What is Special about Turkey? Unique Things to Make You Visit
While we can list many things, it is hard to define precisely what is special about Turkey. It is a combination of qualities, but every foreigner who visits this country picks up the vibe. The unique ambience washes over everyone from the moment they step off the plane. Following them around for every day of their holiday, it easily lures them back year after year. Indeed, some people repeatedly come to Turkey every year. Others become so addicted, they return, buy a property, and move here, encouraging friends and family to visit as well. So, let us look at this combination of addictive qualities making Turkey one of the best countries.
9 Unique Things that Make Turkey Special
1: Turkish Culture
Generations of Turkish people believe every stranger is a friend, thanks to their culture and traditions. Do not be surprised to find a welcoming attitude from the waiter in a restaurant, to market vendors. Buy a house, and neighbours will soon knock on your door with plates of food and an invite for Turkish tea. Whether making new friends or greetings with passing strangers, social interactions are never a rarity in Turkey, making it stand out from other countries.
2: Turkish Food and Drink
Turkish cuisine always delights people from homemade soup to a hearty casserole or a sweet dessert. Despite the typical stereotype, there is much more to it, than the average kebab on a drunken night. More than 40 different types of kebabs exist. The extensive range of appetisers, main meals and desserts has taken the world by storm but be sure to visit Turkey to experience original and authentic Turkish cuisine. Each region has its speciality recipes like the Kackar mountains where locals make their dairy products, or the Aegean, known for excellent olive oil production. Four seas surround Turkey, so Turks often eat fish and seafood but also lamb, beef and especially chicken. Having said this, vegans and vegetarians will also find delicious dishes. However, what stands out is the herbs, spices, and cooking methods all garnered from various cultures when the Ottoman-empire ruled. (Beginners Guide to Turkish Food and Customs.)
Turkish food
3: Unique Historical Sites
Oh, wow, where to start when it comes to Turkish history? Some people only associate Turkey with the Ottoman Sultans, but many empires ruled over these lands from time to time. Civilisations have thrived and fallen here, but all left a trace from Ephesus city ruins to Gobeklitepe's first temple to the grand theatre at Aspendos that many historians have called the world's best-preserved. Featuring Greek, Persian, Lycian, Roman, Seljuk, Ottoman or other forms of history, the mass range of historical sites amazes everyone. An excellent list to get some ideas is the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Historical sites in Turkey
4: Christian History in Turkey
Since Turkey is a Muslim country, its Christian history is a surprise. Did you know Turkey was home to the Seven Churches of Revelation mentioned in the Bible's New Testament? Some remains can even be seen today because they all sit in Aegean Turkey. The roots of early Christianity sprouted here before it spread across the world. The proof is in the story of the Cappadocian fathers. Learn more about this part of history by visiting the Goreme Open Air Museum, a beautiful collection of ancient churches and monasteries with restored interior frescoes depicting Bible scenes. The first-ever church stands in Antioch and Saint John, Paul, and the Virgin Mary all visited and lived in Ephesus city on the Aegean Coast. Just a short drive into Selcuk's hills sits the Virgin Mary's house, where it is believed she ascended. Run by the Catholic Church, they welcome pilgrims from many nations.
Christian history in Turkey
5: A Special Geographical Position
It is an old cliché, but Turkey is the bridge between east and west. Istanbul; Turkey's biggest city sits on two continents connecting Europe and Asia. Separated by the Bosphorus Strait, this explains why empires have fought to gain control of the city throughout history. While the 1453 invasion of Constantinople is well known, power struggles continued until World War One, when Allied Forces attempted to gain control via the Gallipoli peninsula. As the world's 37th largest country; Turkey also uniquely splits down into seven geographical regions, each with unique topography, and weather climate.
Geography in Turkey
6: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Known as the father of all Turks, Mustafa founded Turkey's republic, after leading forces to win the Turkish War of Independence. Sparking the Kemalism movement, for one man to play such a pivotal role in the country is quite an honour and people in Turkey, pay their respect in many ways. His face appears on the money, statues in parks, and his signature is the core theme on pictures. Every year, on November the 10th, the country stops for a minute's silence at the same time he passed in 1938. Also visit Ankara, to see the top visited attraction, Anitkabir Mausoleum, where his tomb is.
7: The Turquoise Sea Coast and Sunsets
The Turquoise coast, a central sailing hub hosts yachts and traditional Turkish sailing vessels called gulet boats. Mainly centred around the Mediterranean-sea, it includes parts of the Aegean, and the coastline boasts of gorgeous beaches, clear water, and small coastal towns. Major hubs are Antalya, the Bodrum Peninsula, Fethiye and Marmaris, where you can swim, explore, and soak up the rays. Call us biased, but Turkey's sunsets should feature in every premier travel publication, especially when watching them from the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. Vibrant orange hues dip behind the horizon, so during summer, pull up a chair in a beachfront restaurant, grab a cold beer and celebrate the end of another day in Turkey. Besides the gorgeous beaches, and marvellous climate, if you were looking for reasons to visit Turkey, sunrises and sailing would be well worth it.
Sailing in Turkey
8: The Cappadocia Region
Head inland to the central Anatolian region, which includes Cappadocia, and you will be impressed. While hot air balloons rising early morning are common everywhere, Cappadocia has two unique things to stand out. Firstly, the lunar-like landscape forms rocks nicknamed fairy chimneys because of the weird shapes. Formed over thousands of years, locals also carved homes, hotels, and churches out of the stone. Secondly, archaeological discoveries unveiled many underground cities. Used during ancient times by locals to protect themselves against invading armies, the intricate network of tunnels and rooms is extensive. Cold winters in Cappadocia often see snow but summers are great for exploring. While here, some people also head to Mount Ararat, which some historians believe was where Noah's ark landed.
Cappadocia Turkey
9: Sultanahmet: Where History Was Made
Sitting next to the sea of Marmara, and belonging to the Thrace region, the Sultanahmet district is an important location, not only in modern-day Turkey but in the world's history. It was from here, the Byzantine empire and Ottoman Caliphate ruled. Decisions made shaped the course of events all over the world, simply because these two empires were at one time, were the most powerful ruling power on the planet. These days, as Turkey's top visited tourist attraction, millions descend every year, to see sites like the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Blue mosque, and the nearby Grand Bazaar.
More to read:
Seven Regions in Turkey: During your time in Turkey, you will find many places to go and things to do. However, one way to see its diversity is by exploring its seven geography regions. From the South-eastern Anatolian plateau to the Aegean-sea and Mountainous Black-sea, each area is unique and stands out for specific reasons. This article also lists prominent places to visit, like Eastern Turkey, Pamukkale, Ephesus in Kusadasi, the Gallipoli peninsula, Gaziantep, Bursa, Trabzon, Hierapolis, and Pamukkale as well as more special things about Turkey.
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Background: The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) demonstrated that lifestyle intervention reduces risk for type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. A universal framework for translation of multiple aspects of the DPP intervention, including training, support, and evaluation is needed to enhance treatment fidelity in a variety of settings.
Purpose: This study aims to develop a comprehensive model for diabetes prevention translation using a modified DPP lifestyle intervention.
Methods: The DPP lifestyle intervention was adapted to a 12-session group-based program called Group Lifestyle Balance for implementation in the community setting. A model for training and support mirroring that of the DPP was developed for prevention professionals administering the program. The process of training/support and program implementation was evaluated for feasibility and effectiveness using a nonrandomized prospective design in two phases (N=51, Phase 1: 2005-2006; N=42, Phase 2: 2007-2009; data analysis completed 2008-2009). A total of 93 nondiabetic individuals with BMI >or=25 kg/m(2) and the metabolic syndrome or prediabetes participated. Measures were collected at baseline and post-intervention for all and 6 and 12 months post-intervention for Phase 2.
Results: Significant decreases in weight, waist circumference, and BMI were noted in both phases from baseline. Participants in Phase 2 also demonstrated decreases in total cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure that were maintained at 12 months. Average combined weight loss for both groups over the course of the 3-month intervention was 7.4 pounds (3.5% relative loss, p<0.001); 23.8% and 52.2% of those who completed the program reached 7% and 5% weight loss, respectively. More than 80% of those achieving 7% weight loss in the Phase-2 group maintained their weight loss at 6 months.
Conclusions: A comprehensive diabetes prevention model for training, intervention delivery, and support was shown to be successful and was effective in reducing diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors in this group of high-risk individuals.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Home > News > News center > The secrets about wood window
The secrets about wood window
 - Release on:2018-05-15
More and more people are beginning to choose wooden shutters. In fact, the price of shutters is much higher than those of aluminum alloys and PVC materials. However, why do so many people prefer wooden shutters?
Good insulation performance
Most of the buildings emit heat through windows. According to tests conducted by relevant departments, 40% of the heat in buildings is usually emitted from windows. At the same time, the heat outside the window will also be transmitted to the interior, mainly through the window frame and the window sash, and convection occurs at the seals and crevices of the doors and windows. Since wood is an excellent insulation material, its thermal conductivity is extremely low and it effectively blocks most of the heat.
The structure of the wooden windows is tight, which effectively guarantees higher airtightness and lower leakage of rainwater. Good wood windows can reduce building energy consumption by 15%. In cold winter, the indoor temperature is higher than the indoor temperature, and the wooden window effectively reduces the flow of indoor heat. In hot summer days, the interior is generally air-conditioned, and the temperature outside the window is very high. Wooden windows can effectively block outdoor heat.
Good sound insulation
The soundproofing of windows can directly affect the privacy of occupants. Coupled with the traffic noise of modern cities, the soundproofing performance of windows is even more important. Therefore, modern houses and office buildings have very high requirements for the sound insulation performance of windows. Modern high-performance solid wood windows are very sound-insulating and can generally reduce the noise by about 25 dB. If there are special needs, they can further improve the sound insulation performance.
Good appearance and decorative performance
In many building materials, the visual effects and tactile effects of wood are the best. The natural color of wood is pleasant. Different tree species have different styles and colors. Unlike steel windows, aluminum windows, and plastic window, the feeling of cold and cold, it can be Create a very harmonious and pleasant environment.
long lasting
Historically, ancient Chinese wood-framed windows have experienced vicissitudes over the centuries, and they have been preserved ever since. In modern times, in the buildings of the 1950s and 1960s, the windows were basically all wooden, and they are still being used. This fully proves that under the correct structural design, reasonable drying, and anti-corrosion conditions, the windows are often maintained. Repair and paint, wood windows can achieve a long service life.
Since solid wood windows are used in solid wood windows, they are still somewhat expensive. However, if you consider the advantages of solid wood windows, Xiao Bian think wood windows are still a very good choice.
Heze Huasheng Wooden Co., Ltd is Wooden venetian blinds supplier and High quality Timber shutter supplier with high level of craftsmanship.They has provided many kinds of custom made Plantation shutter on sale.


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Presentation on theme: "Seeing 3D from 2D Images. How to make a 2D image appear as 3D! ► Output and input is typically 2D Images ► Yet we want to show a 3D world! ► How can we."— Presentation transcript:
Seeing 3D from 2D Images
How to make a 2D image appear as 3D! ► Output and input is typically 2D Images ► Yet we want to show a 3D world! ► How can we do this? We can include 'cues' in the image that give our brain 3D information about the scene These cues are visual depth cues
Visual Depth Cues ► Cues about the 3 rd dimension – total of 10 ► Monoscopic Depth Cues (single 2D image) ► Stereoscopic Depth Cues (two 2D images) ► Motion Depth Cues (series of 2D images) ► Physiological Depth Cues (body cues) Hold a finger up
Monoscopic Depth Cues ► Interposition An occluding object is closer ► Shading Shape and shadows ► Size The larger object is closer ► Linear Perspective Parallel lines converge at a single point Higher the object is (vertically), the further it is ► Surface Texture Gradient More detail for closer objects ► Atmospheric effects Further away objects are blurrier and dimmer ► Images from
Monoscopic Depth Cues ► Interposition An object that occludes another is closer ► Shading Shape info. Shadows are included here ► Size Usually, the larger object is closer ► Linear Perspective parallel lines converge at a single point ► Surface Texture Gradient more detail for closer objects ► Height in the visual field Higher the object is (vertically), the further it is ► Atmospheric effects further away objects are blurrier ► Brightness further away objects are dimmer
Stereoscopic Display Issues ► Stereopsis ► Stereoscopic Display Technology ► Computing Stereoscopic Images ► Stereoscopic Display and HTDs. ► Works for objects < 5m. Why?
Stereopsis The result of the two slightly different views of the world that our laterally-displaced eyes receive.
Retinal Disparity If both eyes are fixated on a point, f 1, in space: Image of f 1 is focused at corresponding points in the center of the fovea of each eye. f 2, would be imaged at points in each eye that may at different distances from the fovea. This difference in distance is the retinal disparity.
Retinal Disparity ► If an object is farther than the fixation point, the retinal disparity will be: Positive value Uncrossed disparity Eyes must uncross to fixate the farther object. ► If an object is closer than the fixation point, the retinal disparity will be: Negative Crossed disparity Eyes must cross to fixate the closer object. ► An object located at the fixation point or whose image falls on corresponding points in the two retinae has: Zero disparity (in focus) ► Question: What does this mean for rendering systems? f1 f2 Left EyeRight Eye Retinal disparity =
Convergence Angles i f2 f1 D1 D2 a b c d 11 +a+c+b+d = 180 +c+d = 180 - = a+(-b) = 1+ 2 = Retinal Disparity 22
Miscellaneous Eye Facts ► Stereoacuity - the smallest depth that can be detected based on retinal disparity. ► Visual Direction - Perceived spatial location of an object relative to an observer.
Horopters ► Map out what points would appear at the same retinal disparity. ► Horopter - the locus of points in space that fall on corresponding points in the two retinae when the two eyes binocularly fixate on a given point in space (zero disparity). ► Points on the horopter appear at the same depth as the fixation point. (can't use stereopsis. ► What is the shape of a horopter? Vieth-Mueller Circle f1 f2
Stereoscopic Display ► Stereoscopic images are easy to do badly, hard to do well, and impossible to do correctly.
Stereoscopic Displays ► Stereoscopic display systems presents each eye with a slightly different view of a scene. Time-parallel – 2 images same time Time-multiplexed – 2 images one right after another
Time Parallel Stereoscopic Display Two Screens ► Each eye sees a different screen ► Optical system directs correct view ► HMD stereo Single Screen ► Two different images projected ► Images are polarized at right angles ► User wears polarized glasses
Passive Polarized Projection ► Linear Polarization Ghosting increases when you tilt head Reduces brightness of image by about ½ Potential Problems with Multiple Screens ► Circular Polarization Reduces ghosting Reduces brightness Reduces crispness
Problem with Linear Polarization ► With linear polarization, the separation of the left and right eye images is dependent on the orientation of the glasses with respect to the projected image. ► The floor image cannot be aligned with both the side screens and the front screens at the same time.
Time Multiplexed Display ► Left and right-eye views of an image are computed ► Alternately displayed on the screen ► A shuttering system occludes the right eye when the left-eye image is being displayed
Stereographics Shutter Glasses
Screen Parallax P left – Point P projected screen location as seen by left eye P right – Point P projected screen location as seen by right eye Screen parallax - distance between P left and P right P Left eye position Right eye position P left P right P left P Display Screen Object with positive parallax Object with negative parallax
Screen Parallax (cont.) p = i(D-d)/D where p is the amount of screen parallax for a point, f1, when projected onto a plane a distance d from the plane containing two eyepoints. i is the interocular distance between eyepoints and D is the distance from f1 to the nearest point on the plane containing the two eyepoints d is the distance from the eyepoint to the nearest point on the screen
How to create correct leftand right-eye views ► What do you need to specify for most rendering engines? Eyepoint Look-at Point Field-of-View or location of Projection Plane View Up Direction P Left eye position Right eye position P left P right P left P Display Screen Object with positive parallax Object with negative parallax
Basic Perspective Projection Set Up from Viewing Paramenters Y Z X Projection Plane is orthogonal to one of the major axes (usually Z). That axis is along the vector defined by the eyepoint and the look-at point.
What doesn't work Each view has a different projection plane Each view will be presented (usually) on the same plane
What Does Work ii
Setting Up Projection Geometry Look at point Eye Locations Look at points Eye Locations No Yes
Visual Angle Subtended Screen parallax is measured in terms of visual angle. This is a screen independent measure. Studies have shown that the maximum angle that a non-trained person can usually fuse into a 3D image is about 1.6 degrees. This is about 1/2 the maximum amount of retinal disparity you would get for a real scene.
Accommodation/ Convergence Display Screen
Position Dependence (without head-tracking)
Interocular Dependance F Modeled Point Perceived Point Projection Plane True Eyes Modeled Eyes
Obvious Things to Do ► Head tracking ► Measure User's Interocular Distance
Another Problem ► Many people can not fuse stereoscopic images if you compute the images with proper eye separation! ► Rule of Thumb: Compute with about ½ the real eye separation. ► Works fine with HMDs but causes image stability problems with HTDs (why?)
Two View Points with Head-Tracking Projection Plane Modeled Point Perceived Points Modeled Eyes True Eyes
Ghosting ► Affected by the amount of light transmitted by the LC shutter in its off state. ► Phosphor persistence ► Vertical screen position of the image.
Time-parallel stereoscopic images ► Image quality may also be affected by Right and left-eye images do not match in color, size, vertical alignment. Distortion caused by the optical system Resolution HMDs interocular settings Computational model does not match viewing geometry.
Motion Depth Cues ► Parallax created by relative head position and object being viewed. ► Objects nearer to the eye move a greater distance ► (Play pulfrich video without sunglasses)
Physiological Depth Cues ► Accommodation – focusing adjustment made by the eye to change the shape of the lens. (up to 3 m) ► Convergence – movement of the eyes to bring in the an object into the same location on the retina of each eye.
Summary ► Monoscopic – Interposition is strongest. ► Stereopsis is very strong. ► Relative Motion is also very strong (or stronger). ► Physiological is weakest (we don't even use them in VR!) ► Add as needed ex. shadows and cartoons
Pulfrich Effect ► Neat trick ► Different levels of illumination require additional time (your frame rates differ base of amount of light) ► What if we darken one image, and brighten another? ► ► ulfrich.avi


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Pengaruh Telur Beromega-3 dan 6 Hasil Olahan terhadap Profil Lipid Darah Tikus Rattus norvegicus L. Normal dan Hiperkolesterolemia
AbstractThe research was aimed to evaluate the change of trigliserida (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Rattus norvegicus L. blood fed fried and boiled egg yolk containing Polyunsaturated fatty acid, and omega-3- omega-6 with ideal ratio (1 : 5). Fifty two months old male of Rattus norvegicus L. separated in 2 groups; normal and hypercholesterolemia (blood cholesterol > 200 mg/dl). The rat placed in individual cage, fed 15 g/rat/day and drinking water ad lib. The ration was composed of 90% basal feed and 10% egg yolk of daily feed consumption (20% BW). Seven treatments of egg yolk were frying at 170 0C for 3 min (fried = GM), and 1 min (half fried = GSM) using deep fryer, oilless frying at = 70 0C for10 min (fried = TM), dan 6 min (half fried = TSM) using Teflon pan, and boiling at 100 0C for 10' (boiled = RM) dan 4 min (half boiled = RSM) using thermoregulator pan and a fresh omega egg as a control. Factorial 2 x 7 of completely randomized design was used for 4 weeks research period. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and Duncan's Multiple Range Test. The result showed that rat TG and LDL blood increased on the normal rat group and the GM egg showed the highest blood TG (98.71 mg/dl) and LDL (13.01 mg/dl). On hypercholesterolemia group of rat GM a highest TG bood, 121.04 mg/dl, respectively. In normal rat, the HDL blood tended to decrease, but that on hypercholesterolemia group increased, and GM egg showed the highest HDL (110.93 mg/dl). Half boiled egg was the best treatment for omega egg.
Key words: omega-3, omega-6, fat profile, hypercholesterolemia
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Patients' and clinicians' perspectives on the primary care consultations for acute respiratory infections during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: an eight-country qualitative study in Europe.
Wanat M., Hoste ME., Gobat NH., Anastasaki M., Böhmer F., Chlabicz S., Colliers A., Farrell K., Hollerbach S., Karkana M-N., Kinsman J., Lionis C., Marcinowicz L., Reinhardt K., Skoglund I., Sundvall P-D., Vellinga A., Goossens H., Butler C., van der Velden A., Anthierens S., Tonkin-Crine S.
BACKGROUND: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients' and clinicians' perceptions of healthcare-seeking behaviour and delivery of care is unclear. The pandemic accelerated the use of remote care and understanding its benefits and drawbacks may inform its implementation during this and future healthcare emergencies. AIM: To explore patients' and primary care professionals' (PCPs) experiences of primary care delivery in the first wave of the pandemic. DESIGN & SETTING: Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews in primary care in eight European countries RESULTS: We conducted 146 interviews with 80 PCPs and 66 patients consulting for respiratory tract infection (RTI) symptoms, in eight European countries (England, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Poland, Sweden and Germany). Data was collected between April and July 2020 and analysed using thematic analysis. We found that patients accepted telemedicine when PCPs spent time to understand and address their concerns, but a minority preferred in-person consultations. PCPs felt that remote consultations created emotional distance between themselves and patients, and they reported having to manage diverse COVID-19-related medical and social concerns. CONCLUSION: Remote consultations for RTI symptoms may be acceptable long-term if both groups are happy to use this format but it is important that PCPs take time to address patients' concerns and provide safety-netting advice.


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- Stabile Isotope (1) (remove)
- How availability and quality of nectar and honeydew shape an Australian rainforest ant community (2003)
- Ant communities visiting nectar and honeydew sources were studied in a tropical lowland rainforest in North Queensland, Australia. The study focused on the hypothesis whether the distribution and composition of nectar and honeydew diets influence resource partitioning and competition in the ant community, and thus regulate community composition. Ants were the most common consumers on all extrafloral nectaries, while they constituted only a minority of floral visitors. In total, 43 ant species were observed to consume nectar from extrafloral nectaries (34 plant species) or from flowers (14 plant species), and wound sap exudates (three plant species). Six nectar-foraging ant species attended trophobionts (including at least 12 species of homopterans and two species of lycaenid caterpillars) for honeydew. Ant species showed a significant compartmentalisation of nectar use across plant species, although most ant species visited a broad spectrum of plants that strongly overlapped between different ants. Trophobioses were much more specialised at the study site, and some ant species attended certain trophobionts exclusively. On each plant individual, only a single ant colony was observed attending trophobionts. In contrast, simultaneous co-occurrences between different ant species foraging for nectar on the same plant individuals were common (observed in 23% of the surveys), although these proportions varied strongly across plant and ant species. The two most dominant ant species (Oecophylla smaragdina and Anonychomyrma gilberti) had mutually exclusive territories, and they were each associated with a significantly different assemblage of other ant species on nectar plants. This community pattern corresponds with the concept of ant mosaics that is based on dominance hierarchies. Honeydew and nectar sources varied substantially in carbohydrate and amino acid concentration and composition (HPLC analyses). There was a strong relationship between the composition of these resources and their use by ants, in particular by the dominant O. smaragdina. Among all 32 nectar and honeydew sources analysed, resources actually consumed by this ant were characterised by relatively similar amino acid profiles and higher total sugar concentration. The most common diets of O. smaragdina included two honeydew sources (Sextius 'kurandae' membracids on Entada phaseoloides and Caesalpinia traceyi legume lianas) and two extrafloral nectars (Flagellaria indica and Smilax cf. australis) that had the broadest spectrum of amino acids. Furthermore, these trophobioses on lianas showed a significantly higher per capita recruitment of this ant species (number of workers per individual homopteran) compared to trees. F. indica and S. cf. australis extrafloral nectaries were also commonly monopolised by O. smaragdina in a similar way as trophobioses; co-occurrences were significantly rarer than at other nectar sources. Field experiments on nectar preferences were performed using artificial sugar and amino acid solutions in pairwise comparisons. Preferences among sugars were largely concordant between ant species. For most ant species, sucrose was more attractive than any other sugar, and attractiveness increased with sugar concentration. Most ant species also preferred sugar solutions containing mixtures of amino acids over pure sugar solutions. However, choices between different single amino acids in sugar solutions varied substantially and significantly between species. Preferences between solutions were significantly reduced in the presence of competing ant species. Thus the experiments show that both variability in gustatory preferences, especially for amino acids, and conditional effects of competition may be important for resource selection and partitioning in nectar feeding ant communities. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope composition was analysed for 50 ant species, and additionally for associated plants, homopterans and other arthropods from the study site. Nitrogen isotope ratios (d15N) of ants were not correlated with those of plant foliage from which the ants were collected. Instead, d15N may represent a powerful indicator of trophic position of omnivorous ants like in other foodweb studies, suggesting that members of the ant community spread out in a continuum between largely herbivorous species, feeding on nectar or honeydew, and predatory taxa. Variability between colonies of the same species was also pronounced. d15N values of O. smaragdina colonies from mature forests, where most of their nectar and honeydew sources are found, indicate lower trophic levels than isotope signatures of colonies from open secondary vegetation. This study demonstrates that the distribution and quality of honeydew and nectar sources have a strong structuring impact in diverse tropical ant communities. Amino acids were found to play a key role for ant species preferences and competition, and for nitrogen fluxes to colonies of the arboreal ant fauna.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Are Disentangled Representations Helpful for Abstract Visual Reasoning?
Sjoerd van Steenkiste, Francesco Locatello, Jürgen Schmidhuber, Olivier Bachem
A disentangled representation encodes information about the salient factors of variation in the data independently. Although it is often argued that this representational format is useful in learning to solve many real-world down-stream tasks, there is little empirical evidence that supports this claim. In this paper, we conduct a large-scale study that investigates whether disentangled representations are more suitable for abstract reasoning tasks. Using two new tasks similar to Raven's Progressive Matrices, we evaluate the usefulness of the representations learned by 360 state-of-the-art unsupervised disentanglement models. Based on these representations, we train 3600 abstract reasoning models and observe that disentangled representations do in fact lead to better down-stream performance. In particular, they enable quicker learning using fewer samples.


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Working with CLR User-defined Types
You can create a database object inside SQL Server that is programmed against an assembly created in the Microsoft.NET Framework common language runtime (CLR). Database objects that can take advantage of the rich programming model provided by the CLR include triggers, stored procedures, functions, aggregate functions, and types.
You can extend the SQL type system by defining a custom data type for use in SQL Server programming. A user-defined type (UDT) may be simple or structured and of any degree of complexity. It can encapsulate complex, user-defined behaviors. A user-defined type is implemented as a managed class in any one of the CLR languages, and then registered with SQL Server. A user-defined type can be used to define the type of a column in a table, or a variable or routine parameter in the Transact-SQL language. An instance of a user-defined type can be a column in a table, a variable in a batch, function or stored procedure, or an argument of a function or stored procedure.
The following topics provide additional information about working with user-defined types.
Lists the steps that you require to create or drop a user-defined type, with links to the topics required for completing each step.
Explains how to insert and modify column values and change the values of user-defined type variables and parameters.
Explains how to modify user-defined type variables and parameters in a SET statement or in the SELECT list of a SELECT statement.
Explains how to perform a variety of operations on instances of user-defined types.
Explains how to convert a user-defined type value from one database for use in another database.
For sample applications that demonstrate how to create and use CLR-based database objects, including user-defined types, in SQL Server, see the CLR Programmability Samples. For information about samples, see Considerations for Installing SQL Server Samples and Sample Databases.


Trinidad's Pitch Lake
Updated: Sep 1, 2020
By: Attorney Melissa D. Goolsarran Ramnauth
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Trinidad's Pitch Lake is a world wonder. It is the largest and richest source of natural asphalt. The lake contains approximately 10 million tons of asphalt, spans 100 acres, and is approximately 250 feet deep. For reference, that is about 2 times bigger than Grand Central Station and deeper than the height of Cinderella's castle at Disney World.
Legend says that a local tribe was celebrating a victory against a rival tribe. However, in the midst of their celebrations, they began to cook and eat the sacred hummingbird. God allegedly punished the group by opening the Earth and creating the Pitch Lake to swallow their souls. God left the Pitch Lake as a reminder to others of the tribe's terrible sin. Local villages believe this legend because Amerindian artifacts and bones were found preserved (due to the asphalt) near the lake. The Amerindian word for asphalt was "piche."
The Europeans first learned of the Pitch Lake when Sir Walter Raleigh visited the island in 1595, around the time he was looking for El Dorado. The natives took Raleigh to the lake and he used the asphalt to caulk his ship. The asphalt was "most excellent," in his opinion, because it did not melt in the sun like the Norway asphalt.
In 1887, an American businessman secured a 42-year monopoly on the lake. As a result, many of the first asphalt roads in New York City, Washington D.C., and other eastern U.S. cities were paved using the asphalt from Trinidad's Pitch Lake. In conjunction, much of the Pitch Lake's profits went abroad to a foreign investor and not to the local Trinidadian population.
Scientifically speaking, Pitch Lake is located at the intersection of two faults. The oil at the intersection rises, the sun evaporates the lighter elements in the oil, and this process leaves behind the heavier elements creating the asphalt. Kerosene and oil also have been harvested from the Pitch Lake.
The Pitch Lake is not Trinidad's only treasure. Its people and their culture are equally as valuable to the rest of the world.
Melissa D. Goolsarran Ramnauth, Esq. is an American foreclosure, civil litigation, and bankruptcy attorney of Trinidadian and Guyanese descent. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, a minor degree in History, a minor degree in Criminology, and a Juris Doctor degree.
MDGR LAW specializes in foreclosure defense. If you are facing foreclosure, schedule a consultation for an analysis of your options and legal defenses.
Virtual Law Office: _PHONE_
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Contributing to the automotive-sig repository¶
Cloning the main repository¶
- From GitLab, click Clone and copy the URL of the Automotive SIG repository. You can choose either SSH or HTTPS.
- From a terminal window, clone the repository locally:
git clone
git clone _EMAIL_:centos/automotive/sample-images.git origin
Creating a fork¶
- From GitLab, click Fork.
- Optional: Enter a project name. If you don't enter a project name, the fork inherits the name of the origin.
- Select your name from the namespace menu.
- Optional: Enter a project description.
- Select your preferred visibility level.
- Click Fork project to create your fork.
Adding your fork as a remote¶
- From GitLab, click Clone and copy the URL of your fork. You can choose either SSH or HTTPS.
- From a terminal window, go to your clone of the automotive-sig repository and add your fork as a remote repository:
git remote add
git remote add myfork _EMAIL_:your-name/your-automotive-sig.git
- Optional: Confirm that you added your fork as a remote:
git remote -v
You can run this command at any time to view details about all of the remotes in the cloned repository.
Contributing to the repository¶
Create a dedicated branch on your fork:Example:
git checkout -b
git checkout -b my-branch
Push updates to your fork:Example:
git push
git push myfork my-branch
- From the Automotive-SIG repository, click New merge request.
- Select the main branch of the Automotive-SIG repository as the target.
- Select the following merge options:
- Delete source branch when merge request is accepted.
- Squash commits when merge request is accepted.
- Request a review from someone with maintainer rights so that they can review and merge your changes.


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To develop an awareness of Essential Skills
Essential Skills are skills that people need for work, life and everyday learning. You use Essential Skills everyday without realizing it.
You have used Essential Skills if you have
There are 9 Essential Skills, they are
Essential Skills provide people the foundational skills needed to learn other skills. Essential Skills are used every day in work, learning and life. Every job uses all 9 Essential Skills.
Working alone or in a group, watch the video. Each time you see an Essential Skill being used, write the Essential Skill you saw. After the video, think about each situation when the Essential Skill was being used. Think about examples of when you needed to use the same Essential Skill
Talk about each of your answers.


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Acute Care has highly variable needs across care areas/units. In keeping with diagnoses and situation, various patient populations require assistance to move, which may more often occur early in their inpatient stay.
Patient mobility often improves closer to discharge, however, it is this exact variability between dependency and independence which can lead to caregiver injuries.
Frequent Lifting & Handling Tasks
- Transfer to and from bed/chair
- Transfer to/from toilet
- Reposition up toward head of bed
- Transfers to/from wheelchair or stretcher for tests and procedures
- Transfers in many hospital areas and departments, such as emergency, operating room, clinics, arrival and departure areas, morgue


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Image: Field label for Magpie-lark (BF 2227)
A good, clear field label for specimens. Note the data that has been included: the location where the bird was found, the date it was found and the name of the collector. In this instance, the collector has also put the age, sex and scientific name of the bird, but don't worry about writing any of this if you do not know the details. Staff in the Bird Section will fill in those details. A waterproof pen was used to write this label; if you do not have one, a pencil is an excellent substitute.
- Jaynia Sladek
- © Australian Museum


Agility Drill Demonstration
This is a fun warm up and really improves movement.
 1. Step out to your right side on your right foot. The left leg crossed behind the right foot to place the left foot on the ground.
 2. Step out to the right again with the right foot and bring the left foot this time in front of the right leg.
 3. Repeat in the opposite direction so that the left leg leads.
Coaching points
Add arm movements up and down to add intensity to the grapevine step.
Ensure you have a safe amount of space around you before starting this exercise.
Average rating
The Drill is often used with
GrapevineSpeed FootworkAgility Drills Coaching


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Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Nanofiltration (Nano) are two very similar technologies that remove impurities from water or other liquids. In both systems, Membranes are used to separate a liquid from contaminants. Membranes are basically filters with tiny pores that allow water through while trapping contaminants.
Key differences between nanofiltration and reverse osmosis (RO) include:
Nanofiltration is a newer technology than reverse osmosis and was developed for drinking water applications as it was found that RO removed some of the minerals in water that are considered beneficial for human health. Nanofiltration allows beneficial minerals to pass through the membrane with the water while blocking contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides etc that are harmful to the body.


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Stewardship of the Built Environment
7 x 10
7 x 10
When we think of green building, we tend to picture new construction. But Robert A. Young argues that the greenest building is often the one that has already been built. In Stewardship of the Built Environment, he shows how rehabilitating and reusing existing structures holds untapped potential for achieving sustainable communities. Students and professionals alike will discover the multifaceted benefits of reuse.
Young begins by describing how historic preservation in the United States, often overlooked because of the predominant focus on new construction, is actually an important sustainable design strategy. He then examines the social, environmental, and economic benefits of preservation—from the societal value of reusing existing buildings to financial incentives available for rehabilitation. Young concludes with insights into the future of reusing buildings as a sustainability strategy. He also provides several informative appendices, including a glossary of key terms and acronyms and recommendations for further reading.
Readers will become familiar with essential terminology; sustainability and historic preservation metrics; government oversight processes; and opportunities for smart growth afforded by rehabilitation. This knowledge is key to preserving the past while building a sustainable future.
"For twenty years advocates for so-called 'green buildings' have focused almost exclusively on new construction, ignoring the environmental contributions of the existing building stock. Worse yet, historic buildings were dismissed as energy hogs that should be razed and replaced with green gizmo structures. They were wrong. And Robert Young amply refutes their foolishness in his excellent new book."
Donovan Rypkema, principal, PlaceEconomics
"It will be very difficult for anyone to leave historic preservation out of an overall sustainability strategy after reading this book. Stewardship of the Built Environment does a great deal to explain the interconnectedness between old buildings, sustainability, energy use and economics, and underscores the critical role old buildings play in a healthy built environment."
Ronda Wist, Senior VP, Policy and Advocacy, Municipal Arts Society NYC
"This book makes an important contribution to the literature about the intersection of historic preservation and sustainability. The stewardship of the built environment is simultaneously an act of preservation and sustainability. Stewardship is the core. Young explores both the warp and woof of the rich tapestry of sustainable stewardship, illustrating both its vertical and horizontal relationships."
Carl Elefante, FAIA, in his foreword
"In Stewardship of the Build Environment: Sustainability, Preservation, and Reuse, author Robert A. Youn takes a philosophical look at the role of historic preservation in the ongoing push toward more sustainable buildings and communities. Supported by countless case studies of buildings that got it right, Young's in-depth analysis of the many factors that go into making a building sustainable (everything from location to energy usage) is a must-read for anyone interested in preservation's role in the green movement."
"The underlying call for a paradigm of'stewardship of the build environment' has broad relevance."
"It is difficult to imagine that a planner could work effectively in neighborhood redevelopment or real estate as well without the comprehensive knowledge Young presents in the book."
Journal of Planning Education and Research
Chapter 1. Overview and Introduction
Chapter 2. Social Factors
Chapter 3. Environmental Factors
Chapter 4. Economic Factors
Chapter 5. Putting It All Together
Appendix A. Abbreviations
Appendix B. Recommendations for Further Reading


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June 21 – National Peaches and Cream Day
Posted on June 21, 2012
National Peaches and Cream Day
Five Food Finds about Peaches
- Did you know? Peaches were once known as Persian apples.
- "You're a real peach" originated from the tradition of giving a peach to the friend you liked.
- Peaches were mentioned as early as 79 A.D. in literature.
- Most peaches are cultivated by grafting different combinations of rootstocks to scions.
- There are over 700 varieties of peaches-some Chinese varieties are even flat like hockey pucks!
Today's Food History
on this day in…
1834 Cyrus McCormick received a patent for the first practical mechanical reaper.
1893 The first Ferris Wheel opened at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Invented by George Washington Ferris, it had 36 cars and carried 60 passengers 264 feet high.
1933 A barge loaded with grain arrived in New Orleans to complete the first Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico barge trip.


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Outdoor Education/Around the world< Outdoor Education
Outdoor education occurs, in one form or another, in most if not all countries of the world. However, it can be implemented very differently, depending on the cultural context. Some countries, for example, view outdoor education as synonymous with environmental education, whilst other countries treat outdoor education and environmental education as distinct. Modern forms of outdoor education are most prevalent in UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and to some extent Asia and Africa. A map is available of locations of outdoor education organisations, facilities, and people.
After the second world war many local authorities in the UK emulated the Outward Bound principles and set up their own outdoor education centres for school children. Visits to these outdoor centres were often subsidised, allowing many children from the towns and cities a unique experience of the outdoor world.
By the late 1980s most UK local education authorities had an outdoor education centre, and there was a growing private sector offering similar experiences. Government moves to offer more autonomy to schools have badly affected this provision. Under regulations for the local management of schools that took effect in England and Wales from 1992 onwards, the majority of the money spent on education in the UK now goes direct to the school, and local authorities often find it difficult to subsidise their outdoor education centres. As a result many have closed.
One of the most significant changes in outdoor education in Great Britain came as a result of the Lyme Bay kayaking tragedy in March, 1993. This tragedy accelerated governmental discussions until, in January 1995, the Activity Centres (Young Persons' Safety) Act 1995 was passed through Parliament in January 1995 and an independent licensing authority, the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) was formed.
Overall, the AALA appears to have succeeded in its mission, but it has also created debate regarding whether it is possible for young people to experience adventure in an 'educational way' within tight regulations. Some people view AALA regulations as tight and thus, restricting their opportunity to provide what they believe to be meaningful outdoor education.
One further area worthy of note is the Campaign for Adventure (Campaign for Adventure, 2000a). This campaign started in 2000 following a one day conference titled "A Question of Balance." Since then the campaign has concentrated on lobbying political individuals and parties to support risk taking and to acknowledge and work against the increasing trends indicated by a "culture of fear." This phrase is the title of Furedi's (1997) book, which is heavily cited in recent UK outdoor education literature. As with most political campaigns it is difficult to assess progress but the work of those involved in the campaign can be followed on line (Campaign for Adventure, 2000a). Consistent with this position, a recent report from the Office of Standards in Education, which covers England and Wales, concluded that outdoor education is uniquely placed to offer structured opportunities for students to identify hazards, calculate the related risks and decide the significance of a risk in order to determine and implement the precautions necessary to eliminate and minimise risk. Students' involvement in risk management makes them aware of potential harm and contributes towards their being able to take greater responsibility for their own and others' safety. (Ofsted, 2004, p. 13)
While on the surface Ofsted may appear to be consistent with the Campaign for Adventure there are some significant inconsistencies here worthy of brief explanation. It appears that Ofsted is suggesting that the very idea of risk taking is to be avoided and the role of outdoor education could be to enable students to assess risk and then 'eliminate or minimise' it. A contrary position is taken by the Campaign for Adventure based on adventure and risk as, at least an educational value, and perhaps even as central to life and a way of being, which is threatened by a culture of fear. The Campaign for Adventure believe that life is best approached with a spirit of adventure and that absolute safety is unachievable.
Recently there has been concern expressed about the decline in the number and quality of school trips in the UK. In 2005 the Parliamentary select committee on Education published a report on 'Education outside the classroom' which called on the UK government to do more to protect and promote outdoor education. In response the government promised to issue a manifesto for outdoor education, setting out what schools ought to offer their pupils.
The origin of outdoor education in the USA is difficult to pinpoint. North American culture, particularly since European colonization in the 17th century, has embraced a pioneering spirit. This contributed to the extensive development of organized camping programs during the 20th century, Outward Bound programs since the 1960s, as well as many related off-shoot programs including Project Adventure, the National Outdoor Leadership School, the ropes course industry, and many other applications including wilderness orientation programs within colleges and universities and adventure therapy. In the 1970's, the Association for Experiential Education was also formed, along with the Journal of Experiential Education which continues to have a strong focus on adventure education scholarship and practice.
- Main article: Outdoor Education in India
- Main article: Maori outdoor education
The term 'outdoor education' doesn't seem to have an exact equivalent in the German language although Kurt Hahn, one of key figures in the development of outdoor education in the twentieth century was German. In general, outdoor or adventure education is not as widespread in Germany as in other developed regions, such as North America, Australia, and the UK. However, a closely related educational approach called experiential education (In German: "Erlebnispädagogik") is commonly applied.
Most organisations and companies offering programs and activities based on experiential education for children and youth also offer similar programs for adults and especially corporate teams which are then mostly referred to as 'outdoor trainings'.
Judging from the kind of outdoor training programs available in an internet search, the main clientele of German outdoor training providers seem to be corporate teams and organisations seeking team building and personal development. There is also a wide range of organisations offering outdoor programs based on experiential education for children, adolescents, families and school classes with or without disabilities. German schools have seemingly started to make increased use of outdoor and experiential possibilities when planning their school trips but the experiential approach is rarely implemented in the normal school system and it is by no means as common for school students to experience outdoor education trips as it is other countries.
A more detailed summary of German outdoor education and experiential educational providers and networks is available.
- Knapp, C. E. (1994). Progressivism never died, it just moved outside: What can experiential educators learn from the past? Journal of Experiential Education, 17(2), 8-12.


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Scientists, including those from the Natural History Museum, have developed the world's first underwater observatory connected to the internet, creating a window into the ocean, one of the least-studied environments on our planet.
Live images are streamed online from the observatory under the sea, which means scientists anywhere in the world are now able to study processes in real-time, helping them better understand how marine ecosystems work.
The system was created by a team from the Natural History Museum, University of Gothenburg, Maritime Museum and Aquarium Gothenburg, Scottish Association of Marine Science, OceanLab Aberdeen, and Bangor University.
Electron micrograph of Osedax mucofloris, the marine worm species Adrian Glover discovered in 2005 and hopes to study using the underwater observatory.
Natural History Museum marine biologist Adrian Glover showed the live stream of the observatory at the Museum's grand opening of the new Darwin Centre last week with special guests Prince William and Sir David Attenborough. The state-of-the-art building lets the public get a glimpse of some of the important science research that happens at the Museum.
The observatory is currently 30m underwater in a fjord on the west coast of Sweden at the Sven Loven Centre for Marine Sciences. It is beaming images of a community of scavenging creatures living on the remains of a dead whale.
'Even something simple like the decomposition of a small whale in shallow water is very poorly known,' says Glover.
'Until now, we had to make do with 'one-off' visits using submersibles, remotely operated-vehicles or scuba divers.'
Glover is currently studying the feeding behaviour of scavenging animals that feed on the carcass. He is also hoping to study the colonisation of the bones by the bone-eating worms from the genus Osedax, one species of which he discovered in 2005.
This hut contains the observatory 'node', a communications hub, which is powered and connected to the internet by fibre-optic cables.
The underwater observatory is made up of a video camera and instruments that are mounted onto a frame. Video data is sent live along cables to the observatory 'node', a type of communications hub that is in a hut on a nearby island. The node is powered and connected to the internet by fibre-optic cables.
Technology advances in the cabling and underwater instruments enabled this system to work whereas a few years ago it wouldn't have been possible. However, there were some hurdles to overcome along the way, from problems with computer software and flooding of the camera housing, to a sudden infestation of barnacles!
The observatory is designed so that it can be used in potentially much greater ocean depths. 'If we are successful in raising funds, we would like to deploy our observatory in the deep sea using a remotely-operated vehicle' says Glover.
'We know even less about processes in the deep sea, and a network of observatories like these could revolutionise our perception of the marine environment.'


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Though this great tragedy of unsurpassed intensity and emotion is played out against Renaissance splendor, its story of the doomed marriage of a Venetian senator's daughter, Desdemona, to a Moorish general, Othello, is especially relevant to modern audiences. The differences in race and background create an initial tension that allows the horrifyingly envious villain Iago methodically to promote the "green-eyed monster" jealousy, until, in one of the most deeply moving scenes in theatrical history, the noble Moor destroys the woman he loves–only to discover too late that she was innocent.
Each Edition Includes:
‧ Comprehensive explanatory notes
‧ Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship
‧ Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English
‧ Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories
‧ An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography


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Fisheries Management in Public Waters
The Aquatic Education Program consists of three key components: Youth Education; Adult Education; and Kids Fishing. Youth Education involves training educators to use Aquatic Project WILD (APW), an award winning environmental and conservation program of instructional workshops and supplementary curriculum materials for kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers. About 1,000 educators are trained annually to use APW in their classrooms. Wildlife Resources Division (WRD) staff also use APW materials when giving presentations to youth in schools and at WRD facilities. Educational materials, including posters and lesson planning material, are produced to assist educators teaching youth about aquatic resources.
Adult Education consists primarily of producing materials such as the annual Freshwater and Saltwater Sport Fishing Regulations, news releases, public service announcements, brochures and programs. Fish identification aids, fish consumption advisories, how to handle and release fish properly, and suggested places to go fishing are examples of educational material that are included in the fishing regulations booklet. Brochures are produced and updated regularly that offer the public information on where to go fishing, how to get started, and what kind of fishing to expect on major reservoirs and rivers. Fisheries personnel also make presentations to various organizations and staff booths at large events such as the Georgia National Fair and the Atlanta and Perry Fisheramas. Aquatic Education opportunities for all ages are available to visitors at Fisheries Section facilities, where signs and trails provide an opportunity to learn more about what the Section does and why, and about the aquatic resources in the area.
Kids Fishing Events (KFEâ€™s) are popular community activities that introduce youth under age 16 and their families to the joys of fishing and promote a better understanding of the natural environment. KFEâ€™s provide an opportunity for youth to fish, often for the first time, where knowledgeable volunteers are available to assist and where the probability of catching a fish is high. WRD co-sponsors most events by providing channel catfish and trout to enhance fish populations, educational materials for the participants, and technical assistance. KFEâ€™s are also conducted by fisheries staff at fish hatcheries and PFAâ€™s.
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A quarter-century ago Ludmila Javorova was a secret locked inside another secret. She was an ordained Roman Catholic priest inside the secret underground church in Czechoslovakia.
More on Ludmila
Ludmila's Story
Becoming a priest is something she prepared for all her life
Did a Female Pope Exist?
"Pope Joan" may be more than a legend
"A Woman of Power"
An interview with Donna Woolfolk Cross, author of the book, "Pope Joan"
The underground church, known as Koinotes--from koinonia, a Greek word for a tightly knit group of believers--operated at great risk, barely beyond the repressive gaze of the Czech communist authorities.
In the 1970s and '80s, Javorova's story was as remote as information buried in a time capsule. In a sense, that's what the secret was. Javorova did not want it revealed. Yet over the course of one decade, the 1990s, American enterprise and determination--and chance--decided otherwise.
In 1990, NCR staffer Tim McCarthy was in the Czech Republic to write about the sweeping changes taking place in Central and Eastern Europe.
In September of that year, in a lengthy article datelined Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, McCarthy revealed that married men had been ordained priests secretly in that country from the 1960s on.
Even more startling, informants told McCarthy that Bishop Felix Maria Davidek had ordained at least one woman. But McCarthy's sources did not know who or where she was, and their story "could not be confirmed."
Despite McCarthy's first twist on the time lock, the secret remained. The woman at the center, Ludmila Javorova, did not want it revealed. She had her reasons, though she had no doubts about her priesthood. She knew she had been legitimately ordained, in part because of the circumstances of the time, by Davidek, a legally instituted and recognized Roman Catholic bishop.
In December 1991, The New York Times picked up on the story and reported that three Czech women had been ordained.
The next twist on the time lock had taken place.
Ruth McDonough Fitzpatrick, then national coordinator of the U.S. Catholic Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) put together a small delegation to travel to the Czech Republic. Before they left, she learned there was a former Koinotes priest in the United States and contacted him. He knew one of the women: Ludmila Javorova. Her name was out.
The delegation, which included Quixote Center's co-director Dolly Pommerlau and others, went to Prague, then Brno. In Brno, 18 local people gathered to listen to the visitors during a discussion about the church in the United States. Javorova, unidentified, was present. Later that evening, Javorova decided to be introduced to the Americans. They urged her to go public with her story. She declined.
Four years later a second delegation went to Brno and invited Javorova to the United States for a private visit. The delegation was co-sponsored by the Women's Ordination Conference and the Quixote Center, a faith-based social justice center in Washington.
In October 1997, Javorova visited for two weeks. She was accompanied by an ordained woman deacon from Slovakia, the deacon's sister and an interpreter. Not a word of this visit leaked out. Among events lined up for Javorova was a gathering of Future Church in Cleveland.
Seventy minutes flying time away, in Hartford, Conn., Sr. Miriam Therese Winter, composer, professor and director of Hartford Seminary's Women's Leadership Institute, was invited to the meeting by her friend, St. Joseph Sr. Chris Schenk, the executive director of FutureChurch.
There Winter met Javorova, a tall woman, perhaps 5-foot-7, slender, quiet, "deeply introverted but centered, very present to the moment." Winter, with her work at Hartford in mind, took some notes, some photographs and flew home. She typed up the notes and put them away.
A week later, Winter rode the Amtrak to Philadelphia. After its New Haven, Conn., stop, the train was packed. Even so, Winter could hear people talking in a language she did not understand, yet recognized--she'd been listening to it the previous weekend. There, across the aisle in the same car, was Javorova and her traveling companions.
"Ludmila shrieked in delight, she was so grateful to see a familiar face," said Winter. "They were on their way to Washington, but they wanted to make a quick stop in New York, just to see it. They were babes in the wilderness. They had bags and purses and coats, and I said, 'Omigod, getting off in New York you're going to be dog meat.' So I got off with them, got their gear into lockers, but couldn't stay."
Winter went on to Philadelphia. Not longer after, in Detroit for the Call to Action meeting, Winter was talking to the then-executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, Andrea Johnson, who said she'd been trying to convince Javorova to tell her story. They were pressing, but not too hard. The American women tried to convince Javorova to at least put her story down on paper. They explained that if she did not, after her death it would all disappear as if it had never happened.
Winter advised Johnson to contact Crossroad, the publishing house that publishes Winter's books. "The one thing I believe absolutely essential," Winter said, "is that when Ludmila tells her story, she needs to tell it to someone who receives it in such a way they treat it as sacred."
As Winter candidly said to NCR later, "Look, I had a concern about our feminist agenda. I'm a feminist. Honestly and sincerely, if you're about your task, you try to do it objectively. Even though there's a certain feminist filter, you try to watch over it. I also think, even without manipulation, you hear things differently if your primary objective is to lift up or pursue women's ordination which is, of course, critically important.
"But sometimes," Winter said, "how you ask the question determines how you get the information.
"When I'd been With Ludmila [in Cleveland]," she said, "I'd sensed something very deep there. I couldn't put it into words. I simply said she can't just go ahead with one European male writer who's close to the Czech Republic who comes in and says tell me your story. I'm so used to women's work. You need to have a safe circle of supporters as you tell the story."
Winter returned to her duties, but the task she'd laid out stayed with her. A couple of days later she woke up in the middle of the night and said, "I have to do this story." That morning she called Michael Leach (then at Crossroad, now at Orbis), and told him, "You won't believe want happened last night." He replied, "You won't believe what happened this morning." At their meeting they'd said, "If only we could get M.T. Winter to write this book."
In August 1999, during six days of conversation conducted through two interpreters, Winter learned a little of what it meant to be a secret locked inside a secret. "When you've lived 40 years under totalitarian rule, World War II Nazis and then the communists, everything is secret," Winter said "Then you have this underground church movement. It has to be very guarded. You don't tell anybody anything they don't need to know.
"And these are life patterns," said Winter. "Even when your psyche wants to override it. There were so many things in her life she'd never talked about, never said aloud even to herself. There was no sense of now we start at the beginning and go on to the end. Her recounting was all over the place. Many times I'd asked evocative questions to try to get to the narrative, and not just theory. Even dates. I had to do a lot of external work on the time line: If German bombs fell on Brno this year, Ludmila was a little girl and probably that age."
In March 2000, Winter was back in Brno again. She decided to write the first draft while living and working in the culture. In May 2000, she was in Brno for a five-week writing stint. Halfway through came word that Winter's mother was dying. She made it home just in time, but could not return to the Czech Republic.
"Thank God for e-mails, and that we found two wonderful interpreters/translators," said Winter. In December 2000, Winter was back with Javorova checking the facts. Up until that point Javorova still had not agreed to publication in her lifetime. "I'd sensed in the fall that she might," said Winter, "and in December she agreed."
Oddly, that is not the end of the account that leads to Winter's book, reviewed on this page and excerpted on page 39. In Winter's view, the process of telling the story changed Winter, changed Javorova, and changed the context in which women's ordination is discussed.
Winter explains. "It is not easy to put Ludmila in a box, which we'd like to do. A stereotype--'She's a woman priest, therefore...' She crosses back and forth. She was doing things that were post-Vatican II way back when


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Scalable compilation helps reduce compilation time for models that consist of a pattern of repeated components, such as transmission lines or battery packs, by compiling a repeated component once and then reusing these compilation artifacts for other instances of the same component. Scalable compilation improves compilation performance, it does not reduce the simulation time of the model.
- About Scalable Compilation
General workflow and types of models that can benefit from scalable compilation.
- Preparing Your Model for Scalable Compilation
This example shows how to evaluate a model and prepare it for scalable compilation.
- Scalable Compilation Limitations
Limitations for using scalable compilation, such as unsupported patterns, workflows, or simulation modes.
- Determining Optimal Complexity Level for Reusable Components
Guidelines and considerations for determining the optimal model configuration for scalable compilation.
- Reuse Compilation Artifacts of Individual Simscape Blocks
If your model contains multiple instances of the same Simscape™ block, you can use the
simscape.scalable.setBlockConfigfunction to make all or some of these instances reusable.
- Reuse Compilation Artifacts of Textual Components
Scalable compilation also lets you reuse compilation artifacts of repeated textual components.


Transit and Scale Variance Part 2: Soviet Triangles
Continuing with my series on scale-variance (see part 1), I want to talk about a feature of transit networks that only exists at a specific scale: the Soviet triangle. This is a way of building subway networks consisting of three lines, meeting in a triangle:
The features of the Soviet triangle are that there are three lines, all running roughly straight through city center, meeting at three distinct points forming a little downtown triangle, with no further meets between lines. This layout allows for interchanges between any pair of lines, without clogging one central transfer point, unlike on systems with three lines meeting at one central station (such as the Stockholm Metro).
The name Soviet comes from the fact that this form of network is common in Soviet and Soviet-influenced metro systems. Ironically, it is absent from the prototype of Soviet metro design, the Moscow Metro: the first three lines of the Moscow Metro all meet at one point (in addition to a transfer point one station away on Lines 1 and 3). But the first three lines of the Saint Petersburg Metro meet in a triangle, as do the first three lines of the Kiev Metro. The Prague Metro is a perfect Soviet triangle; Lines 2-4 in Budapest, designed in the communist era (Line 1 opened in 1896), meet in a triangle. The first three lines of the Shanghai Metro have the typology of a triangle, but the Line 2/3 interchange is well to the west of the center, and then Line 4 opened as a circle line sharing half its route with Line 3.
Examples outside the former communist bloc are rarer, but include the first three lines in Mexico City, and Lines 1-3 in Tehran (which were not the first three to open – Line 4 opened before Line 3). In many places subway lines meet an even number of times, rather than forming perfect diameters; this is especially bad in Spain and Japan, where subway lines have a tendency to miss connections, or to meet an even number of times, going for example northwest-center-southwest and northeast-center-southeast rather than simply crossing as northwest-southeast and northeast-southwest.
But this post is not purely about the Soviet triangle. It's about how it fits into a specific scale of transit. Pure examples have to be big enough to have three subway lines, but they can't be big enough to have many more. Moscow and Saint Petersburg have more radial lines (and Moscow's Line 5 is a circle), but they have many missed connections, due to poor decisions about stop spacing. Mexico City is the largest subway network in the world in which every two intersecting lines have a transfer station, but most of its lines are not radial, instead connecting chords around city center.
Larger metro networks without missed connections are possible, but only with many threeand four-way transfers that create crowding in corridors between platforms; in Moscow, this crowding at the connection between the first three lines led to the construction of the Line 5 circle. In many cases, it's also just difficult to find a good high-demand corridor that intersects older subway lines coherently and is easy to construct under so much older infrastructure.
The result is that the Soviet triangle is difficult to scale up from the size class of Prague or Budapest (not coincidentally, two of the world's top cities in rail ridership per capita). It just gets too cumbersome for the largest cities; Paris has a mixture of radial and grid lines, and the Metro still undersupplies circumferential transportation to the point that a circumferential tramway that averages 18 km/h has the same ridership per km as the New York City Subway.
It's also difficult to scale down, by adapting it to bus networks. I don't know of any bus networks that look like this: a handful of radial lines meeting in the core, almost never at the same station, possibly with a circular line providing crosstown service. It doesn't work like this, because a small-city bus network isn't the same as a medium-size city subway network except polluting and on the surface. It's scaled for minimal ridership, a last-resort mode of transportation for the poorest few percent of workers. The frequency is a fraction of the minimum required to get even semi-reasonable ridership.
Instead, such networks work better when they meet at one city center station, often with timed transfers every half hour or hour. A crosstown line in this situation is useless – it cannot be timed to meet more than one radial, and untimed transfers on buses that come every half hour might as well not even exist. A source who works in planning in Springfield, Massachusetts, a metro area of 600,000, explained to me how the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) bus system works, and nearly all routes are radial around Downtown Springfield or else connect to the universities in the area. There are two circumferential routes within Springfield, both with horrifically little ridership. Providence, too, has little to no circumferential bus service – almost every RIPTA bus goes through Kennedy Plaza, except some outlying routes that stay within a particular suburb or secondary city.
The principle here is that the value of an untimed transfer depends on the frequency of service and to some extent on the quality of station facilities (e.g. shelter). Trains in Prague come every 2-3 minutes at rush hour and every 4-10 minutes off-peak. When the frequency is as low as every 15 minutes, transferring is already questionable; at the typical frequency of buses in a city with a bus-based transportation network, passengers are extremely unlikely to do it.
This raises the question, what about denser bus networks? A city with enough budget for 16 buses running at once is probably going to run 8 radii (four diameters) every half hour, with a city-center timed transfer, and service coverage extending about 24 minutes out of the center in each direction. But what happens if there's enough budget for 60 buses? What if there's enough budget for 200 (about comparable to RIPTA)?
Buses are flexible. The cost of inaugurating a new route is low, and this means that there are compelling reasons to add more routes rather than just beef up frequency on every route. It becomes useful to run buses on a grid or mesh once frequency rises to the point that a downtown timed transfer is less valuable. (In theory the value of a timed transfer is scale-invariant, but in practice, on surface buses without much traffic priority, schedules are only accurate to within a few minutes, and holding buses if one of their connections is late slows passengers down more than not bothering with timing the transfers.)
I know of one small city that still has radial buses and a circular line: Växjö. The frequency on the main routes is a bus every 10-15 minutes. But even there, the circular line (bus lines 2 and 6) is a Yamanote-style circle and not a proper circumferential; all of the buses meet in the center of the city. And this is in a geography with a hard limit to the built-up area, about 5-6 km from the center, which reduces the need to run many routes in many different directions over longer distances (the ends of the routes are 15-20 minutes from the center).
There's also a separate issue, different from scale but intimately bundled with it: mode share. A city with three metro lines is capable of having high transit mode share, and this means that development will follow the lines if it is given the opportunity to. As the three lines intersect in the center, the place for commercial development is then the center. In the communist states that perfected the Soviet triangle, buildings were built where the state wanted them to be built, but the state hardly tried to centralize development. In Stockholm, where the subway would be a triangle but for the three lines meeting at one station, the lack of downtown skyscrapers has led to the creation of Kista, but despite Kista the region remains monocentric.
There is no chance of this happening in a bus city, let alone a bus city with just a handful of radial lines. In a first-world city where public transit consists of buses, the actual main form of transportation is the car. In Stockholm, academics are carless and shop at urban supermarkets; in Växjö, they own cars and shop at big box stores. And that's Sweden. In the US, the extent of suburbanization and auto-centricity is legendary. Providence has some inner neighborhoods built at pedestrian scale, but even there, car ownership is high, and retail that isn't interfacing with students (for example, supermarkets) tends to be strip mall-style.
With development happening at automobile scale in smaller cities with smaller transit networks, the center is likely to be weaker. Providence has more downtown skyscrapers than Stockholm, but it is still more polycentric, with much more suburban job sprawl. Stockholm's development limits in the center lead to a smearing of commercial development to the surrounding neighborhoods (Spotify is headquartered two stops on the Green Line north of T-Centralen, just south of Odengatan). In Providence, there are no relevant development limits; the tallest building in the city is empty, and commercial development moves not to College Hill, but to Warwick.
With a weaker center, buses can't just serve city center, unless the operating budget is so small there is no money for anything else. This is what forces a bus network that has money for enough buses to run something that looks like a transit network but not enough to add rail to have


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Let $d$ be an integer $\geq 2$, and let $\Omega = \lbrace 0,1 \rbrace^d$, $A \subseteq \lbrace 0,1 \rbrace^2 $ and $i,j$ integers with $1 \leq i < j \leq d$. If we select an element $(x_1,x_2, \ldots, x_d)$ in $\Omega$ randomly, the probability $p(\Omega,i,j,A)$ that $(x_i,x_j)\in A$ is exactly $\frac{|A|}{4}$.
If $\Omega'$ is a subset ("sample") of $\Omega$, we may similarly define $p(\Omega',i,j,A)$. We say that $\Omega'$ is an efficient substitute for $\Omega$ if $p(\Omega',i,j,A)=p(\Omega,i,j,A)$ for all $i,j$ and $A$.
We denote by $f(d)$ the smallest possible size for an efficient substitute for $\Omega$. We have the trivial bound $f(d) \leq 2^d$ (take $\Omega'=\Omega$) and, for example, $f(3)=4$ (take $\Omega'=\lbrace (x,y,x+y-2xy) |(x,y) \in \lbrace 0,1 \rbrace^2 \rbrace$). What is the value of $f(d)$ in general?
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I like the question. You are actually asking, what is the smallest finite probability space (in size of $\Omega'$) on which one can have $d$ distinct pair-wisely independent (but not necessarily independent) events of probability $\frac{1}{2}$. Just to explain the reformulation: once the $i$-th event is defined to be $$E_{i}=\lbrace\omega\in\Omega'\;|\;\omega(i)=1\rbrace,$$ the "efficient substitute" criterion amounts to $\mathrm{Pr}(E_{i})=\frac{1}{2}$ and $\mathrm{Pr}(E_{i}\cap E_{j})=\frac{1}{4}$ for every $i,j$ with $1\le i,j\le d$ and $i\not=j$. The example for $d=3$ is a well known case of this situation.
Now, every such space satisfies $|\Omega'|=4n$ for some natural $n$ (the reason being obvious). Knowing this, we could ask an inverse question: given a $4n$-set $\Omega'$, what is the maximum size of a family $\mathcal{F}$ of $2n$-subsets of $\Omega'$ such that every two of them have intersection of size $n$. Knowing a precise answer to this, the original problem is solved as well: given a $d$ take the smallest $4n$ such that the maximum size of $\mathcal{F}$ is at least $d$.
There is a paper titled "Pairwise intersections and forbidden configurations". Let me quote from the abstract:
Let $f_{m}(a,b,c,d)$ denote the maximum size of the family $\mathcal{F}$ of subsets of an $m$-element set for which there is no pair of subsets $A,B\in\mathcal{F}$ with $|A\cap B|\ge a$, $|A^{c}\cap B|\ge b$, $|A\cap B^{c}|\ge c$, and $|A^{c}\cap B^{c}|\ge d$.
The count we are looking for is exactly $f_{4n}(n+1,n+1,n+1,n+1)$. Besides other interesting things, the paper gives also asymptotic estimates for this count; one of them gives $\Theta(4n^{2n-1})$ in our case.
Edit: unfortunately, I was too quick with the asymptotic estimate. The paper gives an estimate only for fixed $a,b,c,d$ as $m$ tends to $\infty$.
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You can find a set $\Omega$ with size $O(d)$. Assume for simplicity that $d=2^k-1$ for an integer $k$. Let $y_1,..,y_k$ be binary variables and define $x_j = \sum_i y_i \alpha_i(j)$ where $\alpha_i(j)$ is simply the $i$-th digit of $j$ when represented in binary. (For example, if $n=7$, you'll get $y_1, y_2, y_3, y_1+y_2, y_1+y_3, y_2+y_3, y_1+y_2+y_3$). You can get $2^k-1$ such linear combinations and they're all balanced and independent - that is $Pr(x_i=1)=1/2$ and $Pr(x_i=a,x_j=b)=1/4, \: \forall a,b=0,1$. This will satisfy the condition $p(\Omega,i,j,A) = |A|/4$. When $d=2^k-1$ this gives $f(d)\leq d+1$. For general $d$ (not be a power of two minus one) you should get $f(d) \leq 2d$ taking $d=2^k$ as the worst case.
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This Spanish poem for children is titled Una casa con un sol. It uses familiar, conversational language to describe the way sunlight enters and brightens a house. It is a summer poem with basic vocabulary that Spanish language learners understand.
Una casa con un sol is by the well-known Argentine author and illustrator Douglas Wright. His books are hard to get in the United States, but he generously shares his work on his blog El jardín de Douglas.
There is an illustration to accompany this poem on the blog. The drawing is a good way to engage children with the subject of the poem before they read it. Looking at the picture they can predict what the poem will be about. You can also talk about where the sun comes into their house and how it feels. You will find the drawing here: Spanish poem for kids – Una casa con un sol.
As always, many thanks to Douglas for permission to share his poetry with the readers of Spanish Playground.
 Una casa con un sol
Qué linda que es esta casa
con un sol en la ventana,
no tengo que irlo a buscar,
está ahí, cada mañana.
Qué linda que es esta casa
con un gran sol en la puerta,
él no tiene que llamar,
yo se la dejo abierta.
Qué linda que es esta casa
con esa luz encendida,
el sol de cada mañana,
ésa es la luz de la vida.
 You may also be interested in this post: Poem by Douglas Wright is Wonderful for Children Learning Spanish
Photo Credit: Steve A Johnson via Compfight cc
Teaching My Children Spanish - A Few Observations Now That They Are Older
Printable Spanish Summer Activities List


text:
Radiotherapy is a commonly used intervention on NF2 patients. However, it is often debated due to it's nature and possible side effects.
In this webinar, hear from the experts in Radiotherapy and NF2 regarding what is the protocol, the risks, future improvements in the technique and much more!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with the information needed to join the webinar.
Make sure to leave your questions for the panelists in the registration or via our social media posts
This webinar was supported by the knowledge and expertise of:
During the live event, we received some questions from the audience that we did not get to respond life so we asked our panelists for their answers. Please see them below:
Responses from Professor Kalamarides
Which has the higher rate of success in preserving hearing, radiotherapy or Avastin? (Question from Michael Raj): Avastin which can even improve hearing in some cases. However, the effect of tumor control and hearing preservation /improvement is linked to continuous treatment and if it is stopped, regrowth can occur in the following months.
Do the studies show any difference in hearing preservation in Gamma vs Proton Beam? (Question from Jon Kantor): the number of published studies on hearing preservation with Proton Beam is very low and nothing in NF2. Moreover, Proton Beam is used for larger tumors when the goal is not hearing preservation but rather tumor control (to avoid facial palsy and brainstem compression)
Do any of the professors know if Avastin causes increased protein in the kidneys and is there any way to balance that? My kidney specialist says the benefits outweigh the risks and my NF2 Dr says the opposite. (Question from CJ HETLE): Indeed, the most frequent side-effect is proteinuria, depending on the long-term use, needing to use the lowest efficient dosage. The risk is higher in older patients with hypertension and kidney problem. Low and stable proteinuria is not a problem under treatment is frequent and not a problem. The progressive increase is problematic because of the theoretical risk of permanent renal dysfunction (exceptional in NF2? not seen by myself but cited in literature). Should be evaluated by specialists. When proteinuria arises, it disappears with the discontinuation of Avastin
Responses from Doctor Lunsford
Is there any experience treating femoral nerve schwannomas with radiation? (Question from Elena Beyhaut): It has been used for brachial (arm)plexus tumors but treatment for the femoral nerve is out of my knowledge base
At what size tumor in the ear canal will radiotherapy be advisable? (Question from Michael Raj): Smaller tumors with preserved hearing do best. We treat tumors of all sizes but bigger tumors causing severe balance issues or headaches may need partial removal first
Would Gamma work better on quickly growing tumors versus slower ones? (Question from Barbara Franklin): It has been used for both types of tumors
I was always told that radiation to the tumors on my hearing nerves will 100% remove my hearing… why are these conflicting opinions out there. It's the only thing I've heard. (Question from Laura Wood): This disinformation is unfortunate. In general tumor surgical removal is associated with complete hearing loss at that time. We have found that in patients with useful hearing over 50% have preservation at 10 years but only one of three by 15- 20 years, so there is a risk of late hearing loss
Is it possible to radiate a Schwannoma tumor in the C2 spine location? (Question from Karen Clampett): The gamma knife can treat tumors in the brain and spinal cord to an inferior spine level of only C1
Do the studies show any difference in hearing preservation in Gamma vs Proton Beam? (Question from Jon Kantor): There are no studies that directly make that comparison over time but there is much hype about fractionated proton data and little objective outcome data to show long-term hearing results. Since proton radiation will also radiate the cochlea at the same dose as the tumor there is little reason to think it would improve results.
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July, 2012
 - The Old New Thing
 Reading the output of a command into a batch file variable
 It's Day Two of Batch File Week. Don't worry, it'll be over in a few days.
 There is no obvious way to read the output of a command into a batch file variable. In unix-style shells, this is done via backquoting.
 The Windows command processor does not have direct backquoting, but you can fake it by abusing the FOR command. Here's the evolution:
 The /F flag to the FOR command says that it should open the file you pass in parentheses and set the loop variable to the contents of each line.
 for /f %%i in (words.txt) do echo [%%i]
 The loop variable in the FOR command takes one percent sign if you are executing it directly from the command prompt, but two percent signs if you are executing it from a batch file. I'm going to assume you're writing a batch file, so if you want to practice from the command line, remember to collapse the double percent signs to singles.
 I'm cheating here because I know that words.txt contains one word per line. By default, the FOR command sets the loop variable to the first word of each line. If you want to capture the entire line, you need to change the delimiter.
 for /f "delims=" %%i in (names.txt) do echo [%%i]
 There are other options for capturing say the first and third word or whatever. See the FOR /? online help for details.
 Now, parsing files is not what we want, but it's closer. You can put the file name in single quotes to say "Instead of opening this file and reading the contents, I want you to run this command and read the contents." For example, suppose you have a program called printappdir which outputs a directory, and you want a batch file that changes to that directory.
 for /f "delims=" %%i in ('printappdir') do cd "%%i"
 We ask the FOR command to run the printappdir program and execute the command cd "%%i" for each line of output. Since the program has only one line of output, the loop executes only once, and the result is that the directory is changed to the path that the printappdir program prints.
 If you want to capture the output into a variable, just update the action:
 for /f %%i in ('printappdir') do set RESULT=%%i
 echo The directory is %RESULT%
 If the command has multiple lines of output, then this will end up saving only the last line, since previous lines get overwritten by subsequent iterations.
 But what if the line you want to save isn't the last line? Or what if you don't want the entire line?
 If the command has multiple lines of output and you're interested only in a particular one, you can filter it in the FOR command itself...
 for /f "tokens=1-2,14" %%i in ('ipconfig') do ^
 if "%%i %%j"=="IPv4 Address." set IPADDR=%%k
 The above command asked to execute the ipconfig command and extract the first, second, and fourteenth words into loop variable starting with %i. In other words, %i gets the first word, %j gets the second word, and %k gets the fourteenth word. (Exercise: What if you want to extract more than 26 words?)
 The loop then checks each line to see if it begins with "IPv4 Address.", and if so, it saves the fourteenth word (the IP address itself) into the IPADDR variable.
 How did I know that the IP address was the fourteenth word? I counted!
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 13 14
 10 12
 That's also why my test includes the period after Address: The first dot comes right after the word Address without an intervening space, so it's considered part of the second "word".
 Somebody thought having the eye-catching dots would look pretty, but didn't think about how it makes parsing a real pain in the butt. (Note also that the above script works only for US-English systems, since the phrase IPv4 Address will change based on your current language.)
 Instead of doing the searching yourself, you can have another program do the filtering, which is important if the parsing you want is beyond the command prompt's abilities.
 for /f "tokens=14" %%i in ('ipconfig ^| findstr /C:"IPv4 Address"') do ^
 set IPADDR=%%i
 This alternate version makes the findstr program do the heavy lifting, and then saves the fourteenth word. (But this version will get fooled by the line Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address.)
 Yes I know that you can do this in PowerShell
 foreach ($i in Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration) {
 if ($i.IPaddress) { $i.IPaddress[0] }
 You're kind of missing the point of Batch File Week.
 - The Old New Thing
 Raymond's subjective, unfair, and completely wrong impressions of the opening ceremonies of a major athletic event which took place recently
 Like many other people, I watched the opening ceremonies of a major athletic event which took place a few days ago. (The organization responsible for the event has taken the step of blocking the mention of the name of the city hosting the event and the year the event takes place, or the name of the event itself except in editorial news pieces or journalistic statements of fact, of which this is neither, so I will endeavour to steer clear of the protected marks.)
 I wish somebody had let me know in advance that the opening ceremonies came with a reading list. I hope that at least the British history majors enjoyed it.
 NBC, the media organization which obtained the rights to broadcast the event in the United States, explained that they were not streaming the opening or closing ceremonies live because they "do not translate well online because they require context, which our award-winning production team will provide." And now we learned what sort of contextualization their award-winning production team provided: For Tim Berners-Lee, their valuable context was, "I don't know who that guy is." (The Guardian provides a snarky backgrounder.)
 During the entry of the various national teams, the standard activity is to make fun of their outfits.
 Dear Czech Republic: Spandex shorts and blue rain galoshes? It's as if you're trying to look hideous.
 Dear Germany: Wha??? I'm speechless.
 Dear United States of America: I hope you enjoy your shore leave. (Somebody seriously has a navy fetish going on.)
 Dear Sweden: I know it's late, but you're not supposed to wear your jammy-jams to the opening ceremony. Jag säger bara...
 Dear gracious hosts: Oh, now I get it. It's the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. But still, you could've chosen a better tribute than wearing dresses from 1912.
 - The Old New Thing
 Why don't any commands work after I run my batch file? I'm told that they are not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file.
 I sort of forgot to celebrate CLR Week last year, so let's say that CLR week is "on hiatus" until next year. To fill the summertime time slot, I'm going to burn off a busted pilot: This week is Batch File Week 2012. Remember, nobody actually enjoys batch programming. It's just something you have to put up with in order to get something done. Batch programming is the COBOL of Windows. (Who knows, if people actually like Batch File Week [fat chance], maybe it'll come back as a regular series.)
 We'll open Batch File Week with a simple puzzle.
 A customer reported that after running their batch file, almost no commands worked any more!
 C:\> awesomebatchfile.bat
 ... awesome batch file does its work...
 C:\> reg query "HKLM\Software\Clients\Mail" /ve
 'reg' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
 operable program or batch file.
 Wha? Maybe I can run regedit.
 C:\> regedit
 'regedit' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
 operable program or batch file.
 C:\> notepad
 'notepad' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
 operable program or batch file.
 Okay, first, sit down and take a deep breath. Maybe take a Chill Pill.
 My first question was "Does awesomebatchfile.bat modify the PATH variable?" (This was, strictly speaking, a psychic debugging question, but a rather obvious one.)
 The customer replied, "Nope. Here, I'll send you the whole thing."
 And there it was, right there at the top of awesomebatchfile.bat:
 set path=C:\awesomedir
 if NOT "%1"=="" set path=%1
 cd /d %path%
 echo Awesomeness commencing in the %path% directory!
 The customer figured it would be convenient to have a variable called path, unaware that this variable has special meaning to the command interpreter. The customer didn't make