Pen testing
This is not a blog post about pentesting, or any other kind of software-engineering inspired testing of pens. Nor is it a blog post about the kind of fascination some people have with pens and ink. Instead, this is a blog post about history and psychology.
Recently, JTA asked me what I do when I want to test a pen, and he was surprised with the answer. Before I tell you how I answered, I'll tell you about what I learned from the conversation. And before that, I'll tell you about the history of pen testing. And then, finally, I'll tell you why I think it's important from a psychological perspective.
Fragment of the Hebban Olla Uogala document, the oldest surviving Probatio Pennae.
The oldest surviving Probatio Pennae, or "pen test", is of the Old Dutch words "hebban olla uogala", and is stored in the Bodleian Library.
Historically, the "breaking in" of a new pen was called a probatio pennae, literally "pen test", and would typically be a few lines of text or a short proverb: something that demonstrated the pen's ability to write. For the entire mediaeval period, plus several centuries besides, the principle instrument for writing would be the quill pen: the primary wing feathers of a large bird such as a goose, often hardened in hot ashes, stripped of barbs, and cut down to size with an blade whose purpose lends its name to what we now call a "pen knife". With such a tool, a scribe would want to be sure that the pen could hold an adequate nibful of ink without splashing or spraying, and – despite the high value of paper – it was clearly essential to write a whole sentence or two to be sure.
De Klerk, by Philip van Djik.
De Klerk, by Philip van Djik, contemporaneously shows a scribe cutting the nib of his quill pen.
A modern ballpoint pen has no such issues, but instead introduces some of its own: a plastic-lined inkwell can be gradually penetrated by the air, causing the ink to dry up; the ball can become stuck and will not turn freely; air bubble can develop within the tube (especially if the pen is stored, or worse-still used, the wrong way up); and, of course, the pen can run out of ink. This typically precipitates its disposal: your biro isn't built to be re-used for anything except perhaps to perform an emergency tracheotomy, and it's cheap enough that you don't want to waste your time repairing it. As a result, our pen tests have become fast, designed to determine within a few seconds whether the pen we've got is working or, in the case of a stuck ball, can be made to start working with a sufficiency of scribbling. Our culture of disposal can't spare the time for any more than a cursory test before we give up and grab the next one.
Comic: A customer stands confused, holding a toaster, outside Melvin's Throw-It-Away-And-Buy-A-New-One-Shop (formerly Melvin's Fix-It Shop)
Why keep a pen? Why keep a toaster? Why keep a computer?
So what do we write? What is the probatio pennae of our times? It's been widely-reported (although I can't find any decent citations) that, upon being offered a new pen to try out, 97% of people will write their own name. Now that statistic smells fishy to me (no good citations anywhere, and 97% of people use 97% as their "virtually all" number, for made-up statistics), but I've been testing the hypothesis among friends these last few days, and I've gathered enough evidence to convince me that it's probably the case that many or most people will write their own name to test a pen.
Signing a cheque.
That's not so surprising: in this computerised age, most times we're given a pen it's to sign our name. About 97% of the time, anyway. ;-)
Somebody had presumably asked JTA what he wrote, earlier in the day, because he took the time to tell me that when he tests a new pen, he typically writes the word "hello".
Now I find that pretty weird. Maybe it's the software engineer in me, but to me the mark of a good test is that it covers all of the possible cases, in the minimal possible effort. Writing your name is easy because it's managed by what is popularly-called "muscle memory": a second-season episode of Castle (correctly) used this as a plot point, when a man suffering from retrograde amnesia was unable to remember his name, but was still able to sign his name because the act of signing it had been rendered, by years of practice, into his procedural memory, which was unaffected by his condition. But writing a word, like "hello"… requires a comprehension of language. Unless he's tested enough pens to have built a procedural memory of writing "hello" to test pens, JTA's test has a greater number of neural dependencies, which – with apologies to those of you who aren't interested in automated software testing – produces what we'd call an unnecessarily "brittle" test.
Animation of a hand using a pen to write a name, "hello", and a scribble.
A demonstration of a handful of ways in which people test pens, in Animated GIF format.
Me? I just scribble, which my quick survey (and several comparable ones online) show to be probably the second-most popular action to test a pen. Scribbling, to me, simply seems like the minimal test path: the single simplest thing that can be done with a pen that will demonstrate that it's fit for purpose. I don't need to test that a new pen can write words, because – to me – writing words in particular is not a function of the pen, but a function of my brain! To me, the pen's function is simply one of transferring ink to the paper, and any semantic meaning coming from the ink is a product of my intellect, not of the writing implement.
So why is this important? Well: I have a half-baked hypothesis that the choice of what to write with a new pen might be linked to other aspects of our psychology. When I'm developing a new template for a website, for example, I use lorem ipsum text and dummy placeholder images as filler (just occasionally, I'll use kittens, because kittens are adorable). That's because the absence of meaning to the words that appear (I don't read Latin, and even if I did, lorem ipsum is frequently mangled) has no bearing on my comprehension of the design: and, in fact, it can sometimes be a benefit to be deprived of the distraction of legible content.
A kitten by a mirror.
At last, a legitimate use in an otherwise un-kitten-related blog post to use a image!
But I'd hypothesise that people who write words as a probatio pennae would be less-comfortable with illegible placeholder-text in a design than those who drew scribbles or signed their name. I have a notion, from my own experience, that the same parts of the brain that is responsible for judging the quality of a writing implement are used in the judgement of a piece of design work. Hey: maybe if that's true, graphic designers should have their clients test pens out, in their presence, before they decide whether to use believable filler or lorem ipsum text in the designs they'd like approved.
Or maybe I'm way off base. What do you write when you test a pen?
10 replies to Pen testing
 1. When testing a fountain pen or a dip pen I write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
 Which is very much a test of writing, and that is after all what the pen is going to be used for.
 If using a ball point, or a pen that has not put down ink on the first stroke I doodle.
 - A dip pen shares many of the characteristics of a quill pen, of course – functionally it's identical, and a non-functioning one would fail in a similar way, spraying ink all over your manuscript: not good! As a result, I can see how you'd want to test it in a more-thorough and more realistic manner than you would a biro.
 A fountain pen… less so. But I can still see how somebody with an interest in pens and ink, like you, would pay more attention to such things. And perhaps you just have a more-refined taste in these things, than I, and would pay attention to the subtle lift and fall of thinner and thicker lines produced as the pen is moved, for example. Me? I'm more of a utilitarian pen-user.
 2. 'Hello' is a really useful word to write. I do make a couple of squiggles first to get the ink flowing again, especially if I've not used the pen for a bit, but 'hello' is mostly up and down strokes, so you can see how the nib feels, and if the tip is likely to catch on the paper.
 Plus the double-loop of the consecutive ls is good to see how bad the bleed is, and mimics the curve of the higher and lower-curved letters (f, g, y), and the word is short enough that you can write it one-handed without needing to lift you hand off the page, or steady the paper.
 (I agree


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Plum - harm and benefits, advice, answers to questions
What is valuable plum? The harm and benefits of this fruit for our diet - what exactly? Let's figure it out. Many of us love to feast on juicy fruits. Especially tasty fruits from their own garden. Someone likes a sour variety, someone loves the honey sweetness of this popular fruit.
 - Characteristics and definitions of plum
 - Plum - useful properties of
 - Plum - health benefits and harm
 - Can a nursing mother plum?
 - Plum during pregnancy
 - Plum stones - the benefits and harm, which is more
In addition to the excellent taste, plum really contains a lot of useful trace elements, vitamins( B, A, PP, E, C).This common, popular stone tree is of West Asian origin. Widely used fresh, dried, dried, canned. Compotes are made from fruits, jam is made, savory sauces are prepared, and many other different, delicious dishes are prepared. Despite the wide variety of varieties, this fruit is a mine of useful ingredients in any of its manifestations.
Another name, even a synonym for plum, is the word green. Further, I will mention this definition as a generalized concept for garden varieties.
Universal President variety, photo:
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Characteristics and definitions of plum
People often ask themselves: is plum a fruit or a berry? Logically, if a tree is defined as fruit, then its fruit will be fruit. A plum is a tree, not a shrub, and the fruits growing on the trees are called fruits, not berries. If the fetus has one large bone, it will be considered a stone. On this basis, the greengage is a fruit and a stone fruit at the same time. For comparison: berries are called multi-seeded fruits, such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, watermelon can also be counted among them.
Often the question arises for those interested in: plum and cherry plum - what's the difference? These trees are representatives of the same family, but it is plum that is a subspecies of plum. The fruits of the green leaf can be of a different color, since there are more than one hundred varieties of this crop. Cherry plum is also one of the varieties of plum, that is, two different representatives of the same family. In terms of taste, cherry plum is more acid, it is ideal for making various sauces, such as Tkemali, Satsebeli, Moldavian sauce, various Asian sauces.
The maturity of these two representatives is also different: plum is ready for harvest by the end of August / beginning of September, but her relative has ripened much earlier. The greenstone color varies in shades of blue, violet, and cherry plum is often bright yellow or yellowish red. The fruits are oblong, and plum is always round. As for cultivation, here plum shows a more stable immunity to disease. It is often used as a stock for various varieties of plums.
Plum, photo:
In fact, wild plums do not exist in nature. There is an assumption that this fruit is the result of crossing a blackthorn( prickly representative) with cherry plum. Cherry plum is a wild crop, this additionally explains the fact that its fruit is smaller in size than that of a blue-violet relative. Today, the works of breeders have already cultivated worthy varieties of cherry plum, which can compete with green tea in taste indicators. It is worth looking at the cultivated cherry plum variety "Kuban comet" - it has an interesting taste, it is larger than the usual wild cherry plum, it is more resistant to frost.
How many calories are there in a sink? This question seriously worries people watching their diet, as well as women who care about their figure. Since the hero of our article is one of the most delicious, inexpensive fruit at the price, this issue becomes especially relevant. Juicy renklod contains very few calories( 100 g / 42 cal), but along with this factor it is very useful. It contains vitamin P - a rare substance that the human body does not produce on its own. Rutin( vitamin P) does not disappear from the fruit even after heat treatment, it is able to normalize pressure, strengthen blood vessels. Calorie fresh fruit is low, but if the fruit is dried, it will increase significantly( 230 cal / 100 g).
Fresh as well as dried fruits have a delicate laxative effect - this feature of the fruit is well known to those who watch their weight. The use of low-calorie green food will help to quickly get rid of extra pounds, excess water, salt. Calorie plum - not the main advantage for the human body. It is incredibly useful, has a cleansing effect, contains a significant percentage of carbohydrates compared with the concentration of fats and proteins.
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Plum - useful properties of
No matter which sort you prefer, they all have the same beneficial effects on the body:
 - optimize the work of the digestive system;
 - have a cleansing action;
 - have a strengthening effect on the heart muscle, nervous system, blood vessels, capillaries;
 - boosts immunity;
 - normalize the functions of the kidneys, liver;
 - has a beneficial effect on the condition of the skin, horn derivatives - nails and hair.
Renclod - a source of vital vitamins. By consuming it, you provide yourself with the required amount of iron, fluorine, copper, nickel, zinc, and many other necessary ingredients that strengthen the "shield" of your immunity. The body will be much easier to resist viral infections, various seasonal colds, ailments.
Fruits on the tree, photo:
Plum properties are useful for manifestations of hypertension( high blood pressure), love these fruits, eat them more often. As for strengthening the vessels, increasing their elasticity, here the blue-violet fruit also demonstrates its potential as a source of essential trace elements. The frequent use of these fruits balances the nervous processes, the presence of potassium favorably affects the work of the urinary system. Renklod also contributes to the normal production of bile, facilitates the work of the liver.
The benefits of plum are manifested in the normalization of the pH of gastric juice - this factor is very helpful in the treatment of gastritis, gastric ulcers, duodenal ulcers( along with the general drug therapy).Excretion of excess salts, as well as cholesterol, a pronounced anti-edema effect( due to the sodium content) are additional advantages of the use of this fruit. The coumarins contained in the fruit work to expand the coronary vessels. Thus, with frequent use of green tissue you produce a kind of prevention of the formation of blood clots, helping the body to "dissolve" the already formed ones.
How is plum useful? What else can supplement the list of benefits of this fruit? It is successfully used by cosmetology( mainly home) for the preparation of vitamin masks that improve the structure and condition of the skin of the face. The combination of fruit pulp with other useful products only enhances its beneficial effects on skin turgor. These masks help to get rid of pigmentation( with sour milk), moisturize the skin( with sea buckthorn oil or rye flakes), remove acne( with garlic or onion juice).
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Plum - the benefits and harm to health
As for the benefits - we have already figured out, but in addition it is worth mentioning the well-known laxative qualities of green ads. Since the fruit contains a large concentration of the klechatki, cleansing the body of toxins will be quite soft. Active trace elements normalize the work of the intestines, help to get rid of constipation( even chronic, with regular use), strengthen peresaltika. Fruit, as mentioned above, improves metabolism, allows you to get rid of excess weight, and in the form of a bonus gives a healthy complexion, vigorous state of health.
Grade "Red Ball", photo:
Sometimes in the relevant forums you can see the following question: is the drain strong or weak? Given all the above, now we can give an affirmative answer - yes, it is weak, but gently, "natural", without causing stress to the body. It can be given even to children, starting from 9 months of age, but very carefully, preferably after consulting a doctor. One fruit per day will be quite enough, thus, the baby will receive useful elements, vitamins without harm to the stomach. Greengrass is equally good for children and adults, even compote made from fruits has a delicate laxative effect.
However, this fruit can cause problems to the body - it will be fair to mention this. Contraindications to use is a more precise definition, as initially useful, a good product cannot objectively be harmful.
When, who should not use green tea:
 1. Suffering from obesity, diabetes( high sugar content in the fruit);
 2. Children - a large number threatens with diarrhea, stomach pain;
 3. Patients with gout( due to the diuretic effect);
 4. Those who suffer from rheumatism( the fruit removes a lot of fluid from the body);
 5. Categorically it is impossible to use unripe fruits;
 6. With exacerbation of gastritis or peptic ulcer disease( due to the content of organic acids);
 7. Individual allergic reaction.
Plum - the benefits and harm of its use is moderation. An overdose can badly affect the condition of your stomach, intestines, and heartburn or diarrhea will spoil your mood and well-being. If there are even the


Home » Opinion » Kevin and Marilyn Ryan » Why do they hate us so?
Why do they hate us so?
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Granted, committed Catholics are uncomfortable with much of the drift in contemporary American culture. We're uncomfortable with the rampant consumerism of American society. We're nervous with the current climate in scientific research, the if-it's-doable-let's-do-it mentality that is fueling the stem-cell research derby and the push to create new life forms. We're worried, too, about the effects of the country's highly sexualized media culture on our kids. But so, too, are our Protestant and Jewish neighbors.
But why is anti-Catholicism so evident in America today? What explains the government's recent slap in the face to our Church, telling leaders of Catholic hospitals, colleges and foundations that they must provide contraceptive services to all employees as part of their health plans? Are the politicians who made this ruling convinced that Catholics are held in so little regard that there will be little blow-back from us and possibly quiet satisfaction among non-Catholics?
America is an open society that celebrates diversity and multiculturalism. We have made a veritable state religion of tolerance. Why is it, then, that so many non-Catholics have so little tolerance for us? What is it about Catholics that gets under their skin so?
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Pre-Authorization KNOW MORE
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Salish Sea History, Captains and Explorers
The Salish Sea is not always a well known name, even for people that live in Washington state. Most people are familiar with names like Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Hood Canal, the Strait of Georgia and the names of many small inlets and channels, but if you put all this water together, you have what is called the Salish Sea. The name "Salish" refers to a diverse group of native people who have been living in the area for thousands of years; some 50 different tribes. Early explorers from Europe were looking for a northwest passage, when they found the Salish Sea.
In 1592 it is believed that a Greek explorer named Juan de Fuca, who was exploring Mexico, sailed as far north as Cape Flattery and found the entrance to the Salish Sea and what is now called the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Many of the early explorers were only interested in trade routes and fur trading and it wasn't until the great expeditions of the late 1700's when most of the Pacific Northwest was charted by both the Spanish and English. John Meares, best known for the Nootka Crisis of 1789 and who nearly starting a war between the Spanish and English, sailed up the Pacific Coast in 1788 and seeing the highest peak on the Olympic Peninsula, name it Mount Olympus for the gods. In 1791, Francisco de Eliza name Port Angeles, " Señora de los Ángeles". Sailing with Lieutenant
Eliza was Manuel Quimper, who navigated and charted the San Juan Islands. Quimper also recorded many of the customs of local tribes throughout the area, including tribes of the Olympic Peninsula. Captain George Vancouver sailed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1792 as part of his "world tour" expedition of 1791–1795 on the HMS Discovery. Although Vancouver was disappointed to find that a Spaniard named Lieutenant Eliza Francisco de Eliza had arrived and charted the area first, Vancouver kept many of the Spanish names and even traded and used maps written by the Eliza expedition. Vancouver named Puget Sound after his friend, Peter Puget, a Huguenot lieutenant, who helped explore that area. Much of the area is either name by or for Captain Vancouver. Vancouver returned to England in 1795, received little recognition for his work and died three years later at the age of 40.
Now is the time to to visit beautiful waters of Washington and see what you can find!
Tall ships still sail the waters today. In 2008 scuba divers recovered a 900 lb anchor off the coast of Whidbey Island. It is believed to be the lost anchor from the HMS Chatham that was with the Vancouver expedition of 1792.
The Pacific Northwest coastline is spectacular. It is abundant with sea life and life along the shore. The weather and geology have shaped and sculptured the land and created a place like nowhere else on earth.
The towering rock formations are called "Sea Stacks" and are home to nesting birds and other marine life. These sea stacks are also the reason that much of the northwest coast is called "Shipwreck Coast". The list of shipwrecks is long and continues to grow still today. Many of the sea stacks are only exposed at low tides and are difficult to see at night.
Every 12 hours and 25 minutes, the tide comes and goes. This is half of the amount of time it takes for the moon to orbit the earth and as it does, the moon pulls the ocean water around with it. When the tide is out, meaning it is low tide, the abundance of amazing life in the tidal zone is exposed.
Although the inland waters of the Salish Sea are shielded from ocean storms, the wind and weather can still create big waves and dangerous waters. Some of the widest parts of the Salish Sea are 25 - 35 miles across.
Dungeness Crab is named after the Port of Dungeness, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. Dungeness Crab will completely bury themselves in the sand if threatened. Every fall the city of Port Angeles has a Dungeness Crab Festival.
The waters of the Salish Sea are home to about 75 Orcas. They are a fish-eating population, existing almost exclusively on salmon. Most of the Orcas are named and "Granny" or J2 of the J pod is believed to have lived at least 80 years (some say 105 years). In the wild, Orcas generally live long lives of 60 - 80 years and have close family relations and unique cultures.
Tufted Puffin Fratercula cirrhata is a sea bird in the Auk family, also known as Alcids. Male and females are identical and grow to 1.6 lbs and 14 inches long. Protection Island Reserve, just of the coast of Port Townsend, provides protected nesting grounds for 70% of the Salish Sea's puffin population. Protection Island was named by Captain Vancouver in 1792.
Sea Otters are in the weasel family and rarely leave the water, spending most of their lives "a-float". Because of their extremely warm, thick coat, they were hunted to near extinction for the fur industry. In 1970, sixty sea otters were released in the waters off the Washington coast and the population has recovered to over 2,000. Sea Otters use rocks as tools to open mollusks and sea urchins for food.
Cape Flattery is the most northwest point in the "Lower 48". It is located on the Olympic Peninsula and within the Makah Tribe Reservation. It was named by Captain James Cook in 1779. After passing Cape Flattery, Captain Cook failed to notice the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca due to bad weather, and continued to sail north to Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island.
Deception Pass is a narrow waterway connecting the largest part of the Salish Sea to Skagit Bay. Tidal currents can reach 8 knots (9.2 mph), causing dangerous tides and whirlpools. It was named by Captain Vancouver because he had been deceived thinking that Whidbey Island was a peninsula. James Whidbey was a navel engineer on the Vancouver expedition. Whidbey Island is now home to a Naval Air Station with 17 active duty squadrons and 3 Ready Reserve squadrons.
Harbor Seals are a very common mammal in the Salish Sea. They can live up to 35 years and weigh up to 300 lbs. Pups are born on shore and can swim and dive within hours. Harbor Seals are "true seals" and do not have ear flaps, only an ear canal.
The Salish Sea is also home to both California and Steller's Sea Lions. Georg Wilhelm Steller was on Vitus Bering's 1740 expedition to the far northern parts of North America. The journey ended up shipwrecked on what is now called Bering Island and half the crew perished, including Bering, from scurvy. Steller survived and five species were names after him, including the Steller's Jay.
Washington Diversity Tour
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Tour starts in the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula and down the Pacific Coast. From the coast we travel east along the Columbia River and cross the Cascades just south of Mount Rainier. In eastern Washington, visiting sites along the Columbia River Basin. From the rainforest to arid eastern Washington, on this tour you will experience the bio-diversity of Washington state and visit habitats and life zones as diverse as the lowland rainforest, pacific coast, inland lakes, alpine, estuaries and river sloughs.
10-Day Tour with Car Camping
Tour starts with pick-up at the Bainbridge ferry terminal across from Seattle and ends at the Bremerton ferry on your way back to Seattle. You can choose lodging in cabins or tent camping at state parks with nice facilities. Camping is always best because you will be closer to nature. Our tents are very comfortable with lots of thick floor mats and bedding. You will see more birds and wildlife if you choose camping. Web Link
Current dates available to join an existing 10-Day tour:
Months of April and May: Good availability for most dates
Olympic Peninsula Tour
5-Day Tour with Cabins
The 5-day tour starts with pick-up at the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal, which is easily accessible from the Seattle. From there the tour will travel the entire 350 mile loop of the Olympic Peninsula Highway stopping at all significant wildlife sites including Olympic National Park.
5-Day Tour with Car Camping
You can choose lodging in cabins or tent camping at state parks with nice facilities. Camping is best because you will be closer to nature. Our tents are very comfortable and cozy with lots of thick floor mats and bedding. You will see more birds and wildlife if you choose camping. Web Link
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April: Limited availability
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June 12 - 16, 2019: 5-day Birding and Wildlife Tour, 4 spots left
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Olympic National Park Fun
Backpacking season starts early in Olympic National Park. There


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If you're looking for a way to improve your spatial reasoning skills then look no further than Pictorial.
The app is designed to challenge users to solve geometrical puzzles by rotating objects. You use the touchscreen to rotate constellations until they are upright and create an object. You'll come across numerous different shapes, including stars, houses, animals and more. There are two different themes in the game, including Night City and Arctic, and the game's developer promises more are coming soon.
"Spatial reasoning is a common part of intelligence tests, pre-employment tests and admission tests to certain educations," Pictorial's developer says about the app. "Also spatial reasoning is generally regarded as one of the most basic reasoning abilities together with verbal reasoning, logical reasoning, numerical reasoning and abstract reasoning.
Some constellations are simple while others are quite challenging. But the game has a "help" feature that rotates constellations for you, revealing the true shape of the object.
Pictorial is available for free on the iTunes App Store and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Check out a preview trailer of the app below.
Released: 2011-03-07 :: Category: Games
Tagged with: free, iPad, iphone, ipod touch


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This rainbow playsilk display is a beautiful way to organize your silks.
Simply hang on a wall and slip your playsilks through.
It's easy enough for children to do independently and encourages young ones to keep their playrooms tidy.
Cleaning instructions: Wipe down and clean using a drop of soap and lukewarm water.
Sarah's Silks is devoted to sustainability and ethics, utilizing natural materials, minimizing their ecological footprint and supporting communities. They make sure everything they do contributes to improving working conditions in communities, both locally and abroad, and the environment. Silk is a naturally biodegradable fiber and when treated with nontoxic dyes, it can go on to provide nutrition for soil instead of landing in a trashcan. Sarah's Silks are free from harmful chemicals, including toxins and irritants, and are 100% safe and healthy, even for babies. Sarah's Silks uses minimal environmentally friendly packaging.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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The University of Michigan-Flint's Urban Alternatives House has been selected as one of the first landscapes to participate in a new program testing the nation's first rating system for green landscape design, construction and maintenance. The selection was made by the Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™).
SITES selected the Urban Alternatives House based on its extensive environmentally friendly elements. These sustainable practices include: removing invasive trees from the site, developing a landscape that includes space for food production, native plantings, rain gardens and managing rainwater on site.
The Urban Alternatives House will join more than 150 other pilot projects from 34 states as well as from Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of an international pilot project program to evaluate the new SITES rating system for sustainable landscapes, with and without buildings. Sustainable landscapes can clean water, reduce pollution and restore habitats, while providing significant economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.
"Working with the Sustainable Sites Initiatives (SITES) team and the other pilot projects around the country will give us the opportunity to take advantage of cutting edge expertise as we develop the garden site at the Urban Alternatives House," said UM-Flint Associate Richard Hill-Rowley. "It will also be a way for us to contribute to refining a new set of guidelines and benchmarks that will improve the sustainability of urban landscapes across the country."
The Urban Alternatives House joins the Smithsonian Institution's African American History & Culture museum, a New Orleans's project to absorb storm water on the streets of the Lower Ninth Ward flooded during Hurricane Katrina, and other pilot projects that range in size from large scale academic and corporate campuses and public parks with hundreds of acres, to small scale transportation corridors and private residences of less than one acre.
SITES is a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden.
For more information: UM-Flint to Transform Abandoned House into Urban Laboratory
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Front page > Articles >
Travel restrictions
From when did travel become documented?
The historical equivalent of travel documents were the passport-type letters issued to the messengers of kings confirming their loyalty to a particular king and requesting a safe passage to the destination. The earliest known reference is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a letter to his official travelling to Judea, requesting the governors of the adjoining lands to provide him safe passage. Similarly, the Islamic Caliphates required travellers to pay taxes, but travel was usually unrestricted. Although the concept of closed borders emerged with the concept of nation states, travel restrictions only came into existence during the First World War. Since then, most countries have developed various systems of identification for distinguishing between people who should be allowed to enter or leave their territory.
The present international standard is the visa, which indicates that a person is authorized to enter a country. The visa can be a document or, in most cases, simply a stamp on the traveller's passport.
Does every person entering a foreign country require a visa?
Visa requirement vary widely, particularly depending on the relations between two countries. Conditions like security risks, the economic condition of the immigrant's country and the risk of overstaying play important roles in the approval or rejection of visa applications.
Some countries like Canada, Brazil, CIS countries and Japan have reciprocal visa arrangements, meaning that if the other country requires their citizens to have visas they will do the same, but if their citizens are allowed free access to the other country, they will also allow free access.
Are there any free borders?
A few countries allow citizens of a preferred group of countries to enter without visa. For instance, the citizens of EU member-countries can travel to and stay in all other EU countries without a visa. The US also has a visa waiver programme allowing citizens of 36 countries to travel to the US without a visa.
Any citizen of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of six Arab states, can enter and stay as long as required in any other GCC member state. Similarly, citizens of member countries of the East African Community face no visa restrictions within these countries. India also allows citizens of Nepal and Bhutan to enter without visa if they enter India from their country. Otherwise, they are required to have a passport.
What are the different visas?
Every country grants specific visas for any particular purpose of entry. The types of visa and their validity periods vary from country to country. For instance, India grants 11 types of visas — tourist, business, journalist, transit, entry (for a person of Indian origin visiting India) and so on. India also grants tourist visas on arrival to nationals of Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.
What is a common visa?
Usually, a visa allows a foreign national to travel only within the country which has issued the visa. However, there are international agreements that allow a foreigner to travel to a group of countries on a common visa.
For instance, a person having the Schengen visa can travel without any restriction in the 25 member countries.
Similarly, the central American single visa allows a person to have free access to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. The East African tourist visa also means the approval of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. During the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 10 Caribbean countries issued a common visa, but the system was discontinued after the event.
Is exit from a country always free?
Some countries require an exit visa too. Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar have to show exit visas before leaving the country. This visa is a clearance from the employer. Any foreigner overstaying in Russia has to obtain an exit visa stating the reason for overstaying. Uzbekistan and Cuba citizens also require exit visas if they wish to travel abroad.
Contributed by: Our Special Correspondent
City: Bangalore
Country: India
Date: May 31, 2010


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Salomon de Caus
Caus or Caux, Salomon de (both: sälōmôNˈ də kō) [key] 1576–1626, French engineer and physicist, educated in England. From 1614 to 1620 he was engineer to the Elector Palatine, Frederick, at Heidelberg. Because of his Les Raisons des forces mouvantes avec diverses machines (1615), an early exposition of the principle of steam power, he has been considered the originator of the steam engine.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Technology: Biographies


Ezy Trigonometry - By KGiants - Lumos Educational App Store
Ezy Trigonometry - By KGiants - By KGiants
Price -Free
Ezy Trigonometry is a friendly tool designed to help students understand trigonometry. FEATURES + Interactive unit circle. Allows exploring relations between angles and trigonometric ratios. + Bundled with an exact trigonometric ratios table + Bundled with a hand book of trigonometric formulas + Flexible settings: radians / degrees, related angles, angle snapping + Full support for iPhone / iPad and retina display NOTE Tap & Hold to switch unit circle mode
Ezy Trigonometry - By KGiants is a free educational mobile app By KGiants.It helps students in grades 6 practice the following standards 6.G.3.
This page not only allows students and teachers download Ezy Trigonometry - By KGiants but also find engaging Sample Questions, Videos, Pins, Worksheets, Books related to the following topics.
Developer: KGiants
Software Version:
Category: Education
Are you the Developer?


stand by letter of credit (sloc)
Stand By Letter of Credit (SLOC): what to know about it
NewsJune 13, 2021
What is Stand By Letter of Credit
When we talk about Stand-by Letter of Credit (SLOC), we refer to a pledge of payment, born in the common law system (in particular, USA), but now generally used in all country.
SLOC is a particular type of documentary credit, a simpler one with all its characteristics, but used like a sort of contract of guarantee.
From the point of view of the Italian jurisdiction, SLOC belongs to the area of the atypical new guarantee, like, for example, the patronage letter.
Those tools are "atypical", because even if they share similarities with some Italian institutions, they still cannot be compared or identified with none of existing classic institution.
SLOC is usually used in international business, especially for international supply contracts, when the goods must be transported by air: goods and documents are sent together, and there is no need to keep the goods in storage waiting for the documents (that usually happens with documentary credit).
Stand By Letter: how it works
Usually, a documentary credit works this way: the bank (issuing bank), by request of the applicant, promises to make a payment to a subject (the recipient), when it receives the documents regarding the credit.
With the stand-by letter, instead, the documents are presented only if the principal has not fulfilled his duty. So, among the documents necessary there always are the statement of non-fulfillment of the applicant, the invoice, and the document of transport.
In the first case, the documentary credit is used like a payment; in the second, the SLOCs it is a guarantee.
Taking as example the supplying contract, the scheme is the following: the exporter sends the goods and documents, sure that he will we paid one way or another, by the importer o by the bank if the importer does not pay. Then, if that happens, the exporter asks to the issuing bank to pay him, using the letter of credit.
There are some limitations of responsibility for the issuing bank, concerning the authenticity of the documents, and the verification of the identity of who is demanding the payment.
Types of Stand By Letter
There are some different types of SLOCs. All SLOCs, as seen, implicate the permanent obligation of the issuing bank to pay on demand of the recipient in case that the applicant cannot.
That scheme is the one of the performance standby, but is also the structure of the advance payment standby and of the bid bond standby.
The first one guarantee the payment of a down payment, while the second is used to guarantee the execution of a contract after the approval of the bid.
The duty of payment is binding from the date of issue; the only conditions are the submission of the documents and the statement by the recipient that he has not been paid.
Legislation about Stand By Letter
Even though SLOCs are very common and utilized all around the world, they have not a very standard regulation.
SLOCs are regulated by International Standby Practice (ISP) 98 of ICC, but those regulations are not very common, because ICC rules about documentary credit are more likable to be used, even in case of SLOC.
This happens, mostly in the civil law system, because, as said before, those instruments don't fit the canonic institution, and civil law country (as Italy) prefer to trat them the same way they use for the most similar yet existing instrument.
There is also a UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) convention of 2000 about SLOC which is anyway not effective in none of G20 members (Italy neither).
Even in the USA, were SLOCs are born, the regulation in this subject only talks about "letters of credit", without mentioning the "standby" characteristic (this may depend by the fact that SLOCs were born to bypass the USA prohibition for the banks to give accessories guarantee).
So, until all the countries will agree on the regulation to apply to the SLOCs, the principal international regulation stays in the practices.
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Pierre Corneille, the French dramatist, was born in Rouen in 1606. After a Jesuit education he worked as Crown Counsel in Rouen, and for many years kept playwriting as his leisure activity. He wrote tragedies and comedies, and his first success came in 1636 with Le Cid, a tragi-comedy which made Corneille's reputation as a master of serious drama and established the genre known as French classical tragedy. During the next forty years Corneille produced over twenty-five plays. He died in 1684.
Find Books by Pierre Corneille


Format excel cells and border using VBA |
Format Cell VBA Excel
To format cells and format the text contained in the cells.
In this VBA Excel automation, we shall declare a range object and then we shall format the cells and format the text inside the cell.Here we have declared a range variable called "SampleRange" to showcase the use of range object.
Sub FormatExcelRange()
Dim SampleRange As Range
Set SampleRange = Range("A1: B10")
'Formatting the cell borders
With SampleRange.Borders
.Weight = xlMedium
.LineStyle = xlDash
.Color = RGB(0, 206, 255)
End With
'Formatting the cell interior colour
With SampleRange.Interior
.Color = RGB(128, 128, 128)
.TintAndShade = 0.8
End With
'Formatting the text inside cell
With SampleRange.Font
.Bold = True
.Italic = True
.Underline = True
End With
'Change Column Width and row height
With SampleRange
.ColumnWidth = 25
.RowHeight = 20
End With
End Sub
What this code does –
 - Created a range object for cell range A1:B10
 - Format the border line thickness, color, line style
 - Change the cell interior color and shade
 - Format the text inside the selected range as bold,italic and underlined
 - Change the column width and row height
Before executing the VBA code, for demonstration purpose we had created some sample data in cell A1:C10 as shown below.
Format Cell VBA Excel
Once the code is executed completely, cells and the text within cells is formatted.Border is also formatted.
There are multiple methods and properties which are associated with Range object, they can be used as per requirement, we can find them in the link provided in the reference section.
Post you may like
Remove duplicate rows by VBA Excel


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Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark Recovery Strategy Executive Summary
This document provides a summary of the recovery strategy for the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark, which advises the ministry on ways to ensure healthy numbers of the species return to Ontario.
Prepared by Jon McCracken, Ron Reid, Rosalind Renfrew, Barbara Frei, Jarmo Jalava, Amber Cowie and Andrew Couturier
The Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) and Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) both rely upon grasslands for breeding, have similar breeding distributions in Ontario, often co-occur in the same fields, have similar population trajectories, and face similar threats. Because of these relationships, the two species are represented within a single recovery strategy.
Prior to European settlement in eastern North America, Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks nested in native prairies, savannahs, alvar grasslands, beaver meadows, burned-over areas, and areas cleared for agriculture by First Nations. Although most such habitat was destroyed following European settlement, the two species quickly adopted newly-created surrogate grasslands – primarily pastures and hayfields – as nesting habitat. Indeed, were it not for the creation of these agricultural habitats for livestock, the two species may well have disappeared from large parts of their original range.
Though still common and widespread, the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark were recently designated as threatened species in Ontario, primarily as a result of strong population declines that have been occurring in Ontario and across most of their breeding ranges. Population losses in Ontario have been occurring over much of the last half century. Over the most recent 10-year period, it is estimated that the Bobolink population in Ontario has declined by an average annual rate of 4 percent, which corresponds to a cumulative loss of 33 percent. Over the same period, Eastern Meadowlark populations have declined at an average annual rate of 2.9 percent (cumulative loss of 25%).
There are several probable factors responsible for driving population declines in Ontario. Chief among them is loss of breeding habitat, especially pasturelands and hayfields which have either been abandoned outright or have been converted to other crop types. In addition, there have been changes in hayfield composition and management that affect habitat quality (e.g., a decrease in the proportion of grass cover as a result of an increase in the amount of Alfalfa planted, because of its higher nutritional value to livestock). Poor reproductive output is also a primary factor. Nest losses are apt to be unsustainably high in intensively-managed hayfields, when the mowing period overlaps with the peak of the birds' breeding season. All of the foregoing issues are ultimately driven by agri-economic forces affecting the livestock industry in Ontario, particularly dairy and beef cattle.
Habitat loss also figures prominently on the wintering grounds of both species. In winter, the Bobolink faces additional threats in South America, where it may be exposed to direct human persecution and to toxic effects from insecticides used on agricultural rice crops.
Recovery of the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark in Ontario poses a significant conservation challenge. The majority of their breeding populations occur on private lands managed by farmers for the production of agricultural goods and services. Given the well-documented, ongoing decline in the extent of pasture and in cattle numbers, coupled with similar declines in the area of hay dominated by grass, a challenge will be to slow the loss of agricultural grasslands in the face of market forces.
The long-term recovery goal is to maintain stable, self-sustaining populations of Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks in Ontario, and in so doing contribute to the conservation of the guild of grassland birds. In the short term (over the 10-year period from 2013-2023), the goal is to slow the annual rate of population decline for both species to an average of no more than 1 percent per year (i.e., no more than 10% over 10 years). Achieving population stability at roughly 90 percent of the present-day population size is the long-term goal thereafter.
Informed by an adaptive management framework, the goals can be achieved through a suite of targeted protection and recovery objectives, which are to:
- describe priority habitats and regions for conservation, identify key issues and factors that may impede or assist species recovery, and establish the target levels of habitat supply and habitat management regimes that are needed to meet the recovery goal;
- increase public awareness of the two species and their habitat;
- improve nesting productivity and habitat quality;
- increase habitat supply of native grassland;
- maintain existing habitat supply of agricultural grasslands to the extent practicable;
- establish strong links to other conservation planning efforts underway for other grassland species that are of high conservation concern, both in Ontario and in other relevant jurisdictions;
- apply appropriate ESA protection, habitat regulations and any other provincial or federal policies and assess the degree to which they help stabilize populations of the two species; and
- track and report on the state of populations in relation to recovery activities.
It is recommended that the habitat regulation for the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark focus on sites that one or both species have recently occupied during the breeding season. This includes open country habitats consisting of natural and semi-natural grassland (including but not limited to tallgrass prairie, alvar grasslands, beaver meadows, and grassy peatlands), hayfields, pastures, grassland habitat restoration sites, and abandoned fields where one or both species have been confirmed to breed or probably bred during the current or previous three years. It is also recommended that the habitat regulation should exclude annual row crops (e.g., winter wheat and rye). It is recommended that regulated habitat be delineated (mapped) on a case-by-case basis using the Ecological Land Classification system.


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How To Validate Error Responses in Mocking Services APIs
The implementation of mocking services plays a vital role in design-specific development. Here, we look at them through the lens of behavioral headers.
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The implementation of mocking services plays a vital role in design-specific development. If we are developing any new project or implementing any new functionality by consuming some API's which are still in a development phase, no consumers (front-end developer or any other) of the API will wait until the API is completely developed; they need some mocking service with some sample responses and error responses so they can start their development (assuming front-end dev in this case).
With mocking services, we can easily check what successful response we are getting, but it is quite difficult to validate the error response messages. Like how a mocking service can return an error message corresponding to 500 lines of status code, as there is no server involved.
Fortunately, we have "Behavioral Headers" for this, which we will discuss in this article.
What Are Behavioral Headers?
Behavioral headers enable you to change the behavior of the mocking service. There are some keys and values which you have to pass in the headers to test the expected behavior of mocking service. In this post, we are going to brief some of the Behavioral Headers provided by MuleSoft. If in case, you want to see it in detail, visit the MuleSoft website here.
Without wasting time, let's dive into the basic concepts of Behavioral Headers.
In order to test Behavioral Headers, we need the RAML specification and its Mocking Service URL. So I have created the sample RAML as shown in Figure 1, after publishing makes it public and get the mocking URL which in my case is:
Figure 1 Test of behavioral header
Now in order to hit this, you can use any client; here I have used Postman.
Let us now go through some of the Behavioral headers:
MS2-Status-Code: MS2-Status-Code Behavioral Header will enforce mocking service to return an error response corresponding to a specific HTTP Status code. Suppose you want the mocking service to return an error response corresponding to 500 status code, there is no way to return that, so in order to achieve this, we just need to pass the following attributes in headers:
This you can see in Figure 2 as below:
Figure 2 An example of the ms2-status-code used to identify an error response
Note: If you pass any other value that is not implemented in the mocking service, it will throw an error message. Like in my case, I have not implemented the 404 error code, so when I pass 404 as a value, then it will throw an error message as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 404 as a value is passed since a 404 error code has not been implemented
S2-Delay: Suppose we are consuming API using front-end Angular, and we know that some API endpoints can have a delay while returning a response, and want to handle the front-end side by introducing Asynchronous concepts. How will mocking service return that delay? Well, here comes the role of MS2-Delay behavior headers.
It's very simple—you just need to provide one header with an MS2-Delay with time in milliseconds as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 MS2-Delay with time in milliseconds
Note: You can only provide a maximum time delay of 10000 ms.
- MS2-Randomize: While writing a mocking service, if we only provide data types and don't want to provide response examples because of any reason (like shortage of time, etc.), but the consumer wants that response, then just by setting true corresponding to MS2-Randomize will generate random responses.
For example, suppose that an API specification contained the definitions of this type:
Now passing MS2-Randomize with true value in headers will generate a random response of something like the code below:
If you have some error in your RAML, but you want to test some other endpoints which are not having errors, you cannot do that until your API doesn't have any errors, because when you invoke the mocking service it will validate your RAML first. If you want to skip the validation for mocking service, you need to set false corresponding to the MS2-Strict-Model-Validation in the Headers part.
We came to know about some Behavioral Headers which are useful while testing the mocking services like testing the specific error response code, introducing some delays, generating random responses, and skipping the validation of RAML.
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.


text:
Getting the Right Data
The final report states, "When conducting an economic impact or contribution analysis in IMPLAN, it is important to consider when the existing industry parameters that represent its spending activities are sufficient for analysis and when those parameters should be updated through supplemental data collection." The spending patterns present were based on national fruit farming averages. Researchers were aware that there are significant differences in general spending patterns between large fruit farming operations in Washington state (for example) and small apple farms in New York state.
In order to account for this issue, the team sought primary data to ensure the most accurate, representative spending patterns. Surveys were identified as an efficient method of data collection. The survey was developed to match business categories with the IMPLAN sectors and distributed both online (via Qualtrics) and in written formats. NYAA assisted in administering the survey by contacting members via electronic channels and in-person requests. Despite reminders and a significant push by NYAA, survey response rates were incredibly low. Only 25 of 600 commercial apple growers responded at all, and of the 25, only 4 responses were sufficient for analysis. Low response rate was attributed to insignificant participation incentive and poorly-timed distribution (early fall, "Harvest Time").
With the survey producing insufficient results and several months lost, the research team was faced with the difficulty of finding a new primary data source. This search led to the Lake Ontario Fruit Team (LOFT). LOFT, a partnership between Cornell University and the CCE Associations in five NY counties (Wayne, Orleans, Niagara, Monroe, and Oswego counties), strives to maintain profitability and facilitate improvement of fruit farming in their area through applied research. The Cornell researchers used the data collected by LOFT for their own Fruit Farm Business Summary and IMPLAN's local purchase percentages (LPP) to create a representative apple farming spending portrait.


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Jabez Burns' Addometer
On August 24, 1858, Jabez Burns (_PHONE_), an inventor from New York (see biography of Jabez Burns), took out the US patent №21,243 for a machine for adding numbers. The device obviously never went into production, and only the patent model survived to the present time (property of Smithsonian National Museum).
The device is a small 4/5 positional addometer (adder) (4 digits in input, and 5 digits in output mechanism), made by wood, tin, brass, and paper; measurements: 16 cm x 38.7 cm x 12.2 cm.
The patent drawing of Burns' adder
It is a simple lever-set adding machine with wooden sides and metal covers for the back and the lower front (see the lower photo). The four large toothed wheels (visible on the front side), are used for setting numbers, with five registering wheels in front and below these. Between each of the large wheels there is an inscribed strip of metal, with the digits from 0 to 9 indicated along the edges of these strips. Each of the four right registering wheels, divided into ten parts, is attached to a spur wheel with ten teeth that meshes with a large toothed wheel.
Placing a finger in one of the teeth of a large wheel and rotating it forward advances the registering wheel proportionally. The number entered is visible in a row of windows at the front of the model. The four registering wheels to the left have on their left side a ring of ten equidistant pins that are used in carrying.
The patent model of Burns' addometer (© Smithsonian National Museum)


3 reasons you should balance your checking account
In the old days, people would regularly carry around their checkbooks and use them to keep track of their checking account's balance. With the rise of digital banking and instant access to your accounts, checks have fallen by the wayside and manually balancing your checking account is even rarer.
Balancing your account means adding up all of your debits and credits (deposits and withdrawals), then adding the result to your statement's starting balance. The result will be your current account balance.
Still, balancing your checking account is a good practice. While you might not do it as frequently as you used to, going through the process every few weeks or once a month can help you financially in a few ways. Here's why.
Reconciling your checking account
One of the top reasons to balance your checking account is to reconcile your record of transactions with the banks. Banks are good at keeping track of everyone's money. If they weren't, they'd be in a lot of trouble. But still, banks aren't perfect and you may find mistakes.
To reconcile your checking account, add all of the deposits the bank has not yet credited to the bank's balance and subtract all the payments, withdrawals and bank fees the bank has not yet cleared from the subtotal to confirm that the bank's records match the check register. Accounts typically are reconciled on a monthly basis.
While you needed a pencil and paper to do this in the old days, you can reconcile an account much more easily today with your banking app or budgeting software. For example, apps like Mint or PocketMoney can help you track transactions and give you a simple dashboard to use when reconciling your account.
1. Fighting fraud
Another reason to balance your checking account is to fight against fraud. If you're reconciling your account and there's a difference between the balance you expect to have and the balance your bank says is in your account, it isn't necessarily a mistake made by the bank.
If a fraudster has access to your account, she may not immediately drain it. Instead, she could siphon off funds slowly enough that you don't notice. Regularly reconciling your account can help you catch these transfers and put a stop to them.
2. Tracking bank fees
Fees are a reality of modern banking. Whether it's a maintenance fee for keeping an account open or an ATM fee for getting cash from another bank's ATM, you can expect to pay bank fees every once in a while.
When you look at your monthly statement, many banks will report a $20 withdrawal with a $3 fee tacked on as a $23 withdrawal. This makes it harder to keep track of the fees you wind up paying.
Tracking your own account activity and balancing your checking account lets you see how much you're truly paying to use the account, which may encourage you to change to an account with fewer fees.
3. Keeping track of your spending
Budgeting can be hard. You have to build a budget based on your spending habits, then put in the effort to track your spending to make sure you're staying within the budget you've built.
Balancing your checking account gives you an easy opportunity to track your spending because you have to go through every transaction in the account. While balancing, you might notice you spend more than expected on takeout meals or trips to the movies.
If you write checks with any regularity, tracking your spending becomes even more important. If you write a check for $500, that money will stay in your account until the person you gave the check to deposits it in their account. If that person takes a week or two to deposit the check, you can easily forget that the funds haven't left your account and think you have $500 more than you really do.
When the person you gave the check to cashes it, your bank will pull the money from your account. If you're not expecting the transaction, the check may bounce or you could find yourself without enough funds to cover other expenses or meet minimum balance requirements.
Learn more:


text:
The fifth webinar of our special COVID-19 and NCDs in the Caribbean series: 'Re-opening Schools: Shared perspectives on navigating mental health during COVID-19' in partnership with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), was held on September 25th, 2020 it focused on the major mental health concerns of key actors, namely, students, teachers and parents as a new school year, comprising of both in-person and virtual classes, begins across the region. These key actors along with epidemiological and mental health experts shared perspectives on strategies that can be used to support positive mental health wellbeing in this new school setting. Almost 300 participants took part in this very informative webinar.
On March 27th 2020, the HCC published an Open Letter to CARICOM Heads calling for 'urgent action to protect those living with NCDs from COVID-19'. On March 31st, 2020, the HCC released the HCC COVID-19 Advocacy and Communication Strategy to guide HCC advocacy efforts and communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy has five primary objectives: increase knowledge about COVID-19 and NCDs; promote access to, and consumption of, healthy foods; promote access to essential medicines and treatments for people living with NCDs (PLWNCDs; promote good mental and physical health; and engage young people as key players in the COVID-19 response. The strategy aims to contribute to universal health and universal health coverage (UH/UHC) and reduction of inequities, in support of achieving the sustainable development goals, specifically the prevention, treatment and promotion of mental health and wellbeing (target 3.4).
The webinar series fulfils two of the four strategies identified to deliver on the objectives of the HCC COVID-19 Communication Strategy: information dissemination and strengthening of civil society organisation (CSO) communication networks for information and experience sharing. The webinars will target a number of stakeholder groups, foremost of which are HCC CSO member organisations and PLWNCDs. Secondary target groups include regional policymakers and technical personnel across various ministries (including health, education, finance, trade etc.), health care providers, members of academia, national, regional and international partners, the general public including students and the private sector.
The webinar series aims to build advocacy capacity for the promotion of initiatives and policies that support the long-term health of all, particularly vulnerable persons, PLWNCDs and children and young people. The webinars will leverage the expertise of diverse stakeholders and partners including civil society actors, technical officers, academics, health care practitioners, and youth to bring awareness to the varied and complex dimensions of COVID-19 and NCDs in the Caribbean in order to guide the multisectoral approach needed to pave the way forward. They will showcase the experiences and lessons learned thus far and highlight good practices in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of these efforts. Current initiatives, solutions and policy recommendations will be discussed to ensure that we respond effectively to the pandemic and "build back better" by strengthening our whole-of-society response in shaping the COVID-19 health legacy.
The HCC has been an NGO in Official Relations with PAHO since 2012 and over this period we have had two joint Letters of Agreement (LoAs) which have supported the civil society capacity building in the area of childhood obesity prevention, identification, prevention, mitigation and management of conflict of interest in NCD policymaking, and reducing the harmful use of alcohol. As part of our Official Relations we have a joint workplan which covers a number of areas across the spectrum of NCDs and their risk factors.
The HCC is pleased to continue our collaboration with PAHO in support of Caribbean Wellness Week 2020 under the banner of PAHO's regional Stronger Together mental health campaign. The theme of CWD 2020 is mental health in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Together the HCC and PAHO have produced a Mental Health PSA and a Get Moving for Mental Health Exercise Video using the PAHO Stronger Together campaign Jingle. This joint webinar is the final piece of this collaboration.
WEBINAR 5: RE-OPENING SCHOOLS: SHARED PERSPECTIVES ON NAVIGATING MENTAL HEALTH IN THE "CLASSROOM" DURING COVID-19
The objective of this webinar, "Re-opening Schools: Shared perspectives on navigating mental health during COVID-19" was to explore the mental health concerns of key actors within schools as they reopen across the region and to discuss strategies to cultivate school ecosystems that support positive mental health and well-being.
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically transformed schooling as we know it – largely shutting down traditional face to face education and forcing children, teachers and parents to struggle with an entirely new world of virtual learning. Significant uncertainty still looms as educational institutions across the Caribbean prepare for the 20/21 academic year. Schools that will reopen may consider shift systems to reduce class sizes, staggering drop off times and mealtimes, moving classes to temporary spaces or outdoors and blending face to face and virtual learning – all of which can dramatically affect how students will learn, play and interact with their peers, teachers and parents. These changes are compounded by the residual emotions linked to the unprecedented COVID-19 lockdown which interrupted the school term preceding summer holidays and left many students, parents and teachers mentally exhausted and frustrated.
We are already beginning to see the negative mental health impacts of the pandemic on students and teachers in the school community. Guidance counselors designated to provide in-school support may be ill-equipped to handle the anticipated rise in mental health issues experienced by children. Additional training for guidance counselors may become an emerging priority to ensure they can adequately respond to these new challenges and provide extended support to parents and caregivers.
Parents and caregivers have been highlighted as key actors in this new school system serving their role as a parent while also navigating virtual learning / homeschooling and providing holistic support for their children during this time.
All of these challenges are further exacerbated for children living with disabilities who very often require face to face, hands on support from highly trained professionals. The loss of this specialized care is having devastating emotional impacts on the children, families and their teachers.
This is a new and challenging space for many, and discussions that highlight concerns and guide strategies that will support positive mental health and wellbeing are critical.
Through a guided discussion, panellists will explored the following key themes:
- Overview of COVID-19 protocols within the school context and mental health concerns that may manifest in the "classroom".
- Sharing student, parent, teacher/ guidance counsellor experiences with COVID-19 and the school environment.
- Navigating student, parent and teacher/guidance counsellor's concerns related to adjusting to the new school environment (virtual, face to face learning or the blended approach).
- Strategies, tools and policy-level recommendations to support mental health resilience in a new school ecosystem.
Dr. Elisa Prieto
Caribbean Subregional NCD and Mental Health Advisor, PAHO
Mr. Pierre Cooke Jr
HCC Youth Technical Advisor
Dr. Eldonna Boisson
Epidemiologist PAHO Advisor, Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology
Dr. Claudina Cayetano
Psychiatrist, PAHO Mental Health Regional Advisor (NMH/MH)
Ms. Harriet Liddie
Counsellor, Antiguan Ministry of Education, Science & Technology
Mrs. Nekeisha Reid
Ms. Jara Emtage-Cave
Student, 6th Form Graduate
See the promotional flyer here.
WEBINAR 1: CIVIL SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE: COVID-19 AND NCDS IN THE CARIBBEAN
The objective of the first webinar: Civil Society Perspectives on COVID-19 and NCDs in the Caribbean was to provide a platform for Caribbean CSO leadership to share and showcase their experiences, challenges, successes and lessons learned in responding to COVID-19 and planning for the future beyond COVID-19. Read moreWEBINAR 2: THE FUTURE TALKS: COVID-19 AND NCDS IN THE CARIBBEAN
WEBINAR 2: THE FUTURE TALKS: COVID-19 AND NCDS IN THE CARIBBEAN
The objective of the second webinar: THE FUTURE TALKS: COVID-19 AND NCDS IN THE CARIBBEAN was to highlight the experiences youth face during COVID, including those living with NCDs. The webinar also served as a platform to amplify the youth's perspective on the monumental change needed moving forward to protect PLWNCDs and lessen the burden for future generations. Read more
WEBINAR 3: THE FUTURE TALKS: COVID-19 AND NCDS IN THE CARIBBEAN – THE LEGACY
The objective of the third webinar: "The Future Talks": COVID AND NCDs in the CARIBBEAN – THE LEGACY was to gain insight from youth experts who will present their professional and personal perspectives on how the region's health systems can "build back better" from the COVID experience. Read more
WEBINAR 4: WEIGHING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19: NUTRITION, OVERWEIGHT, OBESITY AND NCDS
The objective of the fourth webinar: "Weighing the Impact of COVID-19: Nutrition, Overweight, Obesity and NCDs" was to reflect on the nutrition environment over the course of the pandemic and the resulting direct and indirect impacts on health; and discuss individual and population level strategies to encourage improved nutrition and management of diet-related NCDs during and after the pandemic. Read more


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A tumpline is a strap that crosses the head (sometimes the chest) and is used for carrying a pack. In Canada, Indigenous peoples and early settlers used this load-bearing device to carry goods over long distances. Tumplines are still used all over the world, from people in rural communities to modern outdoor outfitters.
A travois, from the French word travail, "to work," was a device used for transportation by the Plains Indigenous peoples. Drawn by horses or dogs, the travois carried people's goods to and from hunting sites and temporary settlements.
Birchbark Canoe
The birchbark canoe was the principal means of water transportation for Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, and later voyageurs, who used it extensively in the fur trade in Canada. Light and maneuverable, birchbark canoes were perfectly adapted to summer travel through the network of shallow streams, ponds, lakes and swift rivers of the Canadian Shield. As the fur trade declined in the 19th century, the canoe became more of a recreational vehicle. Though most canoes are no longer constructed of birchbark, its enduring historical legacy and its popularity as a pleasure craft have made it a Canadian cultural icon.
Parfleche (also parflêche) are containers made of rawhide that were used by a variety of Plains Indigenous peoples to carry their personal belongings during hunting trips or while migrating from one location to another. Rawhide was also used to create drumheads, tipi covers, robes, the soles of moccasins and other belongings. Colourful and beautifully decorated, parfleche is considered as much a piece of art as it was a practical tool.
Medicine Bundles
Sterilization of Indigenous Women in Canada
Health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Indigenous Peoples' Medicine in Canada
Pipelines in Canada
Transportation in the North
Smallpox in Canada
Click here for definitions of key terms used in this article.


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During the last decade the tile industry has reinvented the way ceramic tiles are decorated. With the advent of inkjet technology being incorporated into this process there is no longer a need for screen or roller printing methods, freeing the industry up to many different opportunities. As with screen and roller printing, the image of the design is first scanned, then modified on a computer. However, by utilizing the key advantages of digital imaging the design can be almost instantly transferred to the inkjet printing machine, which is fully equipped with the essential inks to print any design with any desired color.
The non-impact technology that the inkjet printer utilizes enables manufactures to decorate any type of tile, including relief tile, just as easy as traditional flat tile. This is done by using a print style called Drop on Demand (DoD) and by utilizing a special type of printing device called a piezoelectric printhead. These let the printer create an identical picture of the digital image by propelling tiny drops of ink (measured in picoliters) onto the tile. Because the inkjet machines fit perfectly into the manufacturing process, it is no wonder how they improve efficiency, yet allow for a higher degree of customization by allowing virtually an infinite possibility of design.
What We Used Before
In the not too distant past the entire ceramic tile industry were slaves to screen and roller printing. While not bad, technology has since proven these methods to be rather inefficient. Not only are they more time consuming, but they can produce large amounts of waste.
A key benefit of the inkjet printer is not just the fact that you can load an image of almost unlimited length, but at any time during the printing process you can change that image instantaneously. With the older methods your design capability is more limited, and changing designs can prove to be time consuming and expensive. The biggest hindrance of the older methods is that the production line needs to briefly stop while the design is applied to the tile. Because inkjet printing allows a seamless application of the image, it can speed up the production rate up to five times!
You must also consider the green benefit for embracing this new technology. Besides the screen and roller printers taking longer, they must also be replaced from time to time. You must also replace the film, adhesives, chemicals, and emulsion from the process as well, creating an unnecessary amount of waste.
Simply put, an inkjet printer reproduces a digital image by propelling a continuous stream of ink droplets onto the tile. With virtually no setup time, this shortens the period from idea to product immensely. As mentioned earlier, this allows relief tile, as well as fragile tile, to be decorated without any additional effort other than programming in the design.
Although standard inkjet printers are only equipped with enough memory to decorate about 30 12×12 ceramic tiles, like most computers additional memory can be added to create a virtually limitless possibility of unique designs. Factor in the ability to easily adjust to any size and texture and it's easy to see how inkjet technology is revolutionizing the ceramic tile industry.
Another key factor is that all of your design information can be stored digitally. This allows the manufacturer to reproduce any image with a push of a button, with alterations to the design or size easily changeable.
In today's market the demand for stone tile is declining as it is now so simple to replicate these images, despite the fact they inherently fluctuate in their design. Not only do you get the same aesthetic cosmetic design, but because the engineered stone is actually technical porcelain it is not only stronger and more durable, but it is much easier on the environment.
Products such as StonePeak's Limestone Ebony combine the subtle beauty of a soft hue with the uniqueness of the limestone's design. By using engineered stones you not only receive the green benefits of manufacturing the tile instead of cutting it from a quarry, but Limestone Ebony contains 84% recycled material. Combine this with superior strength of porcelain and a through-body color you have an eco-friendly tile that will look spectacular for a lifetime.


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İnançlardaki Cehennem Tasvirlerinin Sanatta Duyguların İfadesi Olarak Yorumlanması
xmlui.mirage2.itemSummaryView.MetaDataShow full item record
Belief in hell which is a place of punishment for the spirits of wicked people go after death is common in almost all religions. Hell can have different names and structures in different religions but the common point is that it is a place of torment and suffering. Despite having these negative features, the visual depictions and artistic interpretations of hell continue to be produced and attract attention to this day since the first emergence of belief in hell. The depictions, interpretations, and metaphors of the concept of hell in art make the significance of hell worth examining. The reason why hell has an important place for itself in art and popular culture is in line with the reasons of religions that produce it. When examining why the concept of hell exists in religions and what it means to people, an evaluation can be made on the reasons and significance of the depictions and interpretations of hell in art. The fact that the concept of Hell can be used as a metaphor in expressing feelings such as pain, fear, and hate makes it valuable beyond terms of religion. While the similarity of the concept of hell with life on the earth makes it seem more realistic in the human mind compared to other religious concepts, expressing life on the earth through the metaphor of hell offers a realistic approach to life itself.


FOR ARCHIVING: Registration form for 'Dogr' --- LANGUAGE SUBTAG REGISTRATION FORM 1. Name of requester: Doug Ewell 2. E-mail address of requester: doug at 3. Record Requested: Type: script Subtag: Dogr Description: Dogra 4. Intended meaning of the subtag: 5. Reference to published description of the language (book or article): 6. Any other relevant information: This registration tracks a change made to ISO 15924 effective 2016-12-05, adding the code element 'Dogr' for "Dogra". The ISO 15924 change is documented at.


Dual Color Probes
Our dual color FISH probes allow for the detection of two genetic loci in a single sample, with a different color dye assigned to each probe. This is useful for cases where multiple genes or regions need to be identified, including when testing for gene translocations and fusions: translocations will result in splitting of the two colors, while fusions will show them merged into a single signal. A dual color mix can also serve as a control/CNV combination, with the control localizing to the same chromosome as the CNV probe to verify that it's hybridized to the correct locus.


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REQUESTING A GRANT:
A. Grants may be requested once in a 12-month period for which there are 4 deadlines:
- March 15th for a May consideration.
- June 15th for an August consideration.
- September 15th for a November consideration.
- December 15th for a February consideration.
B. Prior to submitting a grant, send a one-page letter of request (via email or regular mail) to include:
- Mission of the organization.
- Amount of funding to be requested.
- Purpose of the funding.
- Benefits to the community of the specific funding.
- Total cost of the project in question.
- Fund raising results to date of the project, including a list of the donors to date.
- A copy of the IRS determination letter.
C. Once approved for a grant request, please respond to the following in this order:
- Name of the organization.
- Date of this application.
- Address of the primary facility.
- Website address.
- Telephone contact number of the organization.
- Email address.
- Name of person applying for the organization.
- Position in the organization of that person (above).
- Telephone contact of the person applying for the organization.
- Amount of money requested.
- Purpose for which funds would be used.
- Benefits to the community of the overall organization.
- Benefits to the community of the specific project for which funding is requested.
- Other donors to this specific project and amounts contributed to date.
- Past donations from The Rich Foundation for any previous project.
- Funds requested for a) Capital or b) Operating?
- Community partner of United Way a) Yes or b) No?
- Recipient of Federal, State or City funding a) Yes or b) No?
- Classification: a) Arts & Culture, b) Civic, c) Education, d) Health, e) Environment, or f) Social Welfare?
- Attach the following: One copy of this application plus one copy of the following: budget for project, list of board of directors plus their affiliations, the IRS 501(c)3 letter, and, if not previously submitted, a copy of the latest audit.


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Aggregate expenditure or aggregate spending is the sum of expenditure by the households, by business enterprises, the government and the rest of the world on an economy's output of goods and services. Thus, as shown earlier,
AE = C + I + G + (X - M)
where C is the private consumption expenditure, I is the investment expenditure, G is the government expenditure and X – M or net exports (also denoted by NX) is the expenditure by the rest of the world on an economy's aggregate output.
Since, we are discussing here only a two-sector model comprising of the households sector and the business enterprises and assuming that there is no government (hence, no government expenditure G) and no external transactions (closed economy and so on exports and no imports and hence no expenditure by the rest of the world, viz., no NX or (X-M), the aggregate expenditure thus comprises of only private consumption expenditure (C) and investment expenditure (I) so,
AE = C + I


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When you pay part of your salary into a workplace pension, your employer and the government will contribute too. Each employer contributes a different amount, and the Government gives tax relief on your lower salary, where the saving on your income tax is paid into the pension. This is known as "salary sacrifice".
- Salary Sacrifice @ The Pensions Advisory Service
Excerpt: You sacrifice part of your salary. The amount you sacrifice is paid to your pension plan directly by your employer, rather than being paid to you. As a result of you having a lower salary, both you and your employer pay less National Insurance Contribution (NIC). As part of the salary sacrifice deal, your employer pays all or part of their NIC saving to your pension plan along with the sacrificed amount. For example, you earn £30,000 a year and decide you want to salary sacrifice £1,000. Your new salary is £29,000, with the employer paying £1,000 to your pension plan. You pay less NIC (and in some cases Income Tax) because your salary is lower. Your employer also pays less NICs and pays a percentage of their saving to your pension scheme.
For help contact:
Message supplied by: Rich @ Respect Yourself


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The design, construction and operation of district heating plants have shown over time some necessary optimizations. In particular the fundamental goal is to be
able to use plants more than expected, thereby increasing revenues for the same investment. It was verified that the improvement margin in adequately managed district heating systems is around 30% in terms of increased revenues and 15% in terms of cost reduction. In order to maximize the economic performance of existing or new plants Amarc DHS has developed a system consisting of a software (Libero 500) and pieces of hardware (AVD 500, REMOTE CONTROL BOX, MTM, BY-PASS NET, etc..), with the features, functionality and benefits described below:
- Monitoring software specialized in managing and optimizing networks and district heating systems to reduce operating costs.
- Software developed on standard and unified protocols, royalty free: in particular it is possible to integrate all the devices with Meter-bus output of any manufacturer/brand.
- Modern and user friendly menu organization and interface.
- More than 50 customizable preset operating schemes.
- Field peripherals compatible communication outputs (Internet, VPN, LAN, GPRS, UMTS, fibra ottica,
- modem 56 Kb, etc.).
- Automatic and customizable heat meters and flow meters reading.
- Ability to store all operational data of the substation (about 150 values each) on both the concentrator in the field and through Libero 500, with rates up to 5 minutes for a period of at least 2 years.
- Intuitive graphics to analyze data of substations working trends and data comparison.
- Automatic generation of user invoices based on actual consumption.
- Complete management of alarms and possibility to forward SMS and e-mail to the operators.
- Monitoring and remote management of traditional small size power stations.
- AVD500 configurable controller specific for district heating systems designed for remote control and remot metering developed on standard and unified communication protocols.
- Large control display, optional chronothermostat function, remotable up to 30m.
- Three levels menu system, two of which are password protected.
- Storage of last 10 events.
- Limitation of return temperature of substation primary circuit as well as contemporary flow rate limitation function.
- Idelible device memory for eternal configuration data storage and clock for at least 1000h without power.
- Possibility to set four time slots per day with different temperatures.
- Possibility for weekly programs, four holiday periods and four special days programs.
- Easy and intuitive setup of climatic curve and compensation of send temperature with external one.
Remote metering and remote setting
- Automatic remote reading of heat meters and management of consumption database with link to the billing form.
- Remote control of all field peripherals and all operating parameters setting including limitation parameters for optimizing the district heating network.
- Meter reading and billing of consumption with document print for each individual user.
- ΔP and pressure data transfer in low performance network points to optimize the pumping system.
- Network water leak detection.
- Monitoring of network and substations parameters with data storage and creation of chronological trends in order to generate comparison charts among others (consumptions trends, temperatures trends, pressures trends, etc.).
- Ability to open and close primary valve to narrow down absorption peaks during start-up and helpi work of pumps work during switching-off.
- Management of network store-ups, or network itself for such purpose, including by-pass valves.
- Integration with power plant supervision system or vice-versa..
- Substations and network alarms management and monitoring.
- District heating network expansion system safety and management.
- Accesses monitoring by personal log-ins and software performed changes log.


Top Historic Sights in Kanfanar, Croatia
Explore the historic highlights of Kanfanar
Dvigrad Castle Ruins
Dvigrad was originally two towns, Moncastello and Castel Parentino. Dvigrad was first mentioned in 879, when it fell under the rule of the Patriarch of Aquileia. However, it had existed long before it as a part of the Roman province settlement. Its name speaks originally of two towns. Today"s ruins are the remains of the northern town of Moncastello, while the other one, Castel Parentino, was abandoned in the 10th ce...
Founded: 9th century AD | Location: Kanfanar, Croatia
Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Cesis Castle
German crusaders known as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword began construction of the Cēsis castle (Wenden) near the hill fort in 1209. When the castle was enlarged and fortified, it served as the residence for the Order's Master from 1237 till 1561, with periodic interruptions. Its ruins are some of the most majestic castle ruins in the Baltic states. Once the most important castle of the Livonian Order, it was the official residence for the masters of the order.
In 1577, during the Livonian War, the garrison destroyed the castle to prevent it from falling into the control of Ivan the Terrible, who was decisively defeated in the Battle of Wenden (1578).
In 1598 it was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Wenden Voivodship was created here. In 1620 Wenden was conquered by Sweden. It was rebuilt afterwards, but was destroyed again in 1703 during the Great Northern War by the Russian army and left in a ruined state. Already from the end of the 16th century, the premises of the Order's castle were adjusted to the requirements of the Cēsis Castle estate. When in 1777 the Cēsis Castle estate was obtained by Count Carl Sievers, he had his new residence house built on the site of the eastern block of the castle, joining its end wall with the fortification tower.
Since 1949, the Cēsis History Museum has been located in this New Castle of the Cēsis Castle estate. The front yard of the New Castle is enclosed by a granary and a stable-coach house, which now houses the Exhibition Hall of the Museum. Beside the granary there is the oldest brewery in Latvia, Cēsu alus darītava, which was built in 1878 during the later Count Sievers' time, but its origins date back to the period of the Livonian Order. Further on, the Cēsis Castle park is situated, which was laid out in 1812. The park has the romantic characteristic of that time, with its winding footpaths, exotic plants, and the waters of the pond reflecting the castle's ruins. Nowadays also one of the towers is open for tourists.