text: PARTISANS have designed Grotto, a sauna located on San Souci Island, in the Georgian Bay area of Ontario, Canada. Grottos, historically, have been known as natural or artifi cial caves that are embedded deep behind the curvature of streams, and thus discovered by those who would take the time to explore. As a free-standing sauna, the Grotto uses two high performance ovens that ensure efficiency and control. There are vents and fans in-place that allow the building to breathe seasonally and prevent rot or mold in the structure. The rest of the systems were based on controlled air flow. "We used insulation on the building to not only protect its components from heating up or cooling down too quickly, but also to make the Grotto more energy efficient. The specific type of wood, Cedar, was then selected based on a number of factors; such as resistance to rot, aroma, colour, local sources, and quality. Furthermore, the internal structure of the Grotto was tightly sealed and a layer of energy efficient aluminum foil was adhered to all internal surfaces creating a convective air plenum between the internal wood panels and the space in which they were mounted. This allows for the wood to expand and contract evenly with even heat movement all around. The space behind the wood panels created convection currents that allow the skin to breathe through the ventilation pores that were carved into seats and seams of the cedar panels. The result is a sculpted space, a sensual experience, and a sophisticated exercise in building science." Photography by Jonathan Friedman and PARTISANS.


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Capitalizing on a growing body of evidence that comics can encourage reluctant readers to read more and talented students to gain in knowledge and creativity, The Maryland State Department of Education has partnered with Diamond Comic Book Distributors and elicited the help of members of local school systems, higher education, adult and corrections education, and libraries. The goal is to develop a Maryland plan and instructional strategies that support the use of graphic literature in elementary, secondary, adult, and corrections education. This initiative which is sponsored by State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick and the President of Diamond Comics, Steve Geppi.
The Maryland Comic Book Initiative
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) partnered with Diamond Comic Book Distributors, the nation's largest comic book distributor, to create a Maryland Comic Book Initiative called Comics in the Classroom. The purpose of the initiative is to introduce and encourage the use of award-winning and other credible graphic novels and comic book materials in classroom instruction. These materials are not to be a replacement of traditional texts and instruction, but rather an additional means to enhance reading instruction by motivating students to read more and better. The innovative programs developed for Phase 1 of the program include lessons and suggested materials for elementary grades first through fourth. These lessons are based on Maryland's Voluntary State Curriculum. Specialized instructional lessons designed with Disney Publishing Worldwide were piloted in Maryland and evaluated by the University of Maryland Baltimore County. These lessons and other parts of the program have received widespread national and international attention.
The Disney/MSDE Comics in the Classroom Toolkit - Background Information
In 2004, MSDE brought together a panel of distinguished teachers, principals, and comic book experts to brainstorm ideas related to the use of comics in Maryland classrooms. The idea was enthusiastically embraced and teacher team members and the MSDE scoped out an instructional program for Maryland. The MSDE then began contract work with Disney Publishing Worldwide to create an instructional toolkit featuring Disney characters that could be used by teachers to motivate students and expand their reading skills. The program which was developed is referred to as the Comics in the Classroom Toolkit. It is geared to third and perhaps fourth grade students and features ten lessons complete with lesson-by-lesson guidelines, reading, vocabulary, and writing exercises, along with comic book creation exercises and other handouts for students. Toolkit reading materials feature classic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. A set of 30 comic books is included in each classroom kit. Sample lessons can be found the following URL: bookshelf.diamondcomics.com. Follow the link for Md Comic Book Initiative.
Recently, eight Maryland elementary schools piloted this program at the third grade and we learned that the students LOVED reading graphic stories and gained important reading, writing, and thinking skills. The Disney materials were vetted by a state committee and evaluated by the education department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). The results of the evaluation were very positive.
Project Continuation in 2008
In a new phase of the initiative starting spring 2008, approximately 200 Maryland third grade classrooms will work with MSDE in providing additional feedback on the Toolkit lessons. In addition, the Maryland Comic Book Initiative will continue to work with Diamond and numerous publishers to offer guidance and ideas for instructional programs utilizing graphic novels and comics for students of all ages.
Steve Geppi, Darla Strouse, Dr. Nancy Grasmick, John Snyder of Diamond, and Jonathan Yaged of Disney Publishing Worldwide.
May 3, 2007
Comics In The Classroom Video, May 3, 2007
Fourth graders from George Lisby Elementary at Hillsdale in Harford County visit the Geppi Entertainment Museum downtown by Camden Yards, as Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick launches the "Comics In The Classroom" initiative.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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When you install programs or games on any Windows version and build, you may periodically encounter an error 5, which provides the system with the error message like «Setup was unable to create the directory. Error 5: Access is denied». Most often this occurs on systems where there are multiple user accounts and on this page we present ways to correct the error 5 in Windows OS.
Reasons of error 5 occurrence in Windows
To install programs or games, Windows automatically creates a temporary copy of the installation files from the disk or flash drive to your hard disk, places them in a special directory and installs from there. This temporary directory is located at% USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp or % WINDIR%\Temp. And if the system cannot get access to this directory or cannot run a particular file from that directory Windows will automatically show an error 5.
The reason is the behavior of the system with the most banal lack of rights to read and write data from the temporary folder with a specific user.
How to fix error 5
- In order that the system has received all the necessary rights to work with the temporary folders and files that are in it, sometimes it is enough to run the installer of game or application on behalf of the Administrator. If you use a normal user account on your PC, you may need an administrator password.
- In order to enable access to work with the folder to all PC users, you must perform the following steps:
- Press Win + R.
- Enter %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\.
- Select the Temp folder, and then open its properties, using the right mouse button.
- Click on Security tab.
- Select «CREATOR-OWNER» in the category «Groups and Users».
- In the new window set permits of full access and confirm.
- The same operation must be run with the parameters «system», «TrustedInstaller», «Community» and «Administrators».
- All the steps in method 2 can also be done with a directory located at %WINDIR%\.
To enter your changes, restart the computer and try to install programs or games.
- If the above methods do not give the expected result, you can go to a slightly different way and simply change the address of the temporary folder by changing Windows settings
- Create a directory at the root of the system drive and give it any name. For example, it can be a directory Temp. Фddress should look like this: C: \ Temp, where C — is the letter of the system partition, and Temp — the name of the new directory.
- Open the properties of your computer, right click on the My Computer icon.
- In the left column of the window that opens, locate the «Advanced System Settings» and open them.
- In the System window, click «Advanced» and then «Environment Variables».
- Select Temp folder and set it to a new address.
After the changes required try to restart your computer and to install programs. Error 5 will no longer disturb the users of your PC.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Romantic Table for Two
Create a cozy atmosphere when making a special meal on Valentine's Day. Begin by draping the table in an elegant cloth with white and red hues. Place a lovely Heart-Shaped Napkin (instructions below) on top of each dinner plate.
Then add some ambiance by creating Rose Candleholders. Here's how:
 - Cut the stem off of a large rose, making sure the bottom is even. Use your fingers to fully open the rose. If necessary, remove some center petals so there's a small open area in the middle.
 - Place a tea light candle in a clear tea light holder; set inside the rose. Place the Rose Candleholder on a small saucer or candle base. To prevent wilting, make these flower candleholders just before sitting down to dinner.
Heart-Shaped Napkin
 1. Place a square napkin on a flat surface. Fold two opposite side edges in so that they meet in the center, making a rectangle.
 2. Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise. Rotate the napkin so that the single fold is on the bottom.
 3. With your finger in the center of the rectangle, bring up one end of the napkin until it touches your finger.
 4. Bring up the other end so that the two ends touch and a point is formed on the bottom.
 5. Tuck under the two upper corners to create a heart shape.


Let's Make Robots!
Possible robot reactions
Mickey_Mouse's picture
To other users,
 I was wondering, is it possible for the robot to react at voice commands?
And what actions could a robot do generally?
Another batch of questions are: It says that a robot has a personality. Does it? In what way can we witness it?
Could it's actions be based on their personality or does it only apply to artifical intelligence?
I hope I can get some advice. Thank you.


text:
quote object => object
Arguments and Values:
object---an object; not evaluated.
The quote special operator just returns object.
The consequences are undefined if literal objects (including quoted objects) are destructively modified.
(setq a 1) => 1 (quote (setq a 3)) => (SETQ A 3) a => 1 'a => A ''a => (QUOTE A) '''a => (QUOTE (QUOTE A)) (setq a 43) => 43 (list a (cons a 3)) => (43 (43. 3)) (list (quote a) (quote (cons a 3))) => (A (CONS A 3)) 1 => 1 '1 => 1 "foo" => "foo" '"foo" => "foo" (car '(a b)) => A '(car '(a b)) => (CAR (QUOTE (A B))) #(car '(a b)) => #(CAR (QUOTE (A B))) '#(car '(a b)) => #(CAR (QUOTE (A B)))
Affected By: None.
Exceptional Situations: None.
Section 3.1 (Evaluation), Section 2.4.3 (Single-Quote), Section 3.2.1 (Compiler Terminology)
The textual notation 'object is equivalent to (quote object); see Section 3.2.1 (Compiler Terminology).
Some objects, called self-evaluating objects, do not require quotation by quote. However, symbols and lists are used to represent parts of programs, and so would not be useable as constant data in a program without quote. Since quote suppresses the evaluation of these objects, they become data rather than program.


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What Does Zinc Rich Primer Mean?
A zinc rich primer is a chemical substance that contains high concentrations of the silver-white metal zinc. Zinc rich primers are used by many industries as a preparatory coating to protect iron or steel substrates against corrosion.
Corrosionpedia Explains Zinc Rich Primer
Zinc rich primers are unique from regular primers because they contain zinc, and therefore possess highly sacrificial anodic properties. High concentrations of zinc dust act sacrificially when in direct contact with steel by providing cathodic protection and galvanizing properties.
Galvanizing is a corrosion protection process for steel or iron, in which the substrate is coated with zinc to prevent it from rusting. The galvanization process entails immersing a clean, oxide-free iron or steel object into molten zinc, which then forms a zinc coating that is metallurgically bonded to the object's surface.
Unlike regular paints that provide protection by generating an impermeable barrier between the metal and atmospheric moisture, zinc rich primers provide cathodic protection.
There are two types of zinc primers: organic and inorganic. Organic zinc rich primers are often used in the form of a moisture cured urethane zinc primer.


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Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982)
A. Ernest Fitzgerald claimed that he lost his employment with the Air Force because he gave testimony before Congress that was critical of his employer. He tried to add President Nixon as a defendant in his suit, but Nixon argued that a President cannot be sued for actions taken while in office. The trial and appellate court rejected the President's claim of immunity, and the case went to the Supreme Court.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the President is entitled to absolute immunity from liability for damages based on his official acts.
Justice Lewis Powell wrote for the majority. He noted that the Court had never before ruled on the scope of presidential immunity. Many public officials have a limited, or "qualified," immunity that applies so long as they have acted in "good faith." Some other officials, such as judges and prosecutors, have been given an unlimited, or "absolute," immunity because of the special nature of their duties. Giving the President only qualified immunity, Justice Powell argued, would make his actions subject to review by the judicial branch and might compromise the separation of powers. Lawsuits could distract the President from his official duties. The scope of the President's authority and responsibility is so broad that it is not realistic to restrict his immunity. Powell wrote that determining "good faith" would mean that the President's motivations would have to be examined in each case, which would be highly intrusive.
Justice Byron White's dissent argued that the majority's rule was too broad. Under it, a President could "deliberately cause serious injury to any number of citizens even though he knows his conduct violates a statute or tramples on the constitutional rights of those who are injured."
The Supreme Court revisited presidential immunity in Clinton v. Jones, 1997. Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton while he was President of the United States, accusing him of sexual misconduct when he was Governor of Arkansas. Clinton argued that the case should be dismissed, because the President has absolute immunity from suit.
The Supreme Court noted that Nixon v. Fitzgerald gave the President "absolute immunity from damages liability predicated on his official acts," but did not extend this immunity to actions that were clearly outside the scope of his presidential duties. The major rationale of Fitzgerald was to remove the possibility that the threat of litigation would make the President "unduly cautious in the discharge of his official duties." Jones's allegations involved acts that allegedly occurred before Clinton became President, so Fitzgerald's reasoning did not apply and Jones should be allowed to bring her case.
Finally, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the trial court judge would have the discretion to schedule the various aspects of the case to minimize disruption of the President's official duties. The Court ruled that it is not appropriate, however, to automatically require the plaintiff to wait until the end of the President's term in office.
Source: ©2005 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
- Members of the Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S.Supreme Court Justices: Biographies
- The Supreme Court: Justices, Landmark Decisions, Timelines
- Supreme Court Facts
- Encyclopedia: Supreme Court, United States
- Milestone Cases in Supreme Court History
- Ten Important Supreme Court Decisions in Black History
Information Please®, ©2005 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using naturalistic explanations in ethics.
Answer to relevant QuestionsAs they occur in the following statements, label the reasons for the conclusion as appeals to the motive (M), the act (A), or the consequences (C).a. Although you intended well, what you did was bad because it caused more...What is the history of the idea of universal human rights? And how is this history susceptible to the charge that it is Eurocentric?1. How does Gandhi describe "the religion that underlies all religions"?2. What is Gandhi's argument for his belief in the goodness of God? Is his argument persuasive?3. What does Gandhi mean when he says that to see...1. How does Pojman link ethnocentrism to relativism?2. How does Pojman explain the way that the diversity thesis and the dependency thesis lead to relativism?3. According to Pojman, what sorts of "absurd consequences"...1. What are the two sorts of motion of which the body of animals, including humans, are capable, according to Hobbes?2. What kinds of motions are appetite and aversion? How are these related to love and hate?3. How are good...
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How to "leave traces". Mario Botta at Cersaie
Date:September 28, 2010
Why is there existence and not nothingness? This question has formed the basis for centuries of western thought, writes Turinese philosopher Maurizio Ferraris in his "Rational aesthetics". And yet for centuries, humans (and, Ferraris believes, this should also be the work of philosophers) have preferred to ask themselves how they can "leave traces" of themselves beyond their short allotted span of existence suspended between centuries and millennia of natural and human non-existence. These issues provide the theoretical background to the debate between Ferraris and the Swiss architect Mario Botta that will be held in the Architecture Gallery at Cersaie at 2 p.m. on 29 September.
Whereas the philosophers of old spent their lives contemplating the nature of existence, the architects were busy building the pyramids, the ancient Greek temples and the Great Wall of China. And in all likelihood even the megaliths of Stonehenge were to some extent the result of an architecture project. "Leaving traces" is a debate, moderated by Fulvio Irace, professor of history of architecture at Milan Polytechnic, between the creator (the architect) and the decipherer of traces (the philosopher, or at least those like Ferraris who have an interest in phenomenology). It is a debate that ranges from the themes of history and remembrance to the behaviour of humans in the places in which they live, resulting in the countless traces that are left in the landscape.
This is a theme that takes on even greater significance in today's world dominated by an immaterial culture. The age of technical reproducibility of works of art appears to have ushered in an inexorable process of obsolesce of media: from the original 78 rpm gramophone record through to vinyl LPs and modern compact discs, in turn relegated to the attic to make room for MP3 players; likewise photography is an indelible art form rendered simpler – but also less durable – by digital technology. We cannot but help wonder how many traces will be left of ourselves and our culture in 20, 50 or 500 years' time. Academic studies have shown that this theme is not just a natural product of our existence, but also a condition that in a certain sense precedes our capacity to think. "Are we sure," writes Ferraris, that the sequence thought-word-writing is correct?".
What I propose is simply a less Cartesian view of the nature of thought, guided by the hypothesis that archi-writing constitutes the condition of possibility of thought."
From archi-writing to architecture, Mario Botta has long been exploring the theme of memory, of traces. The challenge that he faces is that of saving architecture from the cruel destiny that appears to be in store for the other arts, victims of dematerialisation. Which architect today has the ambition – or indeed the courage – to leave a mark? How many of our buildings reflect the sensibility of contemporary culture and how many of these buildings will remain for posterity? This is a dilemma that the Swiss architect has addressed in fifty years of professional activity designing buildings that bring together present and past, memory and future, without nostalgia or regret.
This "critical reason" of the fragility of the models imposed by globalisation is explored at Cersaie by the creator and the decipherer of traces. The goal? To ensure that Andy Warhol's prophesy – that in the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes, whether on YouTube, Facebook or some other non-place – never comes true. Architecture remains one of the principal solutions – perhaps the only one at the present time – to the human need to leave behind a trace of one's existence.


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Two years Post Doc Opportunity at the University of Liege
Research fields: Geophysics – Soil physics – Agrogeophysics
Keywords: Dynamic process imaging – electrical resistivity tomography – electromagnetic induction – monitoring – pedophysics
Career Stage: Post-doctoral researcher
Position length: two years
The project CHAR focuses on the responses of cropping systems to the variations of pedological and hydraulic soil properties induced by charcoal accumulation over more than 150 years.
The system is analogue to biochar (a carbon rich solid phase produced by pyrolysis) accumulation, a soil amendment whose long-term impacts on the soil-plant system are yet to be investigated.
The project targets multiple charcoal-enriched soil spots and their adjacent reference soils. As such, we will be able to study the long-term response of the soil-plant system to charcoal enrichment.
The project is a multidisciplinary research project bringing together remote sensing, soil chemistry, soil physics and geophysics in a team of 8 persons.
Scientific research interaction:
There will be strong collaboration between the various researchers in the project CHAR.
Objectives: To use geophysical methods such as ERT/IP and EMI to assess the spatio-temporal patterns of soil hydraulic properties and root water uptake and their relationship to charcoal enrichment (supervised by Profs. F. Nguyen and S. Garré).
A PhD degree in applied geophysics (near-surface, hydroor agro-geophysics), with a strong background (Ms) in geophysics, physics, soil, engineering, applied mathematics or related discipline.
A strong background in physics or geophysics, applied mathematics, and numerical methods together with field experience is an asset.
Interest in soil science and agriculture is a plus. The candidate is expected to have several publications as first author in peer-reviewed international journals.
At the time of selection, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Belgium for more than 24 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment.
Short stays, such as holidays, are not taken into account.
Working language: English
Interested candidates should send a CV, a motivation letter and the names and addresses of two referees before the end of February 2019 by e-mail to Frederic Nguyen (_EMAIL_).
Feel free to contact us (_EMAIL_ (Coordinator), _EMAIL_ (promoter), _EMAIL_ (promoter)) for specific questions prior to submitting your application.
Looking forward to receiving your application, Sarah Garré, Frédéric Nguyen, Bernard Tychon and Jean-Thomas Cornelis
For more information on the University, follow this link:


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Treating "Burning Mouth" Depends on What's Triggering it
posted: Mar. 15, 2020.
There's a burning sensation in your mouth even though you haven't had anything hot to eat or drink. It's an experience you've had for years, often accompanied by mouth dryness, tingling or numbness that leaves you irritable, anxious or depressed.
The root causes for Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) remain elusive, although there appear to be links to diabetes, acid reflux, menopausal hormonal changes or even psychological issues. Although we may not be able to pinpoint the root cause we can identify contributing factors to BMS through a detailed oral examination and medical history (including drugs you're taking).
Mouth dryness is one of the most common factors for BMS. The lack of lubrication from adequate saliva flow can contribute substantially to the irritating burning sensation. There are a number of causes for mouth dryness, including as a side effect from many medications or other treatments.
We must also consider whether an allergic reaction — the body's over-reaction to a foreign substance — may have a role in your symptoms. Some people react to sodium lauryl sulfate, a foaming agent found in many types of toothpaste, along with whitening substances or flavorings like cinnamon; denture wearers can become allergic to the plastic materials used to construct the denture. These, as well as spicy foods, smoking or alcohol, can irritate or cause the tissues lining the inside of the mouth to peel.
Determining what factors contribute to your symptoms allows us to develop a treatment approach tailored to your situation. If, for example, we've determined your BMS stems from dry mouth as a side effect to medication, we can ask your doctor to prescribe an alternative, increase your water intake when taking pills or stimulate saliva flow. If we identify an allergen as a factor, you can eliminate the substance to reduce symptoms.
You may also need to make changes to your eating and lifestyle habits: stop smoking, reduce your alcohol or coffee consumption and avoid very hot or spicy foods. And look for ways to reduce stress, another contributing factor, through relaxation techniques, exercise or support groups.
It's possible that BMS will resolve itself over time. In the meantime, though, we can help you find ways to alleviate the irritation.
If you would like more information on diagnosing and treating BMS, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article "Burning Mouth Syndrome."


Main Content
Detect vehicles using Faster R-CNN
detector = vehicleDetectorFasterRCNN returns a trained Faster R-CNN (regions with convolution neural networks) object detector for detecting vehicles. Faster R-CNN is a deep learning object detection framework that uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) for detection.
The detector is trained using unoccluded images of the front, rear, left, and right sides of vehicles. The CNN used with the vehicle detector uses a modified version of the MobileNet-v2 network architecture.
Use of this function requires Deep Learning Toolbox™.
The detector is trained using uint8 images. Before using this detector, rescale the input images to the range [0, 255] by using im2uint8 or rescale.
collapse all
Detect cars in a single image and annotate the image with the detection scores. To detect cars, use a Faster R-CNN object detector that was trained using images of vehicles.
Load the pretrained detector.
fasterRCNN = vehicleDetectorFasterRCNN;
Use the detector on a loaded image. Store the locations of the bounding boxes and their detection scores.
I = imread('highway.png');
[bboxes,scores] = detect(fasterRCNN,I);
Annotate the image with the detections and their scores.
title('Detected Vehicles and Detection Scores')
Figure contains an axes. The axes with title Detected Vehicles and Detection Scores contains an object of type image.
Output Arguments
collapse all
Trained Faster R-CNN-based object detector, returned as an fasterRCNNObjectDetector object.
Compatibility Considerations
expand all
Behavior change in future release
Introduced in R2017a


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What Are The Uses Of Nitazoxanide?
Nitazoxanide is used for treating various infections caused by:
- Helminths (parasitic worms)
Diarrhoea caused by the protozoa Cryptosporidium or Giardia is treated by Nitazoxanide. Protozoa may be the cause of diarrhoea lasting more than 7 days. Nitazoxanide is a broad spectrum antiviral and anti-parasitic drug.
What Are The Side Effects Of Nitazoxanide?
Nitazoxanide doesn't usually cause any side effect when taken by a healthy individual. However, some people may experience:
- Headache, vomiting
- Stomach pain, upset stomach
- Excessive urination, discoloured urine
- Flu syndrome, skin rash, fever, itching
What Are The Contraindications Of Nitazoxanide?
Please inform your doctor if you have any of the following conditions:
- Kidney disease
- Liver disease
- A weak immune system like HIV infection


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MIT Technology Review
Machine learning has revealed exactly how much of a Shakespeare play was written by someone else
Literary analysts have long noticed the hand of another author in Shakespeare's Henry VIII. Now a neural network has identified the specific scenes in question—and who actually wrote them.
Photograph of Shakespeare manuscriptPhotograph of Shakespeare manuscript
Photograph of Shakespeare manuscriptAP
For much of his life, William Shakespeare was the house playwright for an acting company called the King's Men that performed his plays on the banks of the River Thames in London. When Shakespeare died in 1616, the company needed a replacement and turned to one of the most prolific and famous playwrights of the time, a man named John Fletcher.
Fletcher's fame has since quelled. But in 1850, a literary analyst named James Spedding noticed a remarkable similarity between Fletcher's plays and passages in Shakespeare's Henry VIII. Spedding concluded that Fletcher and Shakespeare must have collaborated on the play.
The evidence comes from studies of each author's linguistic idiosyncrasies and how they crop up in Henry VIII. For example, Fletcher often writes ye instead of you, and 'em instead of them. He also tended to add the word sir or still or next to a standard pentameter line to create an extra sixth syllable.
These characteristics allowed Spedding and other analysts to suggest that Fletcher must have been involved. But exactly how the play was divided is highly disputed. And other critics have suggested that another English dramatist, Philip Massinger, was actually Shakespeare's coauthor.
Which is why analysts and historians would dearly love to determine, once and for all, who wrote which parts of Henry VIII.
Enter Petr Plecháč at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, who says he has solved the problem using machine learning to identify the authorship of more or less every line of the play. "Our results highly support the canonical division of the play between William Shakespeare and John Fletcher proposed by James Spedding," says Plecháč.
The new approach is straightforward in principle. Machine-learning algorithms have been used for some years to identify distinctive patterns in the way authors write.
The technique uses a body of the author's work to train the algorithm and a different, smaller body of work to test it on. However, because an author's literary style can change throughout his or her lifetime, it is important to ensure that all works have the same style.
Henry VIII authorship
Once the algorithm has learned the style in terms of the most commonly used words and rhythmic patterns, it is able to recognize it in texts it has never seen.
Plecháč follows exactly this technique. He first trains the algorithm to recognize Shakespeare's style using other plays written at the same time as Henry VIII. These plays are The Tragedy of Coriolanus, The Tragedy of Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.
He then trains the algorithm to recognize the work of John Fletcher using plays he wrote at this time—Valentinian, Monsieur Thomas, The Woman's Prize, and Bonduca.
Finally, he lets the algorithm loose on Henry VIII and asks it to determine the author of the text, using a rolling window technique to scroll through the play.
The results are interesting. They tend to agree with Spedding's analysis that Fletcher wrote scenes amounting to almost half the play. However, the algorithm allows a more fine-grained approach that reveals how the authorship sometimes changes not just for new scenes, but also towards the end of previous ones. For example, in Act 3, Scene 2, the model suggests a mixed authorship after line 2081 and finds that Shakespeare takes over completely at line 2200, before the start of Act 4, Scene 1.
Plecháč also trained his model to recognize the work of Philip Massinger but finds little evidence of his involvement. "The participation of Philip Massinger is rather unlikely," he concludes.
That's interesting work that shows how linguists and literary analysts are using machine learning to better understand our literary past.
However, there is much work ahead. For example, when machine vision algorithms were trained to recognize artistic style, computer scientists quickly worked out how to extract a style and apply it to other images, using a technique known as neural style transfer. Overnight, it became possible to give an ordinary photograph the style of a Van Gogh or a Monet.
That raises the question of whether a similar technique is possible for text. Might it be possible to transform an essay, or indeed an article for MIT Technology Review, into the style of Shakespeare or John Fletcher, for example?
Sadly, not yet, other than in the trivial way of replacing word like them with 'em and so on. This is largely because the underlying structure of communication is not well enough understood by linguists or their algorithmic charges.
Ref: : Relative contributions of Shakespeare and Fletcher in Henry VIII: An Analysis Based on Most Frequent Words and Most Frequent Rhythmic Patterns


Budget 2016: What's in it for young people?
The introduction of a sugar tax was the big surprise in today's budget, but in between talking about obesity, pensions, flood defences and tobacco taxes there was some focus on education.
All schools to become academies, with longer school days
Plans to turn all state primary and secondary schools into academies actually came out yesterday; under the scheme schools must convert to academies by 2022 meaning that they control more of their budget and curriculum - taking power away from local authorities. The Conservatives had hailed the plan as good for education, however critics have suggested that turning schools into academies does very little to improve performances.
Proceeds from the sugar tax, to be introduced in 2018, will go towards sport in primary schools. The government expects the amount to be around £530m. An extra £500m will also be made available for education. Secondary schools will also be able to bid for an extra £285m in funding for extra after-school activities.
However, Osborne failed to address opposition concerns on school places, an apparent 'teacher shortage' and oversized classrooms.
Isa changes aimed at first time home buyers
Plans which affect older young people are the changes to Isas, aimed at helping young people save for a first home. The amount you can put into an Isa will rise from £15,240 to £20,000. Osborne also announced the introduction of a new Lifetime Isa, which also has a limit of £20,000. The government will pay a 25% bonus on this, with the limit of paying in £4,000 per year.
That's about it for what directly affects young people. Other major points were a freeze in fuel duty, further cuts of £3.5bn by 2020 and a state-backed scheme for low-paid workers to save.
Budget 2016: What's in it for young people? Budget 2016: What's in it for young people? Reviewed by Admin on 18:42 Rating: 5
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might want to consider purchasing the Bushnell 8 MP Wireless Trail Camera and enjoy all the features that the camera comes with.
How To Pick The Best Underwater Metal Detector
Underwater-metal detectorPicking an underwater metal detector for a beginner might look simple but it a challenge. It relies on some factors that will affect the level and scope of your metal detection. Metal detection can involve treasure hunting which is the most common use of the metal detector or for finding metals for clean ups and extraction.
Underwater metal detectors typically should be water-proof; this is the single most important factor when choosing one. Most metal detectors these days are said to be waterproof while in reality they are just semi waterproof and only the outside has this quality. In the long term they are not actually viable because if one dives with the detector, they inevitably fail at some point.
This is why the single most important factor while choosing a metal detector (Read more reviews at is to find one that is fully waterproof. Semi waterproof metal detectors have the disadvantage of not being usable in deep waters. They are best used in shallow waters and the shores of the beach. This quality can limit the metal detection activities in case you want to explore deeper waters.
Most of the underwater metal detectors are able to work both on land and in water which is very important because one might want to vary the function. When you invest in a metal detector one wants the flexibility that comes with being able to use it both on land and in water without buying a different detector. It is also very important to get value for your money and get the best possible qualities you can from your device such as the display which should be user friendly especially under water.
There are different mechanics when it comes to the functioning of the metal detectors and there are two major types of technology used and should be considered when choosing a metal detector. Very low frequency technology was what was previously used when making the metal detectors. It used to be functional but limited because the depth it could function in was limited and it was not sensitive enough. This older technology has been overtaken by the pulse induction system which is the modern technology used on current metal detectors.
Pulse induction can be used in deeper waters when scuba diving and work properly as if it was on shallower waters. This technology has a benefit of having greater sensitivity which is a huge bonus. The sensitivity of the pulse induction system is such that even buried treasure can be detected, the depth of the cover of sand or stone notwithstanding. That is the huge difference between pulse induction mechanics and very low frequency mechanics, very low frequency mechanics will not detect buried treasure effectively.
There are brands that can go for depths of up to three hundred feet and still function properly and can even function in salty water without getting destroyed and this is a huge plus considering that most of the treasures are in salty water. The display feature should be very highly visible underwater so that one does not have to struggle to make readings when in great depths; most have fluorescent displays for this purpose. The headphones that come with the device should also be fully waterproof and workable in great depths too.
Pulse Induction Technology
Pulse induction technology works in such a way that electronic signals are transmitted into the earth and they are very sensitive to metals though not natural ground minerals. They work best in deep waters or very salty beaches due to the depth which the pulse probes, it is incredible really.
When choosing an underwater metal detector therefore it is advisable to invest in pulse induction technology. There are a few well recognizable brands which are genuinely good quality pulse induction metal detectors that are also amphibious and high functioning.
When buying an underwater metal detector it is also advisable that one looks at the various warranties on offer that can last up to two years and include the various parts of the detector too. The metal detector quality you choose will determine how efficient your hunting experience will be and will also determine whether you have made an investment that will save you time and serve you for long.
How To Select The Right Running Shoes For Plantar Fasciitis
Running Shoes For Plantar FasciitisBefore progressing any further, it is important to know exactly what Plantar Fasciitis is so that one knows exactly why the shoe they choose should be suitable for them. Plantar Fasciitis is the inflammation of the ligament that attaches the heel bone and the sole of the feet all the way to the bones in the middle of the feet. When this Plantar Fascia is inflamed, it is quite painful and one can suffer considerably whenever they walk, jog or run.
That is why it is advisable to use shoes that are appropriate for these physical activities to minimize the pain felt when contact is made with the ground. There are shoes that will aid faster recovery because the injuries on the Plantar Fascia take a while to heal and can stop your jogging or running routine.
What Causes Plantar Fasciitis?
Plantar Fasciitis can be caused by jobs that require a lot of walking, moving around and standing in one spot for long periods of time. Change in weight can also put more pressure on the ligament causing it to tear and become inflamed. If the surface that you run or jog on is too hard, it can also cause this condition. Therefore, it is advisable that if you want to continue running or jogging, you should get the correct shoes that will facilitate this activity and make it better.
One needs to get rid of small fitting shoes that are tight, worn out or too loose because they cause more damage. The following are the factors to consider when choosing shoes for people with Plantar Fasciitis:
Shoes with comfortable and appropriate cushioning that will help to absorb the force of the impact without causing any strain or injury. This is a very important factor particularly if you run on a hard trail that causes shocks. With time , the injuries will heal and one can run normally again because of the absorption of the impact of the hard trail by the shoe rather than the ligament.
Shoes that are highly flexible on the front part but very firm on the back part where the heel is and the impact of running or jogging is absorbed are also highly desirable. The mid sole should also be flexible but firm to keep the arch at a proper angle. The hard back part helps to minimize the shocks felt by the ligament and as a result, the inflammation will reduce and running will become an enjoyable activity once again.
Shock Absorption
The shoe should have an overall shock absorption system that takes in the force and evenly distributes it so that no one part of the foot bears the brunt of the force meted out by the ground. This is helpful because in most shoes, the heel bears the whole force of the foot striking the ground and is one of the major causes of Plantar Fasciitis.
Eliminating the chief factor in causing the condition itself is a huge step in getting rid of it and minimizing inflammation.
Arch Support
There are those people who have Plantar Fasciitis because they have flat feet and their consideration is a bit different from the others. The shoes they obtain should have a highly specialized arch support and the sole should also be firm with the whole shoe being able to cushion the impact exacted on the ground.
The people who have Plantar Fasciitis due to being over pronators and require that extra lift that will keep them going without being uncomfortable should also get light shoes. The shoes should have great heel support which will help keep the impact even throughout the shoe.
The cost of the shoes should also be considered. There is a variety of shoes that are all fit for someone with Plantar Fasciitis but there are some that are of better quality and more durable than others and you should take the time to read reviews about the best shoes for plantar fasciitis.
With greater cost comes greater quality, which is not to say that if you are not willing to spend a lot of money there is nothing for you. There are mid range priced running shoes that will function just as well as the expensive brands and still get rid of your Plantar Fasciitis.
Memory Foam Mattress For RV Campers: Things To Factor In When Choosing The Right Fit
Memory Foam Mattress For RV CampersWhen travelling in an RV and experiencing the sights, life is good and enjoyable but the quality of your mattress can change all that. Without a proper mattress, the nights don't seem quite so enjoyable as before and aches and fatigue will creep in.
This is why it is advisable to look at the mattress on the RV bed before buying an RV or making special consideration when buying one. The various dimensions of the RV might mean that the normal RV mattress is a bit different from the one at home and a proper mattress is required. It might seem like such an unimportant aspect of RV camping but when the sores and cramp set in, the importance becomes apparent.
Memory foam mattresses have been identified as the best option for RVs due to their relative flexibility meaning they do not occupy much space and they are actually very light. Added onto this is the fact that they are not too costly and you get value for your money when you invest in one.
Due to the very strict dimensions that go into making an RV hospitable, RV mattresses have to be fitted into the space available. More often than not, if normal mattresses are put in RVs they are either weirdly bent out of shape to fit or hang out because of the limited space available. That is why the memory foam mattress is preferred, because of its flexibility.
The RV owner can alter the shape of the memory foam mattress in any way that is appropriate for their RV and this is hugely convenient. You do not have to spend a lot of money when looking for a mattress that exactly fits your RV.
Dimensions And Size
The next best option is actually obtaining the cheaper memory foam mattress topper which means you do not


A Grunt rule consists of multiple settings that help you format your objects. However, you don't always want to change all the settings that are available within a rule. This is where setting modes will help you out.
To the right of each setting in the Rule Edit dialog, you'll see a colored square that controls the setting mode. Each setting mode is represented by a different color, and each mode behaves differently.
What does the setting modes mean?
We will use the Character style rule to exemplify how the setting modes work. There are three types of setting modes: Inherit, Automatic or Manual.
 - Right-click on the colored square to change between the available modes.
 - Left-click to toggle between the available modes. Left-clicking more times will continue to toggle you to the next available mode.
 1. Manual values are represented by blue squares. Manual values let you choose a specific setting for the specific rule. In this example, you can choose the color you prefer for your font.
 2. Automatic values are represented by purple squares. These are also settings that are specifically set in the rule, and their formatting will be applied to your objects. This is the same behavior as for manual values, however, with automatic values, the concrete value that is used is automatically selected by Grunt. For example: If the color setting is set to automatic, that means that Grunt will choose a color for the text, based on the color of the background.
 3. Inherited values are represented by orange squares. This is normally the default mode. The inherited values are not set specifically in the rule. Instead, the value is inherited from the preceding parts of the rule stack. If there are no preceding rules affecting the specific settings, like in this case: the font color, Grunt will apply its default settings.
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is satisfied. We may assume that this is the first such index. First, we show that this implies
for every. After that we prove that this is not possible, which verifies that is the identity mapping on, and that will complete our proof.
In order to see (5), let where. By (1) we obtain. Because the equations, and are fulfilled, we easily get. Similarly, from the equations:, and, we obtain. Therefore (5) has to be true.
Finally, we consider two concrete vectors:
3. The proof in non-separable spaces
Now, as a consequence we prove Wigner's theorem in the non-separable case.
Proof of Wigner's theorem in the non-separable case.
denote an orthonormal base in. If we write with or, we mean. By a similar argument as in the previous section (i. e. using an isometry), we may assume that leaves all projections invariant.
For a let be the subspace in that is generated by. It is quite obvious that if we restrict to the set, we get a mapping on which satisfies (1). Using a unitary or an antiunitary operator for which every is an eigenvector, as in the previous section, we may assume that is the identity mapping on. It is important to note that the action of the corresponding unitary or antiunitary operator on the two-dimensional subspace is independent of the choice of. Therefore, we may assume that for every, maps on identically.
Finally, we prove that this implies that is the identity mapping on. Consider an arbitrary projection for which. The set of these projections is clearly dense in. Hence, if we could show that holds, it would show that is the identity on.
Let, and. Then we infer
where, there exist a such that holds. Since the st coordinates of the vectors are non-zero and they coincide, and the same is also true for the vectors, we get that holds with a. But this implies that is indeed the identity on the above mentioned dense subset of and hence on the whole of. ∎
4. Concluding remarks
We provided a completely new proof for Wigner's theorem. The advantages of our approach is that it is short, there are no hard calculations, it is very elementary and it works for the general case. As far as we know, such a proof which shares all of these advantages was never given before.
5. Acknowledgements
The author is very grateful to professor L. Molnár, Dr. G. Nagy, P. Szokol and T. F. Görbe for some important observations and suggestions which helped to improve this paper.
The author was supported by the "Lendület" Program (LP2012-46/2012) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
This research was also supported by the European Union and the State of Hungary, co-financed by the European Social Fund in the framework of TÁMOP-4.2.4.A/2-11/1-2012-0001 'National Excellence Program'
 - [1] E. P. Wigner, Gruppentheorie und ihre Anwendung auf die Quantenmechanik der Atomspektrum, Fredrik Vieweg und Sohn, 1931.
 - [2] U. Uhlhorn, Representation of symmetry transformations in quantum mechanics, Ark. Fysik 23 (1963), 307–340.
 - [3] R. F. Streater and A. S. Wightman, PCT, spin and statistics, and all that, W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York-Amsterdam 1964.
 - [4] J. S. Lomont and P. Mendelson, The Wigner unitary-antiunitary theorem, Ann. Math. 78 (1963), 548–559.
 - [5] V. Bargmann, Note on Wigner's theorem on symmetry operations, J. Math. Phys. 5 (1964), 862–868.
 - [6] G. Casinelli, E. de Vito, P. Lahti and A. Levrero, Symmetry groups in quantum mechanics and the theorem of Wigner on the symmetry transformations, Rev. Mat. Phys. 8 (1997), 921–941.
 - [7] G. Chevalier, Wigner's theorem and its generalizations, Handbook of quantum logic and quantum structures, 429–475, Elsevier Sci. B. V., Amsterdam, 2007.
 - [8] M. Győry, A new proof of Wigner's theorem, Rep. Math. Phys. 54 (2004), 159–167.
 - [9] L. Molnár, Wigner's unitary-antiunitary theorem via Herstein's theorem on Jordan homeomorphisms, J. Nat. Geom. 10 (1996), 137–148.
 - [10] L. Molnár, An algebraic approach to Wigner's unitary-antiunitary theorem, J. Austral. Math. Soc. 65 (1998), 354–369.
 - [11] J. Rätz, On Wigner's theorem: remarks, complements, comments and corollaries, Aequationes Math. 52 (1996), 1–9.
 - [12] C. S. Sharma and D. L. Almeida, A direct proof of Wigner's theorem on maps which preserve transition probabilities between pure states of quantum systems, Ann. Phys. 197 (1990), 300–309.
 - [13] Simon R., Mukunda N., Chaturvedi S. and Srinivasan V., Two elementary proofs of the Wigner theorem on symmetry in quantum mechanics, Physics Letters A 372 (2008), 6847–6852.
 - [14] A. Mouchet, An alternative proof of Wigner theorem on quantum transformations based on elementary complex analysis, Physics Letters A 377 (2013), 2709–2711.
 - [15] F. Botelho, J. Jamison and L. Molnár Surjective isometries on Grassmann spaces, J. Funct. Anal. 265 (2013), no. 10, 2226–2238.
 - [16] S. Bau and A. F. Beardon, The metric dimension of metric spaces, Comput. Methods Funct. Theory 13 (2013), no. 2, 295–305.
 - [17] J. B. Conway, A course in functional analysis, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 96, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1985.
For everything else, email us at [email protected].


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What to Know About Registration
It's important to register early for classes. Registering for classes early has many benefits including:
- Increased chance of getting into needed classes.
- Earlier access to financial aid and scholarships.
- Easier to stay on track to graduate.
As you get ready to register, take note of the following:
- You won't be able to register if there are any registration holds on your account. Holds can be placed for several reasons. Learn more about holds on student accounts.
- Consider your finances and be aware of payment due dates. You may want to enroll in the Huskie Installment Plan to spread your payment over four months.
- It's a good time to start thinking about course materials. You can buy or rent books and online materials from Huskie Books and Gear.
Parents and Family Members
These tips will help you keep your student's education on the right path:
- Check in with your student when registration draws near.
- Encourage them to meet with their academic advisor
- Encourage them to find out if there are any holds on their account that would prevent them from registering.
- If you're helping pay for your student's education, you'll want to know about payment due dates. You may benefit from the Huskie Installment Plan, which can help you budget by spreading your payment over four months.
- Talk to your student about Shared Access, a feature of MyNIU that allows you to view financial information and portions of your student's academic record. Students can provide up to two delegates access to their information.
Faculty and Staff
By taking these actions, you can help students stay on track to graduate:
- Encourage students to meet with their academic advisors before registration begins.
- Post registration flyers and posters in your office or workspace.
- Learn about the Huskie Installment Plan, a payment option that students may find helpful. Share information about the plan with students.
- Encourage students with financial concerns to speak with someone in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office or the Office of the Bursar.
- Direct students to the resources that can help them resolve any holds on their account.


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Different flowers are given different messages and meanings according to the language of flowers, a system of communication that was most popular during the Victorian era. At the time, the way to show someone your feelings without loudly proclaiming your emotions was to gift them with a bouquet of flowers, each with its own meaning.
Video of the Day
Freesia is the most straightforward of the flowers that indicate trust. Trust and innocence are the only implications this flower has. It's used in a variety of products for its fragrance, so a similar message of trust could be sent by giving the person a gift of freesia scented soap or perfume. The freesia flower is extremely delicate and requires much care in cultivation and in harvesting. Its message of trust makes this flower popular in wedding bouquets.
Lily of the Valley
Lily of the valley is a flower native to Great Britain, making it very popular for smaller weddings there. It's not limited to small weddings, however; Kate Middleton's bouquet at her wedding to Prince William was made primarily of these flowers with a few field maples signifying humility. Though it's not a direct message of trust, the lily of the valley indicates sweetness and a trustworthiness about the person.
Freesia is the only flower that specifically indicates trust, but many imply similar messages and connotations. The white carnation is one example. Its message is one of purity but also of faithfulness, implying that the person may be trusted as loyal. Variegated carnations have a meaning related closely to trust and ask the recipient of the flowers to put their faith in the giver. Violets have a variety of meanings, such as modesty, but the blue violet in particular means faith.
Lavender means the opposite of trust. This meaning doesn't come from the lavender flower itself, however -- an unusual fact within the language of flowers. Instead, the implication of distrust comes from the fact that many cultures believed that snakes nested beneath lavender.


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Co-Management of Puget Sound Salmon: How well does the Use and Collection of Shared Fishery Science between Tribes and the State Guide Resource Protection?
The history of salmon management in the Pacific Northwest is complex. Indigenous management of fisheries was partially incorporated into treaties but it took nearly 100 years for a legal framework for implementing the fisheries components of the treaties to be put into place. The restoration of Northwest Treaty Tribes fishing rights brought Native people the difficult task of working directly with the institution that had prosecuted treaty violations and discriminated against tribal fishers. The ability of the State and Tribes to work together to "co-manage" salmon stocks has improved over the years and has been spelled out in additional court decisions. However, difficulties still arise from institutional holdover views about tribal fishing rights and the belief that the State still has the overriding authority in resource management decisions. In addition, management objectives do not always mesh with the historic or contemporary cultural needs of tribal fishers.


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Florida might be one of the most sinkhole-active areas on the earth. Due to its unpredictability and significance of occurrence, the development of sinkhole monitoring techniques is imperative to minimize sinkhole-induced hazards. Several methods have been used to evaluate sinkhole risks, including destructive methods, such as Standard Penetrating Tests (SPT) and Cone Penetrating Tests (CPT), geophysical method, and sensor-based groundwater monitoring method. However, few studies are available for comprehensive understanding of spatiotemporal sinkhole mechanism by combining different exploration methods under realistic experimental conditions. The objective of this study is to understand spatiotemporal sinkhole mechanism, using SPT, CPT, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and piezo pressure sensors tested at actual sinkhole sites. A small-scale test was conducted prior to the field test to validate data analysis technique using piezo pressure sensors, developed in this study. Eight piezo pressure sensors were used located at different distances from the sinkhole center to measure the ground water levels (GWLs) during artificially made sinkhole events. A total of 24 scaled tests was conducted with different sinkhole soil thickness and initial GWL. The cone of water depression was observed during the tests, which indicates there are strong relationship between sinkhole and sinkhole occurrence. A novel peak-counting method was developed and validated to estimate spatiotemporal relations of the relations between GWLs and sinkhole collapse patterns.The field test was conducted at an active sinkhole site in Lake county, Florida to determine locations of points of breach and to monitor fluctuation GWL over time. Twenty piezometer sensors were installed, and the GWLs were monitored for three months at 30-min sampling rate. The daily moving average of GWL was calculated and visualized in ArcGIS map to understand spatiotemporal behavior of GWL at different locations from sinkhole positions. The monitoring results were compared with CPT, SPT and GPR results that were conducted prior to the piezo sensor installations. Strong correlations were observed between CPT, SPT, GPR and GWL results. From the results, it can be concluded that size and shape of the cone of water depression depend on dimensions of point discharges and properties of surrounding soil.
If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at _EMAIL_
Master of Science (M.S.)
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering
Civil Engineering; Structures and Geotechnical Engineering
Length of Campus-only Access
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
Tu, Ton, "Sinkhole Monitoring Using Groundwater Table Data" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5236.


Laser Tag Parties – Interesting, Innovative and Exciting
When it comes to games, many parents will fall back on the usual suspects. These could include games like Pin the Tail or Musical Chairs. However, in recent times, a plethora of games and entertainment options has emerged for kids. For example, laser tag parties are quite popular in Chatswood and the adjoining areas.
Many entertainment services in major cities provide entertainment services for kids. They typically provide a venue, where kids of all ages can have a blast. These facilities usually have ample space for kids to play a wide range of games, including laser tag and skirmish. The latter, in particular, is quite popular. Visit any major shopping centre and you will find kids enjoying a game of laser skirmish in Sydney and other major cities.
In laser tag, each child has a laser tag gun. In addition, the child typically wears a vest that is sensitive to the laser. Thereafter, the participating kids typically enter a dark maze, where they try to tag each other with the laser gun. When a laser beam hits a vest, the vest lights up. This indicates that the child is now out of the game. The winner of the game is the child who remains unconquered without a single tag inside the laser room.


Report: Possible Sudan war could cost $110 billion
The economic cost of a return to conflict between northern and southern Sudan could be at least $110.3 billion over 10 years, a new report said Thursday.
An independence referendum for oil-rich Southern Sudan is scheduled to be held Jan. 9. Sudan, with its rich resources and its great potential for conflict, has recently featured high on the U.S. foreign policy agenda.
Together with the United Nations and regional leaders, the Obama administration has been working to ensure the referendum is held on time and that tensions over it between north and Southern Sudan are reduced.
The report by a group of think tanks breaks down the economic cost of possible future conflict between north and south Sudan into three parts: the cost to Sudan, the country's neighbors, and peacekeeping and humanitarian programs that would be funded by international donors.
It does not include the human cost of north-south Sudan going back to the battlefield after five years of restive peace.
"The report challenges the Sudanese parties and those governments who have influence over the situation to ask themselves: Are we doing enough to prevent a conflict that could cost over $100 billion and hundreds of thousands of lives?" the report says.
It said Sudan may lose at least $52.1 billion over 10 years. Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda — three countries that border Southern Sudan and have in past conflicts suffered a spillover — are estimated to lose about $29.2 billion over the same period. Peacekeeping and humanitarian programs to deal with the effects of a 10-year conflict are estimated to cost an additional $29 billion.
"Our figures are on the conservative side," said Matthew Bell of Frontier Economics Ltd., a European economics consultancy group that co-wrote the report.
The report is based on recognized models used to calculate the economic cost of war and uses World Bank and International Monetary Fund data for Sudan and its neighbors Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. It is also based on current budgets of United Nations missions in Sudan.
It takes the scenarios that any renewed conflict could take either up to 10 years before peace is restored, or 25 years, given Sudan's experience. An ongoing conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur started in 2003. And the north-south conflict ended in 2005 after two decades of conflict that resulted in the deaths of some 2 million people and ravaged the economy.
The 2005 peace deal that ended the conflict allowed Southern Sudan to share power in the national government and gave it a measure of autonomy, including its own president and legislature. The agreement also provided for an independence referendum at the end of the deal's transition period.
In recent months, some northern Sudan leaders have questioned whether that referendum can be held on time, fueling concerns there may be attempts to delay it. Southerners are widely expected to vote in favor of independence, splitting Africa's biggest country into two. Such a split would see a significant amount of Sudan's oil resources remain in the south, but the only route Southern Sudan can export such oil is through a pipeline and port controlled by the north.


Bu Qian Zhou Wendou, mai 20, 2017 - juin 24, 2017
À propos
de Sarthe Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new work by Zhou Wendou, entitled Bu Qian, curated by Wang Pao Pao, opening on May 20th 2017. The show will continue until June 24th, 2017.
Zhou Wendou's creativity has undergone a transformation over the past two decades. He first began as a painter and then transitioned to photography with a focus on constructing camera oriented installations. After this, he focused on producing installation art, to which he still dedicates himself. Utilizing commonly found ready-made objects, his artwork is born out of conventional forms through a process of deconstruction and transformation. He constantly looks towards the boundaries of art and attempts to challenge the appearance and shape of objects. He deliberately removes certain properties of objects, but does not contribute his own subjective judgment or emotions in the process. On the contrary, he records his creations metaphysically and shows it in moderate and humorous ways.
The title of the exhibition, Bu Qian, is extracted from a concept used by Chinese philosophers of ancient times. Partial translations are 'immutable' or 'immovable,' depending on which school of thought uses the term.It is the idea that sometime things will remain unshakable, immobile, even when the environment surrounding them changes. In this exhibition, common objects such as lamps and slingshots remain unaltered yet submitted to different forces that rip off their original use and turn them into artistic installations. Each artwork has an intrinsic tension yet remains motionless in the gallery. The hull of a boat floating in two buckets of water is the starting point of the exhibition, and leads the audience to a pile of skateboards and a massive whirl made out of metal hand grips. Everything in the show appears motionless, as if suspended in time, but also seems as if it is on the edge of giving way to movement. This is Zhou Wendou's interpretation of Bu Qian.


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Q. What is regime change?
Regime change in financial markets terms means that there is a shift in a basic financial relationship that has governed a backtest periods results. Some examples might be an inflationary regime changing to a disinflationary era, reflected in how long-term treasury bonds behave. Or it might be a period of sustained high equity market volatility changing to a more narrow range market. Or a rising US Dollar vs a US dollar bear market. Rising price of oil vs declining etc....
Q. Why is understanding what regime you are in important?
Models and backtests are good at identifying relationships and how to profit from those relationships. But standard backtesting is only good if that financial relationship you are backtesting actually stays in-tact. Relationships develop, exist for a period of time --- often lengthy -- and then they can change.
Recall that the rules of financial markets are not like the rules of other areas of observation like in science. The temperature at which water freezes is the same across time. However, the financial markets are different and need to be thought about differently. You cannot be sure that a given financial law will continue into the future. Water doesn't learn from its freezing in the past and adapt -- but investors do.
Thus, regime change is one of the main problems with many articles you see written that study only very long periods of time. You get caught thinking something is true over the long-run and so -- since you are a long-term investor after all -- you don't care about a 3-7 year period of poor performance.
But there is a key problem with that, what if the underlying regime assumption has been mined and through that long-term analysis papers were written about this financial 'law' that exists. But we know that the thing you are counting on is NOT a law of nature, it is just a financial relationship. If you are wrong in your belief system, how much drawdown (or lost performance) will it take you before you figure out your previous thinking was simply flawed in terms of a reasonable time frame of performance analysis (3-7 years)?
Q. How do you identify regime change?
This takes ongoing research. This takes ongoing thinking. This takes work. You can and should think about very long-term backtests too -- we are not advising taking only a short-term approach --- but then you should also put time and effort into intermediate-term backtesting to help determine whether the model you are relying upon is acting correctly. Balance the long-term backtests with shorter/intermediate term backtests. There is no way to know exactly how relationships will hold/change in the future --- but you can monitor them in ongoing fashion. You don't have to ride a relationship down into oblivion.
New ETFreplay Backtesting Module: "Regime Relative Strength"
This new module uses some existing methods that have been on ETFreplay.com for years --- but it now combines them into a single process. Before, you had to build this using component modules and then assemble and enter the information as an imported backtest. Now we have automated portions to take more of the monotonous sludgework out and give you more time to do what you should be doing with your time, doing research and thinking about the relationships to test -- not the mechanics of how to make a backtest work and the associated de-bugging.
Think of this as a multi-step process rolled into a single backtest. First, you come up with a rule of how to define Regime 1 vs Regime 2. Once the regime is determined, you line up a backtest strategy for that regime. When the regime switches, you associate a 2nd strategy for that regime. You are always in one regime or the other, there is no grey area -- (backtests need to be specific in the details).
We have defined the 'rule' in this case based on the concept of the Ratio Moving Average. Recall that if you are judging many ETFs (more than 2) against each other, you should use a multi-factor model. But if you are just looking at 2 ETFs, one vs the other, then you may want to just use the total return ratio of the 2 and define rules that way.
Once you have defined what constitutes Regime 1 or Regime 2, you can then set up a strategy for each regime.
Regime 1 Rule: When NASDAQ is beating SHY Over ~100 day lookback (Absolute Momentum)
Regime 1 Portfolio: Own the top 2 performing basic NASDAQ Sectors
Regime 2 Rule: All Other Times
Regime 2 Portfolio: Reduce drawdown risk but maintain equity exposure by owning lower vol ETFs.
This is a very simple example. You can of course add filters such as cash or moving average filters just like the regular backtesting applications elsewhere on ETFreplay.


send a dispute settlement to arbitration if the Joint Committee does not settle it within three months, and both sides could agree jointly to send the dispute to arbitration before that point. Article 175 of that agreement equally provides that arbitration decisions are binding.
134. Should a dispute raise a question of interpretation of Union law, which may also be indicated by either Party, the arbitration panel should refer the question to the CJEU as the sole arbiter of Union law, for a binding ruling. The arbitration panel should decide the dispute in accordance with the ruling given by the CJEU. Where a Party considers that the arbitration panel should have referred a question of interpretation of Union law to the CJEU, it may ask the panel to review and provide reasons for its assessment.
Comment: Compare to Article 174 of the withdrawal agreement, which equally says (in a more elaborate form) that the arbitrators must ask the CJEU to rule on interpretation of EU law, with a review process if it does not. This is necessarily a legal 'red line' for the EU side, as the case law of the CJEU provides that only the EU courts can give an interpretation of EU law that binds the EU institutions or Member States (see, for instance, Opinion 1/92). However, such provisions may be less relevant under the future relationship than under the withdrawal agreement, as the future relationship treaties may make fewer references to EU law.
135. Where a Party fails to take measures necessary to comply with the binding resolution of a dispute within a reasonable period of time, the other Party would be entitled to request financial compensation or take proportionate and temporary measures, including suspension of its obligations within the scope of the future relationship. The future relationship will also set out the conditions under which obligations arising from parts of any agreement between the Union and the United Kingdom may be suspended, including as foreseen in Article 178 of the Withdrawal Agreement. Either Party may refer the proportionality of such measures to the independent arbitration panel.
Comment: This is less detailed than the withdrawal agreement, which provides for a process to determine what is a 'reasonable period of time' to comply (Article 176), then an arbitrators' review of whether there was compliance (Article 177), then imposition of a lump sum or penalty payment by the arbitrators for non-compliance (Article 178(1)), then suspension of part of the withdrawal agreement or future relationship treaty due to non-payment of the financial penalty or non-compliance with an arbitration ruling (Article 178(2)). The last sentence – arbitrators' review of the proportionality of sanctions – reflects Article 178(3) of the agreement.
For anyone inclined to think that this process is outrageous as compared to 'WTO rules', note that it is in fact broadly similar to the way the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding works, in case of non-compliance with a ruling finding breach of WTO law.
136. The future relationship should provide for appropriate exceptions regarding security; national security is the sole responsibility of the Member States of the Union and the United Kingdom respectively.
Comment: there are national security exceptions in the EU Treaties, WTO law, and free trade agreements, so this is unexceptional (unless it is abused in practice, as Donald Trump is allegedly doing).
137. The future relationship should address the possibility for a Party to activate temporary safeguard measures that would otherwise be in breach of its commitments in case of circumstances of significant economic, societal or environmental difficulties. This should be subject to strict conditions and include the right for the other Party to rebalancing measures. The proportionality of measures taken will be subject to independent arbitration.
Comment: free trade agreements usually provide for economic safeguard exceptions; this is very similar to the wording of Articles 112 and 114 of the EEA treaty. There's no mention of whether measures against dumping or subsidies will be agreed. These are usually possible under the WTO and free trade agreements; EU law and the EEA are notable exceptions, due to harmonisation of State aid and competition law.
138. In setting out the framework of the future relationship between the Union and the United Kingdom, this declaration confirms, as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement, that it is the clear intent of both Parties to develop in good faith agreements giving effect to this relationship and to begin the formal process of negotiations as soon as possible after the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union, such that they can come into force by the end of 2020.
Comment: this reflects the wording of Article 184 of the withdrawal agreement, which provides that that UK and EU must use their 'best endeavours, in good faith and in full respect of their respective legal orders, to take the necessary steps to negotiate expeditiously the agreements governing their future relationship referred to in the political declaration…and to conduct the relevant procedures for the ratification or conclusion of those agreements, with a view to ensuring that those agreements apply, to the extent possible, as from the end of the transition period.' Note that the wording of the political declaration here assumes that the transition period will not be extended after the end of 2020.
139. Both Parties affirm that the achievements, benefits and commitments of the peace process in Northern Ireland will remain of paramount importance to peace, stability and reconciliation. They agree that the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement reached on 10 April 1998 by the United Kingdom Government, the Irish Government and the other participants in the multiparty negotiations (the "1998 Agreement") must be protected in all its parts, and that this extends to the practical application of the 1998 Agreement on the island of Ireland and to the totality of the relationships set out in the 1998 Agreement.
Comment: this reflects the wording of the preamble to the Irish border protocol to the withdrawal agreement.
140. The Parties will progress the development of the legal agreements giving effect to the future relationship in two stages.
141. Between the approval of this declaration and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union, the Parties will each engage in preparatory organisational work, with the aim of enabling rapid commencement of and progress in formal negotiations.
142. This work should draw up a proposed schedule to deliver the work programme required, having identified the areas likely to require the greatest consideration, such as those elements related to the alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing.
Comment: there seems no reason to use the weak word 'should' here.
Suggested amendment: 'This work will draw up…'
143. The Parties will also consider the logistical requirements of the formal negotiations.
144. After the Union has taken the steps necessary to begin formal negotiations under Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), it is envisaged that the Parties will negotiate in parallel the agreements needed to give the future relationship legal form.
Comment: Article 218 TFEU sets out the rules (for the EU side) on the EU negotiating and approving treaties with non-EU countries. It's significant that there's a reference to multiple agrements, and to negotiations in parallel, here. The text is imprecise about when the EU will begin the formal process, and vague about the negotiations.
Suggested amendment: 'Immediately after the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the Union will take the steps necessary to begin formal negotiations under Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and it is envisaged that the Parties will negotiate in parallel…'
145. Immediately following the United Kingdom's withdrawal, and based on their preparatory work, the Parties will agree a programme including: a) the structure and format of the negotiation rounds, including with respect to parallel tracks; and b) a formal schedule of negotiating rounds.
146. This programme will be designed to deliver the Parties' shared intention as set out in paragraph 138.
147. The Parties will convene a high level conference at least every six months from the date of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union to take stock of progress and agree, as far as is possible between them, actions to move forward.
 1. Your list of dates wrongly identifies (as end of 2020) what the target date for equivalence assessments is (end of June 2020)
 2. Your list of dates is incorrect. What you said about equivalence assessments as end of 2020 doesn't match with what it says in para 38.
 3. a unilateral sovereign right to blahblahblah
 The etymological origin of "sovereignty" is "superior" in Latin which in English means … "superior".
 Is the UK of NI and GB superior to the EU?
 Flaminio Costa v ENEL (1964) Case 6/64 was a landmark decision of the European Court of Justice which established the primacy of European Union law (then Community law) over the laws of its member states, says Wikipedia.
 Barnard and Peers point out on p. 162 of the 2017, 2nd edition, of their "European| Union Law" (Oxford UP) that this judgment says that the transfer by the States from their domestic legal system to the Community legal system of the rights and obligations under the Treaty carries with it a PERMANENT [my emphasis] limitation of their sovereign rights against which a subsequent unilateral act incompatible with the concept of the Community cannot prevail.
 Today's judgment conveniently does not mention Costa/Enel.
 In my native Southern Low-Countries the Supreme Court held (Cass. 27 May 1971, Arr. Cass. 1971, 959; S.E.W. 1972, 42.) in 1971, that's before the UK accession to the EC, that a self-executing


By filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, otherwise known as FBAR (on FinCEN Form 114), to the IRS, you are ensuring that delinquencies are kept to a minimum while maximizing the accuracy of your annual reporting to the U.S. Federal Government.
Does This Apply to Me?
If you are a United States person, including a citizen, resident, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust and/or estate, then you must file an FBAR.
The FBAR will report the following to the IRS:
 1. A financial interest in or signature or other authority over at least one financial account located outside the United States if
 2. The aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported.
Accounts that are held at a financial institution, located outside the United States, are foreign financial accounts.
What Account Types are Excluded from the FBAR?
Foreign financial accounts that are correspondent, owned by a government entity, owned by an international financial institution, U.S. Military banking facility, held in a retirement account (including an IRA) or a trust in which you are the beneficiary do not need to be reported annually to the IRS.
What is the Deadline to file an FBAR?
The FBAR is due April 15 following of each calendar year. However, you don't need to request an extension to file, as you are allowed a free automatic extension until October 15, if you miss the April 15 deadline.
How do I File the FBAR?
FBAR Record Keeping 101:
The IRS requires you to keep records for five years from the due date of the filing.
Unsure what to archive? Maintaining records for each account required to be reported to the IRS is mandatory. Documentation that provides account specific information such as names on the account, account number, name/address of the financial institution, type of account and the maximum value for the year in each account is crucial.
What Penalties Exist for Delinquency?
Filing an FBAR late or not at all is a violation with the IRS and may subject you to penalties, including civil monetary penalties and/or criminal penalties.
Current maximums, per the IRS, are as follows:
You may file late FBARs if you have not been contacted by the IRS about delinquency and are not under civil or criminal investigation by IRS.
Resources (click the links below)
If you have any questions in regards to your situation, applicability or delinquent filing, please contact us HERE or give us a call at _PHONE_.


text:
Grats (sometimes spelled 'gratz') is a commonly used abbreviation for congratulations. It is most often used when an achievement is announced, or a player reaches a new level. It may also be used sarcastically when someone does something stupid.
In guild culture, there is an expectation that at least one person will say 'grats' when someone announces they dinged or earns an achievement, especially for significant milestones such as reaching maximum level or completing a meta achievement.
Some people find replying to dings and achievements annoying, to the extent that addons such as Grats Bot have popped up to automate the process.


The Power of the Pen
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on several generations. It moulds life according to the times. Violence can only suppress
the beliefs of the people. The pen stands for positive and constructive efforts, while the
sword signifies negative postures and destruction all around. The sword can force them into
submission but cannot propagate and idea. Pen can solve many complex issues. The sword can
only destroy. Wars have no significance impact on the development of a nation.
Writers, thinkers and artists created the sprit of the modern world by the power of the pen.
The French Revolution owned inspiration to the writings of Rousseau and Voltaire. Karl
Marx's Das Capital inspired Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution. The Communist
Manifesto, the combined work of Fredrick Engels and Karl Marx formed the basic of modern
international communism.
Charles Dickens exposed the evils of capitalism in his works like David Copperfield and
Oliver Twist. Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of life was based on the teachings of the Gita.
David Thoreau's The Civil Disobedience inspired Gandhiji for Satyagraha during the freedom
struggle in India. In the Vietnam war, journalists and photographers played a key role in
bringing about an end to the conflict.
India's freedom struggle was based on the supremacy of the pen over the sword. The major
national newspapers, The Hindu, The Tribune, Bengalee, Kesari and the Amrita Bazar Patrika
waged a campaign against the British rule. The leaders were able to communicate their ideas
to the people through the press. They were able to promote among them a feeling of
nationalism and unity. Gandhiji himself edited two newspapers, Navyug and Harihan to
mobilize the masses. The victory of our freedom movement over the British to some extent was
the victory of the pen over the sword.
The victories of the sword are short lived. Alexander's desire to conquer the world remained
unfulfilled. Hitler...
tracking img


A key to understanding horse behaviour is to realize how much horses learn by associating one thing with another. This is called classical conditioning. They associate a certain environment with the place something significant happened or typically happens.
Could your horse be linking the cross-ties area with a negative experience? Perhaps he's sensitive and dislikes vigorous grooming. Maybe he's had a negative clipping or girth cranking experience. Separation from his pasture buddies is another potential trigger for dancing around in the ties.
On the other hand, could this be the spot where your horse receives his preand post-ride treats? Horses paw when they anticipate something. Due to unfortunate timing, if riders dispense the treat in the wrong moment, their horses think the reward was achieved through their pawing behaviour.
After eliminating all these factors, it's time to start retraining in the ties.
1. Stand in the box. Using the floor mat as the boundaries of my invisible box, I establish, through repetition, the box as the "sweet spot." My tapping (but non-threatening) dressage whip reinforces the boundaries. My horse steps back and I tap behind. He looks away and I tap the far side of his neck. Steps forward? I tap the chest.
2. Give to pressure. If your horse doesn't reliably yield to pressure on his head, don't put him in cross-ties. Pressure behind the ears and on the front and sides of the nose will come to signify the boundaries of the box instead of the whip.
It's sobering how many seasoned show horses are missing the simple concept of giving to pressure, particularly coming forward to pressure behind the poll.
Here's a test: apply just enough mildly irritating downward halter pressure that horse wants to do something about it. Does he answer by elevating his head, or resisting in any way? The only correct answer is to melt into the pressure and drop his head.
Once he is standing quietly in the box and yielding to halter pressure, your horse is fit to be tied!


For other versions of Nite Owl, see Nite Owl.
"Y'know, this must be how ordinary people feel. This must be how ordinary people feel around us."
—Dan Dreiberg to Rorschach
Daniel "Dan" Dreiberg is the second Nite Owl and a member of the Crimebusters.
Dreiberg succeeded the original Nite Owl Hollis Mason during the second generation of vigilantes. He took advantage of his massive inheritance and engineering know-how to build various gadgets and machines to assist him alongside his partner Rorschach on top of their combat skills.
He joined with other heroes to form the Crimebusters, but the team never came to be. Nite Owl II continued to fight crime until he was forced into retirement due to the Keene Act which made masked crimefighting illegal, causing him to feel lost and dejected.
Dreiberg came out of retirement after the death of fellow crimefighter the Comedian, and found purpose again through his lover, his former teammate in the Crimebusters, Laurie Juspeczyk. After failing to stop Ozymandias' plot to save mankind by killing millions, Dan returned to retirement with his lover Laurie Juspeczyk and tried living a normal life under the name Sam Hollis.
Early Life
Daniel Dreiberg was born on September 18, 1945. His father, William Dreiberg, was a corporate banker. Though William was abusive toward Dan and Victoria, he was rarely home as he worked long hours and spent much of his after-work hours drinking and womanizing.
Dan was an introvert fascinated with electronics, inventions, and the crime-fighting exploits of his hero Nite Owl.[1] His favorite stories were about Pegasus and the flying carpet from mythology. Fascinated with the idea of flying, he studied ornithology and aviation extensively alongside engineering.[2]
Throughout his childhood in the early 1950s, he spent many of his summers in New England, venturing out into the fields at night and searching for owls.[3]
Becoming Nite Owl
In 1962, at the age of sixteen, during one of Nite Owl's publicity stunts in Sparky's Garage, Dan rigged the Owl Car with a listening device of his own invention and followed Nite Owl all the way to the secret entrance of the hero's lair. Dan bypassed the lock and left a note requesting that they meet at Lincoln Park. During this meeting, Dan learned the identity of Nite Owl as Hollis Mason. Dan offered to become Mason's sidekick. Hollis' initial reaction was surprisingly nonchalant, agreeing to give the kid a shot.[1]
When Dan returned home, he saw that his father was abusing his mother again, but soon after the man had a heart attack, and neither Dan nor his mother bothered to call the hospital in time.[1] Although his father was disappointed in him for not following his in his footsteps and becoming a banker, he left him a large inheritance, which Dan used to pay for the materials needed to design and build his crime-fighting gear.[2] He went on to become study aeronautics and zoology at Harvard University.[2]
When Mason retired from crime-fighting and opened an auto repair shop, Dan wrote to him asking if he could carry on his name as Nite Owl II.[4][2] Upon looking at his gear, Mason was too impressed to refuse him[4], and so he became Nite Owl II in 1962.
In 1965, Nite Owl teamed up with fellow costumed adventurer Rorschach to take on organized crime. Thanks to the latter's unpredictability and tactical brilliance,[2] they both notorious criminals such as Underboss and Big Figure.[5]
The Crimebusters
With the Comedian
The next year, having made quite an impression on other crimefighters, Dan and Rorschach were invited by Captain Metropolis to join the Crimebusters.[6][7][5] Dreiberg felt that he joined a fellowship of legendary beings and he was disappointed that it didn't last.[2] Though the Crimebusters became defunct, Nite Owl kept a recurring partnership with Rorschach and would occasionally team up with other former Crimebusters, particularly the Silk Spectre.
In 1968, Nite Owl brought down the vice queen known as the Twilight Lady. She wrote to Nite Owl from prison. Against Hollis Mason's advice, Dan wrote back, thinking he could reform her. When she was released in the early 1970's, Dan tried to mold her into a crimefighting partner, but she was more interested in being his romantic partner. After a long and tumultuous relationship, Dan and her parted ways.[2]
In 1977, a missing girl named Violet Greene was found in a pornographic video circulating around New York's seedy underbelly. Rorschach recruited Nite Owl to help him investigate this case as it appeared that a new Twilight Lady might be behind it. Nite Owl and Rorschach found that Liz herself had returned to her old moniker and was now running a new high-class vice den. They found Violet Greene and discovered she was not kidnapped, but had disappeared in order to pursue this new hedonistic lifestyle as one of Twilight Lady's new starlets. Nite Owl told Twilight Lady to shut the operation down and leave the city, but Rorschach was not satisfied with this as he felt Twilight Lady's activities were a blight on the development of the youth in the area. Nite Owl and Rorschach came to blows and ultimately this case marked the end of their operational partnership for many years.
During the Police Strike of 1977, Nite Owl was patrolling with The Comedian on Archie and attempted to pacify the rioters, an action rendered moot when the notoriously short-tempered Comedian opened fire.[6] Having already come to believe that his expensive activities were accomplishing little, Dreiberg retired after the passing of the Keene Act on August 3, 1977,[7] although he seemed to regret his decision later.[2] Rorschach would later say regarding his retirement, "No staying power."
After retirement, he chose not to reveal his civilian identity and kept his past secret. However, he had kept some friendship with Laurie Juspeczyk.[7] He also maintained his friendship with Hollis Mason and the two men met every Saturday night.[8] In his civilian life, he contributed essays and scholarly articles to ornithological journals, although he knew that they didn't interest many people.[2]
In 1983 he visited Maine in order to pay a visit to Byron Lewis (the former Mothman) in the hospital, on behalf of Mason. On his way back to the parking lot, he heard the screech of a mature owl and was filled with a feeling that renewed his excitement about birds. He shared his experience in the Journal of the American Ornithological Society.[3]
Events of Watchmen
Talking about the old days with Rorschach
Dreiberg was the first of the "masks" that Rorschach warned after the death of Edward Blake. The two shared a tense reunion, with Rorschach chastising him for his decision to retire, and Dreiberg criticizing Rorschach's insistence on continuing his vigilante activities. Shortly thereafter he met with Laurie Juspeczyk, the second Silk Spectre, at Rafael's and the two reminisced about their times as costumed adventurers.[9]
Later he attended the Comedian's funeral, reuniting with Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan.[6]
At the Comedian's funeral
Dr. Manhattan goes into self-imposed exile on Mars after Laurie leaves him and he is tricked into believing he was harming the people he loved. Simultaneously, an attempt is made on the life of Adrian Veidt, and Dreiberg takes in Laurie as a precaution. The two explore their feelings for each other and attempt to make love. However, Dan experiences a moment of impotency and they are unable to. During her stay, they are made aware of the capture of Rorschach by authorities, as he is charged with the murder of Moloch. After a nightmare, Dreiberg goes to his lab, where he expresses how helpless he feels in the face of impending nuclear war. He and Laurie decide to take up arms once again and experience that sense of power they had before. Donning their outfits, they take the Owlship and patrol New York City once again, in defiance of the Keene Act. Discovering a fire at a tenement, they come to the rescue and evacuate everybody from the burning building safely. Being in his Nite Owl persona again revives Dan's spirit, and he and Laurie are able to make love in the Owlship above the city.
Deciding the time had come to act rather than stand by, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre break Rorschach out of Sing Sing. Afterward, as Laurie is taken to Mars by Manhattan, Dreiberg and Rorschach explore the New York underworld looking for clues on whatever plot is taking place. They discover that the prison break led to a series of anti-superhero riots, including the murder of Dreiberg's predecessor and mentor as Nite Owl, Hollis Mason. Dreiberg swears vengeance, assaulting one of the men responsible with such fury that Rorschach, known for his brutality in dispatching criminals, has to restrain him. During their interrogations, they determine that their leads point to none other then their former comrade Ozymandias. The two head to Karnak,