a 2000 Harvard University report entitled The Determinants of Punishment: Deterrence, Incapacitation and Vengeance, reported that drivers who kill women get 56 percent longer sentences. The authors of the study proposed that sentence lengths are sometimes driven in part by a taste for vengeance motivated by victim characteristics.
Typically, the prosecutor in a vehicular manslaughter case must prove that the driver violated some law - regardless of whether it is a felony or misdemeanor violation – and that the violation resulted in death. In other words, even if you commit a minor misdemeanor infraction, you may be convicted of vehicular homicide. Of course, sentences vary and some states may have varying degrees of vehicular homicide with varying sentencing guidelines. The less egregious the circumstances, the more likely that the defendant will serve less than one year in jail (or even a suspended sentence). However, in some states, such as Louisiana, conviction for vehicular homicide results in mandatory jail time.
Note that vehicular homicide laws do not require an intent to cause injury or death. They are all based on the concept of negligence or gross negligence – that death resulted because of carelessness or a reckless disregard for the safety of others.
The greatest number of vehicular homicide charges are brought because the driver was intoxicated or distracted. These two types of offenses caused the greatest number of driver-related fatalities. In 2009, for example, drunken driving caused over 12,000 traffic fatalities while distracted driving is believed to have caused almost 5,500 deaths the same year, according to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration. Many states have special vehicular homicide codes that enhance penalties if the driver was intoxicated.
1st DUI: Depending on the State, A Defendant May Go To Jail (And It Is Mandatory In A Few States)
Depending on the state where you’re arrested, you may spend time in jail for a first-time DUI. In Alaska, Tennessee and Georgia, it’s pretty much guaranteed as these states routinely require some jail time for first offenders. Curiously, in the case of first time offenders, jail doesn't have much effect on whether they will do it again. James Fell, a senior program director for the Alcohol, Policy and Safety Research Center in Maryland told USA Today in 2011. To learn more about the laws regarding First-Time DUIs, check out your state’s first-time offender laws. Factors that may influence whether you receive jail time or a suspended sentence include local court policies, your impairment level, whether minors were involved, aggravating factors (speeding, distracted driving), and whether you refused to submit to a drug test.
Second DUI: Depending on the State, A Defendant Is Likely to Go To Jail (And It Is Mandatory In Many States)
Many states require mandatory jail time for second-offender DUIs. Often, that’s because the status of the crime in the state jumps from misdemeanor (1st DUI) to felony (2nd DUI), putting the violation into a more serious category. (To learn more about the laws regarding Second-Offense DUIs, check out your state’s second-offender laws.) Factors that may influence whether you receive jail time or a suspended sentence include local court policies, your impairment level, whether minors were involved, whether your drunk driving resulted in an accident, aggravating factors (speeding, distracted driving), and whether you refused to submit to a drug test.
Jail Time Is Often A Result Of Location: Know Your State’s Laws
Although it may obvious to most drivers, sentencing for crimes varies from state to state, county to county and often from court to court. Where judges have leeway in sentencing, many personal factors come into play. According to USA Today, the same infraction may result in jail time in one jurisdiction, yet a suspended sentence if committed several hundred yards away. For this reason, it’s best to familiarize yourself with state driving laws, and if possible to consult with a local attorney who is familiar with sentencing practices. |
Affirmed and Opinion filed June 23, 2015.
In The
Fourteenth Court of Appeals
NO. 14-14-00085-CR
NO. 14-14-00087-CR
CODY CARR, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 183rd District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 1405759 & 1405761
OPINION
Appellant Cody Carr challenges his convictions for aggravated sexual
assault of a child, asserting insufficiency of the evidence and contending the “on or
about” language in the jury charges allowed the jury to reach a non-unanimous
verdict. We affirm.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The ten-year-old complainant, Jane,1 is appellant’s daughter. According to
Jane, one night while she was staying with appellant and her stepmother over
Christmas break, appellant came into her room, flipped her onto her belly, and
placed his sexual organ in her anus. The next morning, Jane was watching
cartoons on television when appellant approached her and asked her if she would
like some peanut butter. Jane responded affirmatively. Appellant then placed
goggles covered with tape over the child’s eyes. According to Jane, appellant
confirmed that she could not see. Then, Jane heard appellant leave. When he
returned, he asked the child to lick the peanut butter off of what he told her was his
finger. Jane concluded the peanut butter was on his sexual organ, not his finger.
After three or four licks, the child refused more peanut butter. Appellant then went
to take a shower.
Jane told her best friends that her father did something “bad” to her. Jane
implored her friends to keep it a secret. Months later, Jane also told her mother
about the incidents.
Charged in two indictments with aggravated sexual assault of a child,
appellant pleaded “not guilty” to both. The two cases were consolidated for trial.
At a trial by jury, the jury found appellant guilty as charged of both offenses. The
trial court assessed punishment for each offense at six years’ confinement, with the
sentences to run concurrently.
II. ISSUES AND ANALYSIS
A. Sufficiency of the Evidence
In his first and second issues, appellant asserts that the evidence is
1
To protect the privacy of the child-complainant, we identify her by the pseudonym,
“Jane.”
2
insufficient to show appellant intentionally or knowingly (1) caused Jane’s anus to
contact his sexual organ and (2) caused his sexual organ to contact Jane’s anus. In
particular, appellant asserts that the alleged assaults could not have taken place
because witnesses testified that appellant was not alone with Jane during Christmas
break, when she alleged the assaults occurred. Appellant also asserts that the
evidence is insufficient to show he caused Jane’s mouth to contact his sexual organ
because the child could not positively identify appellant’s sexual organ as the
object her mouth touched.
In evaluating a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a
criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the
verdict. Wesbrook v. State, 29 S.W.3d 103, 111 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). The
issue on appeal is not whether we, as a court, believe the State’s evidence or
believe that appellant’s evidence outweighs the State’s evidence. Wicker v. State,
667 S.W.2d 137, 143 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984). The verdict may not be overturned
unless it is irrational or unsupported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Matson
v. State, 819 S.W.2d 839, 846 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991). The trier of fact “is the
sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and of the strength of the evidence.”
Fuentes v. State, 991 S.W.2d 267, 271 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999). The trier of fact
may choose to believe or disbelieve any portion of the witnesses’ testimony.
Sharp v. State, 707 S.W.2d 611, 614 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986). When faced with
conflicting evidence, we presume the trier of fact resolved conflicts in favor of the
prevailing party. Turro v. State, 867 S.W.2d 43, 47 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993).
Therefore, if any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of
the crime beyond a reasonable doubt, we must affirm. McDuff v. State, 939
S.W.2d 607, 614 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997).
As is relevant to the instant cases, a person commits aggravated sexual
3
assault if the person intentionally or knowingly (1) causes the anus of a child
younger than fourteen years of age to contact the person’s sexual organ, or (2)
causes the mouth of a child younger than fourteen years of age to contact the
person’s sexual organ. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 22.021(a)(1)(B) (West,
Westlaw through 2013 3d C.S.). One indictment alleged that appellant
intentionally and knowingly caused his sexual organ to contact Jane’s anus. The
other indictment alleged that appellant intentionally and knowingly caused his
sexual organ to contact Jane’s mouth. A child-complainant’s testimony alone is
sufficient to support a conviction for aggravated sexual assault. See Tex. Code
Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.07 (West, Westlaw through 2013 3d C.S.).
A. The First Incident
Jane was ten years old and in fifth grade at the time of trial. Jane testified
that both incidents took place over Christmas break when she was in second grade.
Describing the first incident, she testified that she was alone in a bed in the
guestroom at appellant’s house when appellant came into the room. According to
Jane, there were times when appellant pulled up her shirt and kissed her belly. On
this night, appellant pulled down her shorts or underwear and turned her over to
where she was on her belly. Jane turned back to her side, but appellant turned her
back over onto her belly and proceeded to put his “private part” into her “butt.”
Jane testified that appellant did this about two or three times, then appellant would
stop, and then he repeated the action about three times. Jane testified that it hurt.
After appellant finished, he got off the bed and Jane went into the bathroom. Jane
testified that when she came out of the bathroom, appellant asked her if she was
okay and she told him she was. But, Jane said that her “butt” hurt for a week.
A friend of Jane’s, also in fifth grade, testified that Jane told her something
bad about Jane’s father and asked her to keep it a secret. The friend testified that
4
she kept Jane’s secret for awhile but she eventually told her parents because she
felt sad for Jane. Jane also eventually told her mother about appellant’s actions
because she could not “hold it in” anymore. According to Jane’s mother, one night
Jane informed the mother that she could not sleep. The tone of Jane’s voice was
very shaky and she looked very sad and scared. Jane’s mother asked Jane why she
could not sleep and Jane said she needed to disclose “something that her daddy had
done that is really, really, really bad.” Jane explained that she was unable to use
her words to tell her mother, but, through tears, Jane was able to write her mother a
note. The note was admitted into evidence and was consistent with Jane’s
testimony at trial.
After disclosing the assault, Jane saw Dr. Michelle Lyn and a social worker
at the Children’s Advocacy Center. Dr. Lyn noted that at the time of her
evaluation, Jane was reliving events of abuse and was experiencing frequent
nightmares.
Jane’s testimony alone is sufficient to support the convictions for aggravated
sexual assault. See Villalon v. State, 791 S.W.2d 130, 134 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990);
Bargas v. State, 252 S.W.3d 876, 888 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2008, no
pet.). Even so, appellant argues that Jane’s testimony is unbelievable because he
was not alone with Jane during the Christmas break, when Jane alleged he
assaulted her. Jane’s mother and appellant’s wife both testified that appellant
picked up Jane from her mother’s home on December 17th and returned Jane to
her mother on December 24th. Jane testified that she and her grandfather
(appellant’s father) shared a queen-sized bed in the guest bedroom in appellant’s
home during part of the break. According to Jane’s grandfather, he was there from
December 20th through December 24th. Appellant’s wife testified that she and
appellant dropped Jane off at her aunt’s home to spend the night on December
5
17th, 18th, and 19th. But, Jane said there were nights that she was at appellant’s
home when her grandfather was not present. Jane’s grandfather’s testimony did
not establish that Jane was not alone with appellant. Jane and appellant’s wife
were the only witnesses who testified regarding Jane’s location during the first
three days of her Christmas break and their testimony conflicted. Appellant’s wife
also testified that appellant never got out of bed at night during Christmas break.
Jane’s testimony also conflicted with appellant’s in this respect. We presume the
jury, when faced with conflicting evidence, resolved conflicts in favor of the
prevailing party. Turro v. State, 867 S.W.2d at 47. Accordingly, we presume that
the jury accepted Jane’s testimony that she was alone with appellant and that
appellant assaulted her.
The evidence is sufficient to support the jury’s verdict on the first offense.
See id.; Bargas, 252 S.W.3d at 888. Appellant’s first issue is overruled.
B. The Second Incident
Jane testified that the morning after appellant assaulted her, appellant
approached her and asked her if she wanted peanut butter while she was watching
cartoons. Jane responded affirmatively. Appellant left the room, retrieved goggles
that had tape over them, placed the goggles over Jane’s eyes, and asked her if she
could see. According to Jane, she told appellant she could not see. Appellant then
held up some fingers and asked her what he was holding up. Jane said she
responded “[t]wo, or something like that,” and then appellant said, “Okay, you’re
fine.” Jane then heard footsteps and assumed appellant put peanut butter on
something before returning. Jane explained that when appellant returned he said,
“[h]ere’s some peanut butter,” and she licked the peanut butter off of something.
In her note, Jane said that appellant told her she was licking the peanut butter off of
his fingers, but she testified that it did not feel like a finger or spoon or any other
6
type of utensil. After four licks, Jane related that appellant asked Jane if she
wanted more peanut butter and she said, “[n]o thank you.” According to Jane,
appellant then walked into the kitchen and helped her remove the goggles before
going upstairs to take a shower.
With her eyes covered, Jane could not see during the peanut butter incident,
but she testified that she believed the peanut butter was on appellant’s “private
part.” Jane testified that she and appellant were alone at this time and appellant’s
wife was at work. Appellant’s wife testified that she had the entire Christmas
break away from work and she was always awake before appellant. Appellant
asserts that the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction under the
second indictment because the evidence shows he was not alone with Jane and
because, although Jane concluded that she licked peanut butter off of appellant’s
sexual organ, Jane did not see it and could not describe the way it felt.
Jane’s testimony conflicted with appellant’s wife’s testimony regarding the
wife’s presence in the home at the time of the incident. We presume the jury
resolved the conflict in the evidence in favor of the prevailing party. Turro, 867
S.W.2d at 47. We presume the jury believed Jane’s testimony that the assault
occurred and that the jury discounted appellant’s wife’s testimony that it did not.
See Fuentes, 991 S.W.2d at 271.
Relying on her senses other than vision, Jane was able to say that the surface
from which she licked the peanut butter did not feel like a finger, a spoon, or any
other kind of utensil. Although Jane testified that she did not see appellant’s
sexual organ and, although she could not describe it (other than distinguishing it
from the objects identified above), she concluded appellant had her lick peanut
butter off his sexual organ and the evidence is sufficient for the jury to have
determined Jane was correct in her assessment. See Villalon, 791 S.W.2d 130, 134
7
(Tex. Crim. App. 1990) (noting that child-complainants are not expected to testify
with the same clarity and ability as is expected of adults); Meeks v. State, 897
S.W.2d 950, 955 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1995, no pet.) (holding that
complainant’s failure to make in-court identification of defendant went to the
weight and credibility of the witnesses and concluding circumstantial evidence was
sufficient to uphold defendant’s conviction). First, we note that Jane was
consistent in her conclusion. In her note to her mother, Jane wrote that appellant
put peanut butter on his “thing” and asked her to lick it off. In this note, she used
the term “thing” to describe appellant’s sexual organ in the context of the first
assault. Second, the timing of the second assault lends credibility to Jane’s
conclusion. The second assault occurred the morning after the first assault. The
jury could have concluded that, even though Jane did not see appellant’s sexual
organ, she was able to conclude that it was his sexual organ based on having been
assaulted the night before. Third, Jane wrote that appellant told her she was
licking peanut butter off of his finger, but using sensory input, Jane concluded it
did not feel like a finger. Based on this evidence, the jury could have concluded
that appellant lied to Jane, a fact that supports Jane’s conclusion that appellant had
her lick peanut butter off his sexual organ. See King v. State, 29 S.W.3d 556, 565
(Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (noting that lies are indicative of consciousness of guilt).
Finally, appellant’s actions in placing goggles over Jane’s eyes so that she was
unable to see what appellant was doing bolster’s Jane’s conclusion that appellant
was asking her to lick his sexual organ. See Word v. State, 12 Tex. Ct. App. 174,
183 (1882) (noting that defendants who render their victims insensible should not
be freed simply because the victim cannot swear positively to the act of
penetration). This evidence is sufficient for the jury to have concluded that
appellant caused Jane’s mouth to contact his sexual organ. See Villalon, 791
S.W.2d at 134. Appellant’s second issue is overruled.
8
C. “On or about” Language in Indictments
In his third issue, appellant asserts that the trial court erred in charging the
jury that there were no limitations periods for the offenses. Appellant argues that
the “on or about” language and the instruction that there is no limitations period for
the offense allowed for a non-unanimous jury verdict because the members of the
jury could have convicted him even though they did not unanimously agree on the
factual elements underlying any specific offense.
The jury received two separate charges relating to the two separate
indictments. Both charges begin with the words: “The defendant, Cody Carr,
stands charged by indictment with the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a
child, alleged to have been committed on or about the 20th day of December, 2010,
in Harris County, Texas.” One charge defines aggravated sexual assault as
“intentionally or knowingly caus[ing] the mouth of a child to contact the sexual
organ of another person.” The other charge defines aggravated sexual assault as
“intentionally or knowingly caus[ing] the anus of a child to contact the sexual
organ of another person.” The jury received two separate charges detailing
separate offenses. Both charges instructed the jury that its verdict must be
unanimous.
The State need not allege a specific date in an indictment. Sledge v. State,
953 S.W.2d 253, 256 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). The “on or about” language of an
indictment allows the State to prove a date other than the one alleged in the
indictment as long as the date is anterior to the presentment of the indictment and
within the statutory limitation period. Id. Texas law requires that a jury reach a
unanimous verdict about the specific crime the defendant committed. Cosio v.
State, 353 S.W.3d 766, 771 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011). This means that the jury must
agree upon a single and discrete incident that would constitute the commission of
9
the offense alleged. Id. Non-unanimity may result in certain instances when the
jury charge fails to properly instruct the jury, based on the indicted offenses, and
specific evidence in the case, that the verdict must be unanimous.
Non-unanimity may occur when the State charges one offense, but presents
evidence that the defendant committed the charged offense on multiple but
separate occasions or the State charges one offense and presents evidence of an
offense committed at a different time that violates a different provision of the same
criminal statute. Id. at 772. In the first scenario, each of the multiple incidents
individually establishes a different offense and to ensure unanimity in this
situation, the charge would need to instruct the jury that its verdict must be
unanimous as to a single offense among those presented. Id. In the second
scenario, the charge would need to instruct the jury that it has to be unanimous
about which statutory provision, among those available, the accused violated.
In the instant cases, the jury received two separate charges and the evidence
at trial was limited to evidence of two separate, discrete offenses. There is
evidence of one instance in which appellant caused Jane’s anus to contact his
sexual organ and there is one charge related to that conduct. This charge instructed
the jury that its verdict must be unanimous as to that charge. There is also
evidence of one instance in which appellant caused Jane’s mouth to contact
appellant’s sexual organ and there is one charge related to that conduct. This
charge instructed the jury that its verdict must be unanimous as to this charge.
There is no evidence of other actions that occurred at other times that could
constitute these offenses and cause the jury to agree that either offense had
occurred and disagree on the facts underlying the offense. To convict appellant of
either offense, the jury had to agree on the factual elements underlying the
conviction. The jury convicted appellant of both offenses. In neither case did the
10
charge allow the jury to reach a non-unanimous verdict. See id. at 772; Sledge,
953 S.W.2d at 256. The trial court did not err in providing the charges to the jury.
Appellant’s third issue is overruled.
III. CONCLUSION
Appellant’s convictions are supported by sufficient evidence. The trial court
did not err in charging the jury on the statute of limitations. The judgment of the
trial court is affirmed.
Kem Thompson Frost
Chief Justice
Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Boyce and McCally.
Publish — TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
11
|
Scoring systems and blood lactate concentrations in relation to the development of adult respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure in severely traumatized patients.
In 56 patients with multiple trauma with ISSs > or = 33 we prospectively collected data of seven scoring systems (ISS, TS, TRISS, GCS, PTS, APACHE II, SSS) and sequentially determined blood lactate concentrations. These data were analyzed in relation to the patients later developing adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ failure (MOF). Twenty-two patients developed ARDS, and 18 developed MOF. Of the mentioned scoring systems only ISS, PTS, and SSS were predictive of subsequent ARDS, and only ISS and SSS were predictive of subsequent MOF. Lactate concentrations at days 2, 3, and 4 were significantly different between patients with and without subsequent ARDS, MOF, or both. Surprisingly, APACHE II scores did not correlate with subsequent ARDS or MOF, nor did they show any significant relation with lactate concentrations at any time. By stepwise regression analysis ISS, SSS, and lactate level at day 3 were the most significant variables toward the development of ARDS and MOF. It is concluded that scoring systems directly grading the severity of groups of trauma patients have predictive value for late and remote complications such as ARDS and MOF, whereas scoring systems that grade the physiologic response to trauma--although clearly related to mortality--have no such predictive value. |
Since the girls had a successful attempt last week, and are starting to get into the routine of the challenges, this one was a LOT easier to explain and get going. During the building time, both girls worked independently on different parts of the challenge.
McKenna worked on building the ‘deck’ for the bridge of the structure. She used the tinfoil, paper, envelope and the paper clips to put her piece together.
Laurianna worked on building the frame of the structure. She attached one end of each of the straws to a penny so that it would stabilize the straws. She then poked pipe cleaners into the straws to connect them together. Once she had the two main ‘arches’ built, she used the extra 2 straws to support the top of the bridge, tying them on with the string.
When McKenna had finished her top piece they carefully laid it on top of the main support. So far, so good!
Their next test {before the 7 minute building part was complete} was to see if it would support any weight, so they used the leftover penny to check.
Here’s a little look at the structure from underneath. Not the most beautiful, but when you’re using straws and tinfoil…what do you expect? :)
The big test was seeing if it would support the two cups and getting them as far apart as possible. SUCCESS!!!
Our Score:
10/10 points for having a completed boat at the end of Part One.
20/20 points for creativity in using the materials ~ they found a use for everything!
13 points for how far each cup was from the table {1 point for each inch and they were each 6.5 inches off the table}
18 points for how far apart the cups were {2 points for each inch and they were 9 inches apart}
20/20 points for teamwork. I was impressed that they each worked on their own tasks to complete the project together!
Overall Score: 81/100
We’re gearing up for the next challenge: High Flying! "Up for a Challenge?" is a weekly meme designed to get students involved in critical thinking and creative problem solving by doing an Instant Challenge. If you are interested in being a part of the Instant Challenges, you can find out more here.
1 Comments:
Very creative design. I must say I am impressed with their structure ~ from the use of the pennies (wasn't sure how they could be used!) to how they used the pipe cleaners inside the straws to form the bridge. And 9 inches apart ~ way to go girls! *Ü*
Post a Comment
Thanks so much for stopping by! If you have a question and would like a reply, feel free to ask. I do my best to reply personally to you, but please be sure that there is an email linked to your comment or your profile! :)
I am a mom to 4 children and wife to a wonderful man. We homeschool all four children, and my days are spent trying to keep up with them all…and the house…and life in general.
My passion is teaching my kids and helping other families in their homeschool journey. Working with children has always
been something I have enjoyed, and I love that the online world has provided a
way to share ideas and resources with other families all over the world. The last few years has brought speaking opportunities at blogging conferences, homeschool groups, and also homeschool conventions. |
The snapshot indicates that cases of U.S.-based attacks have increased in 2015, numbering 122 so far. In 2010, the number of these cases was 38. The snapshot also states that as of the end of July, ISIS has been the inspiration or been directly involved in 55 attacks against western targets, 14 of these in the U.S.
On July 17, a shooter opened fire at two military centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, resulting in the deaths of four Marines and one sailor. The suspect was later killed by local police in a shootout. Investigations have revealed that the shooter had possessed sermons of Anwar al Awlaki, former external operations leader for the Yemen affiliate of al Qaeda.
"We can’t stop what we can’t see, and with terror going viral—spreading online and across borders—I am worried more fanatics will go undetected until it’s too late," McCaul said. "We’ve got to do more to take the fight to the enemy overseas at its source, otherwise we’re going to see the threat picture here at home steadily worsen.”
The report states that approximately 48 U.S. residents have been arrested in a case relating to ISIS. Most recently, Arafat Nagi was arrested after attempting to travel in hopes to join the terrorist organization and had been involved in recruitment activity in Lackawanna, New York. |
Text Size: A- A+
Audit on war wastage reserves says procurements initiated under 2013 roadmap not yet inked.
Painting a gloomy picture of continuing ammunition shortages in the Indian Army, the central auditor has said that no significant improvement has taken place in war reserves since 2013, with more than 55 per cent of the types of ammo used by the military below the “minimum inescapable requirement” for the defence of the country.
In a report that was tabled in Parliament Friday, the CAG has pointed out that while there has been some improvement in war wastage reserves (WWR) – ammunition stockpiled for use during a battle – in the past four years, critical shortages continue, especially for tanks and howitzers.
“We observed no significant improvement in the availability of ammunition (September 2016)……availability of 55 per cent types of ammunitions was below MARL i.e. minimum inescapable requirement to be maintained for operational preparedness and 40 per cent types of ammunitions were in critical level having stock of less than 10 days,” the CAG report says.
There has been some improvement in WWR holdings, however, with data in the report revealing that authorisation levels for almost all ammunitions have come up slightly since 2014.
Significantly, the audit report has found massive gaps in ammunition needed for artillery guns and tanks – the two fighting arms critical for any cross border duel. The report points to a very worrying shortage of fuzes as well – the brain of an artillery shell that is attached just before firing. This shortage, according to the report, has rendered a shocking 83 per cent of high caliber ammunition unfit for use during operations.
The audit report has taken on the Defence ministry for failing to sign procurement cases that were initiated in 2013 as part of an ammunition roadmap and has placed the blame on the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) for failing to deliver.
“Despite serious concerns highlighted by Audit in (2013) Performance Audit report on ‘Ammunition management in Army’, no significant improvement took place in the critical deficiency in availability of ammunition and quality of ammunition supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) since March 2013. Further, majority of the procurement cases from other than OFB which were initiated by Army HQ during 2009-13 were pending as of January 2017,”the report says.
While the audit report has data on shortfalls and deficiencies collected till January 2017, the Army earlier in the month said that it is trying to meet critical shortages with the government approving a Rs 40,000 crore sanction for purchases to the Vice Chief, graded over the next few years. The special initiative was taken after the Uri attack which was followed by Indian surgical strikes into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Army has identified several types of ammunition that it will procure on an emergency basis. Besides, tenders have been issued earlier this year to procure seven types of critical ammunition from the private sector, given that OFB has been unable to deliver on time.
Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram
Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust. You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism. We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And have just turned three. At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous and questioning journalism. Please click on the link below. Your support will define ThePrint’s future. Support Our Journalism
Show Full Article |
magnet
Sakaar be in prison, Thor, planets and races against time in Asgard Ragnark and ruin, destroyed and world fidyll wild ass man.
director:
Secretly waitii authors:
Eric Anthony Kyle Craig | Thor manifest itself on the fly to keep all the time to go back to Asgard Fortune resist pulling her dress AsgardaiddHomeworld end powerful new yndwylo minasQuod amazing Kills. |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary electric machine mounted on a vehicle, and in particular, to the rotary electric machine having a rotor and a stator equipped with multi-phase windings for making the machine function as a motor and a generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, some vehicles have a function for stopping the idle rotation (i.e., idling) of the engine for saving consumption of fuel. In such vehicles, the engine is frequently turned off every time and started up every time the vehicle stops. Because the stop and start-up of the engine is repeated, it is desired that a generator mounted on the vehicle be motor-driven and serves as a starter which has a problem regarding the life of brushes incorporated in the starter. In these vehicles, important parameters necessary when quickly starting the engine are a start-up torque having no rotation and a predetermined torque at which the rotation increases to a value equivalent to the idle rotation.
It is desired that fluctuations in the engine-rotation can be stabilized by supplying torque from the generator to the engine. Thus, the generator is required to be motor-driven while the engine rotation can become unstable due to unexpected disturbance of torque of the engine. In these vehicles, motor torque is also required to be generated at least at the level of idle rotation.
In general, the vehicle generator is designed to supply required power at an idle rotation of about 1500 rpm. When the vehicle generator is designed in this way, the revolution speed at which extraction of a generated power current becomes possible is about 1000 rpm.
When the vehicle generator is motor-driven, a voltage suitable for charging the battery is generated at a revolution speed of 1000 rpm. Therefore, electric current cannot be sent from the battery during motor operation. Hence, a sufficient torque cannot be generated at the revolution speed.
As shown in FIG. 1, the torque decreases linearly from a non-rotation start-up torque to a power generation starting revolution speed. Although some torque can be extracted through weakening current-flowing in the field winding of the generator, the torque is not sufficient for the purpose described above.
Characteristics of a synchronous rotary machine such as that above are determined by an inductance of a stator, specifically, the number of windings in a stator winding. As shown in FIG. 2, in power generation characteristics, the minimum revolution speed required for initiating the power generation changes depending on the amount of the inductance (the number of windings), and torque and revolution characteristics during motor-driving also change in accompaniment.
In a vehicle rotary machine having both power generation and engine driving functions, it is difficult to actualize the characteristics required during power generation and the characteristics required for torque of the engine with the same inductance. A conflicting request is made in that, when the power generation characteristics are given priority, motor characteristics become a state in which the drive torque is insufficient. When the motor characteristics are given priority, the power generation output during idle rotation becomes insufficient.
As a conventional technology responding to such requests, a series-parallel conversion rotary electric machine in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 4-88900 is known. The series-parallel conversion rotary electric machine provides two sets of stator windings and changes impedance by switching the stator windings between serial and parallel. In another conventional technology, a rotary electric machine is known in which switching elements are disposed at a neutral point and between a high potential and a low potential of a Y-connected three-phase winding in the rotary electric machine. When an abnormality, such as disconnection, occurs in the three-phase winding, the rotary electric machine uses the neutral point in place of the winding of the phase at which the abnormality has occurred.
In the series-parallel conversion rotary electrical machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 4-88900, a plurality of sets of multi-phase windings are required to be mounted in the stator. Problems occur in that a configuration of the stator becomes complicated and cost rises. A large number of switching elements for switching the winding between serial and parallel is additionally required. For example, compared to six rectifying elements ordinarily required, nine switching elements are additionally required, thereby also contributing to the increase in cost.
In addition, the rotary electric device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2007-99066 is a technology used only during motor-driving and in response to an abnormal situation, and does not meet the above-described requirements. A conventional three-phase winding is driven by only a two-phase winding and three phases are imitated by use of the neutral point. Problems occur such as the rotation not being smooth. |
Facial bone infarcts in sickle cell syndromes.
Bone infarction in the sickle cell syndromes (sickle cell anemia, sickle beta thalassemia, and sickle C disease) is common in the long bones, but the facial bones, particularly the orbits, are infrequently involved. In a review of the literature, only 13 cases of facial bone infarcts in sickle cell syndromes were found. Seven episodes of facial bone infarcts--four orbital, two mandibular, and one in the zygomatic arch--in six patients encountered at the authors' institution are reported. Five patients had hemoglobin SS, and one had hemoglobin SC. Bone marrow scans were positive for infarction in five of the six episodes during which they were obtained, which highlights the usefulness of this technique in the diagnosis of facial bone infarction. |
Q:
How to segment a database for an application accessing it (a.k.a. single database for multiple users problem)?
I have built a web application for one user, but now I would like to offer it to many users (it's an application for photographer(s)).
Multiple databases problems
I first did this by creating an application for each user, but this has many problems, like:
Giving access to a new user can't be automated (or is very difficult) since I have to create a subdomain, a database, initial tables, copy code to a new location, etc. This is tedious to do by hand!
I can't as easily create reports and statistics of usage, like how many projects do my users have, how many photos, etc.
Single database problems
But having just one database for each users creates it's own problems in code:
Now I have to change the DB schema to accommodate extra users, like the projects table having a user_id column (the same goes for some other tables like settings, etc.).
I have to look at almost each line of code that accesses the database and edit the SQL for selecting and inserting, so that I sava data for that specific user, at the same time doing joins so that I check permissions (select ... from projects inner join project_users ... where user_id = ?).
If I forget to do that at one spot in the code it means security breach or another unpleasant thing (consider showing user's projects by just doing select * from projects like I used to do - it will show all users' projects).
Backup: backup is harder because there's more data for the whole database and if a user says: "hey, I made a mistake today, can you revert the DB to yesterday", I can't as easily do that.
A solution?
I have read multiple questions on stackoverflow and have decided that I should go the "single database" route. But I'd like to get rid of the problems, if it's possible.
So I was thinking if there was a way to segment my database somehow so that I don't get these nasty (sometimes invisible) bugs?
I can reprogram the DB access layer if needed, but I'm using SQLs and not OO getter and setter methods.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A:
I don't think there's a silver bullet on this one - though there are some things you can do.
Firstly, you could have your new design use a different MySQL user, and deny that user "select" rights on tables that should only be accessed through joins with the "users" table. You can then create a view which joins the two tables together, and use that whenever you run "select" queries. This way, if you forget a query, it will fail spectacularly, instead of silently. You can of course also limit insert, update and delete in this way - though that's a lot harder with a view.
Edit
So, if your application currently connects as "web_user", you could revoke select access on the projects table from that user. Instead, you'd create a view "projects_for_users", and grant "select" permissions on that view to a new user - "photographer", perhaps. The new user should also not have select access to "projects".
You could then re-write the application's data access step by step, and you'd be sure that you'd caught every instance where your app selects projects, because it would explode when trying to retrieve data - neither of your users would have "select" permissions on the projects table.
As a little side bonus - the select permission is also required for updates with a where clause, so you'd also be able to find instances where the application updates the project table without having been rewritten.
Secondly, you want to think about the provisioning process - how will you grant access to the system to new users? Who does this? Again, by separating the database user who can insert records into "users", you can avoid stupid bugs where page in your system does more than you think it does. With this kind of system, there are usually several steps that make up the provisioning process. Make sure you separate out the privileges for those tasks from the regular user privileges.
Edit
Provisioning is the word for setting up a service for a new user (I think it comes from the telephony world, where phone companies will talk about provisioning a new service on an existing phone line). It usually includes a whole bunch of business processes - and each step in the process must succeed for the next one to start. So, in your app, you may need to set up a new user account, validate their email address, set up storage space etc. Each of those steps needs to be considered as a step in the process, not just a single task.
Finally, while you're doing this, you may as well think about different levels of privilege. Will your system merit different types of user? Photographers, who can upload work, reviewers who can't? If that's a possible feature extension, you may want to build support for that now, even if the only type of user you support on go-live is photographer.
|
Would You Want to "Reunify" with China?By: Don Feder GrassTopsUSA.com | Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A communist apparatchik is unhappy with a column I wrote on Taiwan. How sad.
Recently, I did an opinion piece for The Washington Times on the rejection of Taiwan’s latest bid for United Nations membership. In it, I commented on the palpable unfairness of denying a voice in the international forum to the 23 million people of Taiwan.
This elicited a letter to the editor from Chu Maoming, Press Counselor at the D.C. embassy of the so-called People’s Republic of China. (The "people" have no more to do with running the People’s Republic than I have with running General Motors.)
"There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China’s territory," Chu lectured. "China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will brook no division." The authoritarian tone here ("will brook no division") is reminiscent of the way China’s emperors used to sign their decrees: "Hear and tremblingly obey!"
To validate China’s claim to the people of Taiwan, the PRC flak cited the fact that more than 160 nations recognize the "one-China" principle and have diplomatic relations with Beijing.
And prior to World War II, almost every nation on earth (this one included) had diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany.
Before the fall of communism in Russia, most governments recognized the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – the official name for the Bolshevik conspiracy that seized power in 1917. Today, the average Russian is free to admit that the U.S.S.R. had no legitimacy or rightful authority.
Marxists can’t seem to understand that controlling territory and people confers no right to do so – no moral authority. If I take possession of your home at gunpoint and hold you hostage, am I your government? What if – through bribes and intimidation – I could get your neighbors to recognize my rule?
But Chu was on a roll. "The Chinese government has been consistently engaged in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and achieving the peaceful reunification of China," Chu declared. Of course it has – in the same way that Japan consistently engaged in maintaining peace and stability in East Asia from 1937 to 1945.
Beijing’s peace-and-stability offensive has included 1) stationing 800 medium-range missiles on its coast near Taiwan 2) increasing military spending by double-digits for better than a decade 3) test-firing missiles toward Taiwan in 1996, to intimidate its people during their first direct presidential election 4) passing its infamous Anti-Succession Law in 2005, pledging to invade Taiwan whenever it believes the Taiwanese are taking unspecified steps toward "independence" and 5) periodically threatening nuclear war if the U.S. attempts to interfere with "reunification."
War is peace. Slavery is freedom. And the Chinese communists need spokesmen whose pronouncements sound less like propaganda posters.
Two things must be understood at the outset: Firstly, Taiwan has a government; China does not. China has a regime – a gang with guns that rules by brute force and with no one’s consent but its own.
Secondly, this is not about Taiwan’s "reunification" with China, but the incorporation of 23 million Taiwanese into the People’s Republic of China – the aforesaid ruthless, vicious totalitarian state.
Over the last century, Taiwan’s connection with the mainland has been tenuous, at best. Since its establishment in 1949, the People's Republic of China has not controlled Taiwan for so much as a day.
When Beijing’s flunkies speak of "reunification" they’re talking about consigning the people of Taiwan to one of the most dismal dictatorships on earth.
In its 2006 survey ("Freedom In The World") Freedom House, perhaps the premiere human rights group, has this to say about Taiwan (which it rates one of the two freest nations in Asia) – "Citizens of Taiwan can change their government democratically," "The Taiwanese press is vigorous and active," "Taiwanese of all faiths can worship freely;" "Freedom of assembly and association are well respected:" and "Taiwan’s judiciary is independent, and trials are public and generally fair."
Of the People’s Republic of China, Freedom House observes:
• "The Chinese government continued to restrict political rights and repress critics of the regime in 2005. Restrictions on communication became more severe."• "The Chinese state closely monitors political activity and uses vaguely worded, national security regulations to justify detainment or imprisonment of those who are politically active without party approval."• The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) "possesses a monopoly on political power." The nation ostensibly is governed by the 3,000-member National People’s Congress. In reality, the Congress rubber-stamps decisions of a 9-member standing committee of the CCP Politburo.• "Freedom of expression is severely limited in China. All media are owned by state or party institutions and barred from criticizing senior CCP leaders, government policy and state ideology."• "China regularly blocks websites it deems politically threatening." In 2005, Beijing shut down over a quarter of the nation’s 573,755 websites.• "Though constitutionally recognized, religious freedom is accorded little respect. Atheism is taught in the schools."• "Chinese workers are not allowed to form independent labor unions."• "The party controls the judiciary. The CCP directs verdicts and sentences, particularly in politically sensitive cases." Verdicts are predetermined; trials are window-dressing.• Sixty-five criminal offenses carry the death penalty.• According to official figures, in 2005, there were over 87,000 "public order disturbances" – everything from scuffles with the police to peaceful protests – most brutally suppressed.
That’s an overview. To get the full flavor of daily life in this police state, you need to look a bit deeper.
• The nation’s one-child-per-family policy has led to forced abortions and infanticide and fueled the nation’s sex industry, due to a shortage of women.• Even the mildest protest can result in harsh treatment. In December 2004, a housing advocate in Beijing was arrested for "disturbing the social order." His crime was applying for a permit to hold a demonstration.• The regime has over 1,000 "re-education-through- labor" camps scattered around the country. At these slave-labor camps, as well as in the rest of China’s penal system, torture is ubiquitous.• Amnesty International reported that in 2003, in the PRC: "Torture and ill-treatment remained widespread in many state institutions. Common methods included kicking, beating, electric shocks, suspension by the arms, shackling in painful positions, and sleep and food deprivation. Women in detention were vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse."• In August 2005, Chinese journalist Zhu Wanxiang was sentenced to 10 years in prison for reporting on rural unrest. Also in 2005, independent journalist Shi Tao received the same sentence for "leaking state secrets abroad." The state secrets? The presence of overseas dissidents in China to commemorate the 15th. anniversary of Tiananmen Square.• In the Marxist Middle Kingdom, you can go to jail for taking part in a demonstration, applying for a permit to hold a demonstration, reporting on a demonstration, posting something about a demonstration on a website or representing someone arrested during a demonstration. Gao Zhisheng, a prominent human rights lawyer, hasn’t been seen since he was seized by police on August 15.• Conditions in China’s factories are abysmal. In the toy industry, wages range from 6 cents to 40 cents an hour. Workers as young as 12 (the average age is 15) work up to 19-hour days handling toxic chemicals in 104-degree temperatures.• Also last year, Li Xintao, formerly a worker at the Huamei Garment factory in Shandong province, went to prison for 5 years for "disturbing public order and government institutions." His heinous offense consisted of trying to collect wages owed him by a bankrupt state company.• There are credible reports of organ harvesting, in Chinese prisons and labor camps. Victims include prisoners of conscience, among them members of the Falun Gong. • On July 29 of this year, police in a suburb of Hangzhou used electric stun batons to break up a demonstration by 3,000 Christians who were protesting the demolition of a house church (as all unauthorized churches are called).• On July 19, 2003, Deng Shiying died two days after her release from the Jilin Women’s Prison in Changchun City. Deng, who was serving a seven-year sentence for producing and distributing material describing human rights abuses committed against Falun Gong members, was beaten by other inmates at the direction of guards.
In China, the regime goes to extraordinary lengths to suppress any religious activity it can’t control. Catholic bishops loyal to Rome (as opposed to the puppet Patriotic Catholic Church), are routinely imprisoned.
The regime has a morbid fear of any organization which could conceivably challenge the party – be it a church, labor movement, independent association of journalists or lawyers or even a meditation cult. The more popular the cause, the more brutal the repression.
That’s what China is today – a huge, border-to-border detention facility for 1.2 billion inmates where human rights are non-existent and democracy is a distant dream.
At the end of the "reunification" road lies a maximum-security prison for the people of Taiwan.
When communist apparatchiks speak glowingly of the goal of "achieving peaceful reunification of China" that’s the destination they have in mind.
The people of Taiwan are being ordered to submit to rule by a criminal gang that has spent the past 57 years starving, torturing and killing Chinese on the mainland – from the Great Leap Forward to the Cultural Revolution to the Tiananmen Square massacre to the suppression of Falun Gong to yesterday’s raid on a house church.
Would you like to be reunified with the People’s Republic of China? Neither would the Taiwanese.
Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer who is now a political/communications consultant. He also maintains his own website, DonFeder.com.
We have implemented a new commenting system. To use it you must login/register with disqus. Registering is simple and can be done while posting this comment itself. Please contact gzenone [at] horowitzfreedomcenter.org if you have any difficulties. |
Follow & Subscribe
Kare Design Sputnik Hanging Lamp discounted at Achica
We have mentioned Achica a few times – it’s an online ‘club’ that does short-term clearance sales of interesting brands. Indeed, they’ve got a clearance of Design House Stockholm right now, which is well worth a look. But we’ve picked out something from elsewhere on the site – this Kare Design Sputnik Hanging Lamp.
It’s a stunning, 1960s-inspired centrepiece for a room, made of chrome-plated metal with 20x 20 watt bulbs providing the light in the room. Bulbs, you’ll not be suprised to hear, are not included.
The entire structure is about 54cm high and around 53cm wide and usually sells for £249. But for the next day or so, you can get one from Achica for £149. So if you fancy a Sputnik, don’t hang about. Note that you do have to register at Achica to enter the site, but it only takes seconds and is free. |
Harvey, Louisiana
Harvey is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. Harvey is on the south side (referred to as the "West Bank") of the Mississippi River, within the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. The majority-minority population was 20,348 at the 2010 census, down from 22,226 at the 2000 census.
Geography
Harvey is located east of the Intracoastal Canal on the Mississippi River, at coordinates . It is bordered to the east by Gretna, to the west by Marrero, to the southwest by Woodmere, and to the north, across the Mississippi, by New Orleans. The closest highway crossing of the river is the Crescent City Connection northeast of Harvey.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Harvey CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 7.16%, are water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 20,348 people, 7,544 households, and 5,160 families residing in the CDP. There were 8,895 housing units, of which 1,351, or 15.2%, were vacant. The racial makeup of the CDP was 43.5% White, 41.1% African American, 0.4% Native American, 6.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 5.6% some other race, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.4% of the population.
Of the 7,544 households, 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.5% were married couples living together, 20.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.6% were non-families. 25.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.1% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67, and the average family size was 3.17.
In the CDP, 24.3% of the population were under the age of 18, 10.0% were from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.
For the period 2012-2016, the median annual income for a household in the CDP was $37,058, and the median income for a family was $52,173. Male full-time workers had a median income of $40,205 versus $32,500 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $22,344. About 17.4% of families and 21.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.4% of those under age 18 and 19.4% of those age 65 or over.
History
During the French colonial era, the first owner of this land was Jean-Baptiste d'Estrehan de Beaupre, royal treasurer and comptroller for the French Louisiana colony. He established a plantation here. He used his slaves to dig the ditch that would become the Harvey Canal, cutting south from the banks of the Mississippi River to the back of Bayou Barataria, to provide better access.
Years later, d'Estrehan paid German settlers in the area to work on widening the ditch; they used wooden shovels. He paid them with small parcels of land located downriver in Mechanicsham, now the city of Gretna. D'Estrehan built his home where the ditch met the river banks, naming the settlement "Cosmopolite City".
Harvey was founded as a company town at its founding, developed by Joseph Hale Harvey (born March 7, 1816). During this time, Joseph Harvey would rename Cosmopolite City after his family surname. Harvey's wife, née Louise Destrehan (1827-1903), was a great-granddaughter of Jean Baptiste d'Estrehan. She was the daughter of Nicolas Noel d'Estrehan and granddaughter of Jean Noel Destréhan.
Harvey and Destrehan initiated construction of the canal locks leading to the Mississippi. Their son, Horace Harvey (c. 1860-1938), carried on development of the canal and its surroundings.
21st-century legal case
In 2003, Harvey resident Patrick O'Neal Kennedy was sentenced to death after being convicted of violently raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter. His case was appealed and ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court. It ruled in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), that the death penalty for rape, even of a child, constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. They argued that the child or adult victim had not lost their life. By 2008, few states in the United States still had death penalty statutes that authorized capital punishment for rape.
Government and infrastructure
The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice operates the New Orleans Metro Office in Harvey.
The United States Postal Service operates the Harvey Post Office.
Education
Harvey's public schools are operated by the Jefferson Parish Public School System, which has its headquarters in Harvey.
Public high schools:
Helen Cox High School
West Jefferson High School
Some residents are zoned to Gretna Middle School in Gretna, and some are zoned to Marrero Middle School in Marrero.
Woodland West Elementary School is in Harvey. Ella C. Pittman Elementary School is in Marrero, adjacent to Harvey and serving portions of Harvey. Other schools outside of Harvey serving portions: Gretna Park and McDonogh #26 in Gretna, Cox Elementary in Timberlane, Collins Elementary (formerly Ames) in Marrero. Woodmere Elementary in Woodmere is nearby, but its attendance zone does not cover the Harvey CDP.
Public kindergartens:
Harvey Kindergarten Center
In regards to advanced studies academies, residents are zoned to the Gretna Academy.
Previously Homedale Elementary in Harvey served portions of the city. In 2012 Homedale Elementary closed. A plan called for Homedale students to be rezoned to McDonogh 26 Elementary in Gretna.
Private schools
St. Ville Academy for High School Preparation
Homedale School
St Rosalie Elementary School
Jefferson Parish Library operates the Jane O'Brien Chatelain West Bank Regional Library in Harvey. The facility opened in 1990 and is the largest public library in the West Bank of Jefferson Parish.
Notable people
Patrick Connick, the District 84 Republican state representative, practices law in Marrero and resides in Harvey.
Fats Domino, rock and roll singer and pianist
Girod Jackson III, former state representative for District 87 in Jefferson Parish; contractor in Harvey
Patrick O'Neal Kennedy (plaintiff in Kennedy v. Louisiana)
Greg Monroe, NBA player
Laremy Tunsil, NFL player
Ebony Woodruff, Democratic member since 2013 of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 87, resides in Harvey.
References
Category:Census-designated places in Louisiana
Category:Census-designated places in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Category:Census-designated places in New Orleans metropolitan area
Category:Louisiana populated places on the Mississippi River |
She and 20 other members of the Whittier Area Peace and Justice Coalition were at one of the city’s busiest intersections Monday night with their anti-Iraq war signs marking the death of the 4,000th American military member killed in action in the conflict.
“We are just bringing awareness to yet another grim milestone of this war,” Moore said.
The deaths of four U.S. soldiers in a roadside bombing late Sunday in southern Baghdad propelled to 4,000 the number of American troops and civilians killed in the war that began more than five years ago.
“We’re losing too many of our young people,” said Moore, 50, as she stood at the corner of Whittier Boulevard and Painter Avenue.
Drivers honked their horns and passengers held out their hands displaying the peace sign.
“It’s so different now,” said Orlando Terrazas, 54 of Whittier. “We used to get the middle finger aimed at us.”
The group began protesting the war at the same corner a few months before it began in March 2003.
“The toll, both in human lives and dollars, has devastated this country,” he said.
For Whittier residents Arturo and Rossana Cambron, of Whittier, the war is deeply personal.
The couple’s 24-year-old son, whose name they declined to say, is an Iraqi war veteran, who’ll be returning with his infantry unit in June.
“He doesn’t want to go back,” said Arturo, 54. “He came back whole, but he was mentally injured.”
Their son has daily flashbacks and nightmares.
“He understands we’re against the war,” said Rossana, 51.
Another coalition member personally touched by the war, is Bill Miller, a retired Methodist minister.
His neighbor, Kelly Bolor, of Whittier was killed early in the war.
“He was a fine person, a great guy,” said Miller, 74, as he held a sign that read, “Jesus: Remember the Prince of Peace.”
Scott Ratigan, 39, of Whittier has been out at the same corner every Sunday since before the war started.
Sandra Molina is a native Southern Californian, the oldest of three children raised by a single mom who named her after Dodgers great Sandy Koufax. She grew up in Monterey Park, but was schooled in Tarzana, through busing, and East Los Angeles. She is a proud alumna of Garfield High School in East Los Angeles; Rio Hondo College in Whittier; and Cal State University at Long Beach, where she earned a BA degree in English Literature. She began a career as a freelance writer and photographer in the San Gabriel Valley in 1997, in addition to being a writer/photographer for GoGirlsMusic.com as its Los Angeles correspondent. She has been a reporter with the San Gabriel Valley News Group since 2007 writing features, breaking news, entertainment, sports and crime. Outside of the newsroom, she enjoys music, reading, going to the beach and spending time with family and friends.
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing [email protected]. |
Sounds like there’s more father/son time in Jon Gosselin’s future! The father of eight was allegedly awarded custody of 14-year-old Collin on Dec. 4, and his close friend told HL EXCLUSIVELY how happy Jon is.
When Collin Gosselin, 14, leaves his treatment center, he could be headed straight to his dad’s house! That’s because Jon Gosselin, 41, was given temporary custody of his son on Dec. 4, a source revealed to RADAR — and Jon thrilled! “He did everything and anything to get his son, I know that,” Jon’s hairdresser and close friend, Eric Rodriguez, shared with Hollywoodlife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “He’s just a great dad. His son is so attached to him. I cut his hair a couple of days ago, and he seems super happy that the kid is at his house right now.” Aw!
The father of eight showed up to the Reading, Pennsylvania court on Tuesday morning around 9:15. He was wearing a black suit, and the outlet’s insider noted, “He looked very serious but calm. He looked like he had just one thing on his mind: to get custody of Collin.” And that’s reportedly exactly what Jon got! He emerged from the courtroom a little over an hour later, smiling after his alleged victory. “He looked really happy,” the source added. His ex, Kate Gosselin, 43, was reportedly missing from the morning’s proceedings. While she had previously tried to delay the Dec. 4 court date, her motion was denied.
Jon already has been awarded custody of their daughter Hannah, but he filed for full legal and physical custody of Collin back in November, which would go into effect after the 14-year-old was released from the inpatient center he’d been staying in. Jon was confident he’d win, a source close to the father of eight told Hollywoodlife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “Jon has been visiting Collin consistently at his live-in school,” the insider said. “He’s been incredibly dedicated to his son. His efforts have paid off because when Collin was home for his weekend visit there was clearly a very strong bond between father and son. Jon, Collin and Hannah make a great little family unit.”
And it sounds like he’s found the success he so craved! While neither Jon nor Kate have confirmed this major news, Jon tends to keep his fans regularly updated on his kids whether they’re picking out Christmas trees with him or celebrating their birthdays. So if he really was awarded temporary custody of Collin, his followers just might be the first to know!
Hollywoodlife.com has reached out to Jon and Kate Gosselin’s reps for comment. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.