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Published: Sep 12, 2019 License: MPL-2.0, MPL-2.0 Imports: 5 Imported by: 0
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How it works
We want to split a secret into parts.
Any two points on the cartesian plane define a line. Three points define a parabola. Four points define a cubic curve, and so on. In general, n points define an function of degree (n - 1). If our secret was somehow an function of degree (n - 1), we could just compute n different points of that function and give n different people one point each. In order to recover the secret, then we'd need all the n points. If we wanted to, we could compute more than n points, but even then still only n points out of our whole set of computed points would be required to recover the function.
A concrete example: our secret is the function y = 2x + 1. This function is of degree 1, so we need at least 2 points to define it. For example, let's set x = 1, x = 2 and x = 3. From this follows that y = 3, y = 5 and y = 7, respectively. Now, with the information that our secret is of degree 1, we can use any 2 of the 3 points we computed to recover our original function. For example, let's use the points x = 1; y = 3 and x = 2; y = 5. We know that first degree functions are lines, defined by their slope and their intersection point with the y axis. We can easily compute the slope given our two points: it's the change in y divided by the change in x: (5 - 3)/(2 - 1) = 2. Now, knowing the slope we can compute the intersection point with the y axis by "working our way back". We know that at x = 1, y equals 3, so naturally because the slope is 2, at x = 0, y must be 1.
Lagrange interpolation
The method we've used for this isn't very general: it only works for polynomials of degree 1. Lagrange interpolation is a more general way that lets us obtain the function of degree (n - 1) that passes through n arbitrary points.
Understanding how to perform Lagrange interpolation isn't really necessary to understand Shamir's Secret Sharing: it's enough to know that there's only one function of degree (n - 1) that passes through n given points and that computing this function given the points is computationally efficient.
But for those interested, here's an explanation:
Let's say our points are (x_0, y_0),...,(x_j, y_j),...,(x_(n-1), y_(n-1)). Then, the Lagrange polynomial L(x), the polynomial we're looking for, is defined as follows:
L(x) = sum from j=0 to j=(n-1) of {y_j * l_j(x)}
and l_j(x) = product from m=0 to m=(n-1) except when m=j of {(x - x_m)/(x_j - x_m)}
A concrete example, with 3 points:
x_0 = 1 y_0 = 1
x_1 = 2 y_1 = 4
x_2 = 3 y_2 = 9
Let's apply the formula:
L(x) =
 y_0 * l_0(x) +
 y_1 * l_1(x) +
 y_2 * l_2(x)
Substitute y_j for the actual value:
L(x) =
 1 * l_0(x) +
 4 * l_1(x) +
 9 * l_2(x)
Replace l_j(x):
l_0(x) = (x - 2)/(1 - 2) * (x - 3)/(1 - 3) = 0.5x^2 - 2.5x + 3
l_1(x) = (x - 1)/(2 - 1) * (x - 3)/(2 - 3) = - x^2 + 4x - 3
l_2(x) = (x - 1)/(3 - 1) * (x - 2)/(3 - 2) = 0.5x^2 - 1.5x + 1
L(x) =
 1 * ( 0.5x^2 - 2.5x + 3) +
 4 * ( -x^2 + 4x - 3) +
 9 * ( 0.5x^2 - 1.5x + 1)
L(x) =
 ( 0.5x^2 - 2.5x + 3) +
 ( -4x^2 + 16x - 12) +
 ( 4.5x^2 - 13.5x + 9)
 = x^2 + 0x + 0
 = x^2
So the polynomial we were looking for is y = x^2.
Splitting a secret
So we have the ability of splitting a function into parts, but in the context of computing we generally want to split a number, not a function. For this, let's define a function of degree threshold. threshold is the amount of parts we want to require in order to recover the secret. Let's set the parameter of degree zero to our secret S and make the rest of the parameters random:
y = ax^(threshold) + bx^(threshold-1) +... + zx^1 + S
With a, b,... random.
Then, we want to generate our parts. For this, we evaluate our function at as many points as we want parts. For example, say our secret is 123, we want 5 parts and a threshold of 2. Because the threshold is 2, we're going to need a polynomial of degree 2:
y = ax^2 + bx + 123
We randomly set a = 7 and b = 1:
y = 7x^2 + x + 123
Because we want 5 parts, we need to compute 5 points:
x = 0 -> y = 123 # woops! This is the secret itself. Let's not use that one.
x = 1 -> y = 131
x = 2 -> y = 153
x = 3 -> y = 189
x = 4 -> y = 239
x = 5 -> y = 303
And that's it. Each of the computed points is one part of the secret.
Combining a secret
Now that we have our parts, we have to define a way to recover them. Using the example from the previous section, we only need any two points out of the five we created to recover the secret, because we set the threshold to two. So with any two of the five points we created, we can recover the original polynomial, and because the secret is the free term in the polynomial, we can recover the secret.
Finite fields
In the previous examples we've only used integers, and this unfortunately has a flaw. First of all, it's impossible to uniformly sample integers to get random coefficients for our generated polynomial. Additionally, if we don't operate in a finite field, information about the secret is leaked for every part someone recovers.
For these reasons, Vault's implementation of Shamir's Secret Sharing uses finite field arithmetic, specifically in GF(2^8), with 229 as the generator. GF(2^8) has 256 elements, so using this we can only split one byte at a time. This is not a problem, though, as we can just split each byte in our secret independently. This implementation uses tables to speed up the execution of finite field arithmetic.
View Source
const (
 // ShareOverhead is the byte size overhead of each share
 // when using Split on a secret. This is caused by appending
 // a one byte tag to the share.
 ShareOverhead = 1
This section is empty.
func Combine
func Combine(parts [][]byte) ([]byte, error)
Combine is used to reverse a Split and reconstruct a secret once a 'threshold' number of parts are available.
func Split
func Split(secret []byte, parts, threshold int) ([][]byte, error)
Split takes an arbitrarily long secret and generates a 'parts' number of shares, 'threshold' of which are required to reconstruct the secret. The parts and threshold must be at least 2, and less than 256. The returned shares are each one byte longer than the secret as they attach a tag used to reconstruct the secret.
This section is empty.
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text:
The concept of rock engineering is based on three basic premises:
- that the rock mass can be described as an engineering material with parameters that control deformation and failure;
- that the performance of the excavation in the rock mass can be described in terms of classical engineering mechanics, and;
- that the application of engineering principles to design will result in a design which will assure or enhance the performance of the opening.
In order to conduct a rock mechanics design, geologic and geotechnical data is required. Whether the purpose of a design is an initial pre-feasibility study for a small vein mining operation or the final design for a major open pit mine, the data collection and analysis steps required are near identical.
The five major components of any design in rock are as follow:
- description of the local geologic regime;
- collection of field geotechnical parameters;
- quantification of material property parameters;
- data compilation, and;
- engineering analysis.
We adhere to these principles when conducting our designs.
Please use the menu to the left for more detailed descriptions in a specific area of expertise.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


Util.setValue("reply", data);
 function callOnLoad(init) {
 if (window.addEventListener) window.addEventListener("load", init, false);
 else if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent("onload", init);
 else window.onload = init;
 function init() {
 Current date:

[ top ]
Embedded element priorities
Normally, embedded elements are processed when the template that contains them is instantiated. In most situations this is exactly what you want, however sometimes it's important to be able to defer the processing to the end of your view handling, ie. when the template is printed. So instead of being processed early, those embedded elements will then be processed late.
You simply do this by prefixing the ID of the embedded element in the value tag with a + (for late processing) or - (for early processing).
For example, these embedded elements:
Will be processed in the following order:
Note that you can of course still process embedded elements explicitly with the processEmbeddedElement method. The embedded ements that have already been processed like that will not be automatically re-processed later.
[ top ]
Strict pathinfo mapping
Path info mapping provides a powerful way to easily support structured path info URLs and receive their values as inputs.
By default however, even if none of the mappings matches the provided pathinfo, the element will be executed. No values will have been extracted from the pathinfo and you're responsible for taking the appropriate action yourself. Usually, this is exactly what you want as a fall back. However, sometimes you might want to have elements that will only be processed if at least one of the declared mappings matches the pathinfo. This can be achieve by setting the "pathinfo" attribute of the element tag to "strict".
For example:

Both elements above handle the same pathinfo URL. However, only when the "show" keyword is present, the ShowPaste element will be executed and when the "diff" keyword is present the DiffPastes element will be executed.
So these will go to ShowPaste:
 - mypaste/show/1232
 - show/1232
These will go to DiffPastes:
 - mypaste/diff/1221/1244
 - diff/241/521
These will however be executed by neither:
 - mypaste/show/notanumber
 - diff/2141/4421/additionalpart
[ top ]
Deprecated CmfProperty and CmfValidation
The CmfProperty and CmfValidation classes are now deprecated.
You should use ConstrainedProperty and MetaData instead. All the methods from the deprecated classes have been moved to their alternatives.
[ top ]
Flowlink-specific datalinks
Normally you declare flowlinks and datalinks next to each-other and whenever the logic follows a flowlink, the related datalinks are looked up and all the output values will be provided to the target inputs. This can however create problems if you have different flowlinks that go to the same target element, but that should connect different outputs to the same input. You are now able to tie datalinks to a specific flowlink.
For example:

In the example above, three flowlinks point to the same ShowPaste element. However, depending on the triggered exit, different entries need to be shown. This means that the IDs of either the current paste, the parent paste or an amendment need to be provided to the "id" input of ShowPaste.
[ top ]
Mail queue support for authentication and SSL
The mail queue executor is now able to connected to authenticated SMTP servers and to use SSL for encryption.
The following task options are now available:
 ...
 ...
 ...
 ...

[ top ]
Support for setting reflexive outputs and globalvars across submissions
When your element has outputs that link to inputs of the element itself, or if globalvars are present, you are now able to set an output value before generating the submission URL and parameters. After the submission is sent, that output value will be provided to the input of the element. Of course, as before, all other inputs will automatically preserved during submissions.
This feature allows you to continue to rely on inputs to receive data for your element. However, you now don't have to handle changing input values by adding additional parameters to your submission and adapting your logic to them, you can simply set an output and continue to use the data that the input provides.
[ top ]
Bug fixes
A collection of bug fixes have been performed to:
 - the classloader
 - element property injection
 - error reporting
 - JDK 1.4 support through RetroWeaver
 - embedded elements
 - authentication and identification
 - validation contexts
 - Derby and MySQL support
[ top ]
Full changelog
2006-02-26 Geert Bevin
 * RELEASE 1.4
 * RIFE-262 : Add full POJO support for constraints declarations.
 Finalized the implementation by adding support for auto-implementation or
 modification of the clone() method so that the bean instance and the
 meta-data instance always stay together and that clones are properly
 * Updated changelog and project files.
2006-02-25 Geert Bevin
 * Added javadocs.
 * Renamed some methods to prevent them from being seen as bean properties
 * Updated project files.
 * Upgraded Groovy
 * Fixed MetaData bugs.
 * Made MetaData fully lazy instantiating.
 * Added ValidatedConstrained interface.
 * Changed JavaDocs version 1.3.2 into 1.4
2006-02-24 Geert Bevin
 * Added first working version of pure POJO support with automatic meta data
 * Added DTD for regular tag template syntax.
 * Added taglib descriptor for making the regular template tag syntax
 understood by tools.
 * Updated all DTDs to be in UTF-8 encoding.
 * Updated all examples to use the Velocity template syntax instead.
2006-02-23 Geert Bevin
 * Added experimental Ajax DWR support
 * Added support for the Velocity-inspired tag syntax
 * Added support for regular html tags for doing RIFE markup in the xhtml,
 xml, html templates.
 * Optimized the parsing algorithm to work a lot faster with numerous configs:
 an initial scan is first performed to detect the syntax variationts that are
 in use, and only those will remain for the actual parsing.
2006-02-22 Geert Bevin
 * Explicit embedded element processing bugfix
 * NPE fix
2006-02-21 Geert Bevin
 * Updated highlighting of example sources
 * Friend example update
2006-02-17 Geert Bevin
 * Minor test suite fixes.
 * CMF fixes for RAW content storage with Derby and MySQL.
 * RIFE-244 : Add


text:
Born March 3 1818 – Died July 24 1894
Improvement in Rock-Drills
Patent No. 112,254
Simon Ingersoll's practical powered drill played an important role in construction and excavation for more than a century. Percussion drills derived from Ingersoll's design have been used in excavation, mining, tunneling, and highway construction.
By 1870, Ingersoll had invented a drill that replaced hand drilling,
making mining and tunneling much faster and cheaper. Before Ingersoll's
drills, underground drilling was done by striking a length of steel rod
repeatedly with a sledgehammer. Ingersoll's drill surpassed earlier drills
because it rotated the drill after each strike, automatically advancing the
steel. Ingersoll's design also featured an innovative tripod, and was
significantly lighter than other drills. His first design
Born in Stanwich, Connecticut, Ingersoll received an informal grade school education. He received his first patent in 1858 for a steam engine shaft. He developed other inventions over the next ten years, including a scale, a friction clutch, and a latch for gates.


Genetic Review
The newest tool in the genetic services portfolio – the Genus ABS genetic review – perfectly complements GMS 2.0 to get the greatest return on your genetic investment. Similar to a report card, this annual audit provides an overview of your herd's genetics. With this baseline, you can make future comparisons and see genetics in action like never before.
How does it work?
Our genetic review segments your herd based on your description of the ideal or best cow in your herd. Using a backup from your dairy management system or other recorded information, the review conducts a thorough analysis, providing unprecedented insights into exactly how genetics are working in your herd. It's just what you need to predict the performance of your future herd based on heifer, calf, and current pregnancy information.
Find Your Representative


Saturday, January 11, 2014
What is a GEDCOM?
What is a GEDCOM?
A GEDCOM is a computer file that is in plain text. GEDCOM is short for GEenealogical Data COMmunication.
How do I get a GEDCOM?
You can create a GEDCOM from most genealogy software, and most genealogy software can import a GEDCOM.
Why do I want to create a GEDCOM?
The reason you would want to create a GEDCOM is to share genealogical data with another person or site that doesn't use the same software.
How do I create a GEDCOM from Legacy 8.0?
To create a GEDCOM from Legacy 8.0 you click on "File" in top toolbar, then pick "Export" and you can then pick the details of how you want the GEDCOM generated.
How do I create a GEDCOM from my family tree at
From your family tree on any page, you click on "Tree pages"
Tree pages
Then you pick "tree settings" from the dropdown menu.
tree settings
Then you click the Export Tree.
What can I do with a GEDCOM?
You can send the GEDCOM to people you want to send your family too.
If you have tested your autosomal DNA you can upload your GEDCOM to
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Post a Comment


text:
Author: Turpin, Chantal Laurene
Taphonomic changes in response to cold temperature exposure are not well characterized. Specific changes, both macroscopic (recovered animal skeletal material) and microscopic (lamb bone segments experimentally exposed to five different cold treatments), were assessed using thin sectioning and light microscopy. Macroscopic taphonomic changes could not be exclusively attributed to cold climate exposure. In contrast, two types of microstructural cracking damage, longitudinal and osteon cracks, were caused by exposure to cold. The type of cold exposure, such as freeze-drying versus just cold, could in certain instances, be distinguished based on the type and prevalence of the cracks. These findings demonstrate that microstructural cracking can be used as a taphonomic indicator of cold exposure. They also suggest that the type and prevalence of this damage could be used to distinguish between different types of cold exposure.
Copyright is held by the author.
The author granted permission for the file to be printed and for the text to be copied and pasted.
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Bell, Lynne
Member of collection

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


Busting 8 Myths About Rio's Favelas
As hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors descend on Rio de Janeiro in August to watch the Olympics, there is no doubt that many curious eyes will be gazing up at the well-known informal neighborhoods called favelas. There has been a lot of media mention of the favelas, from famous movies to a recent surge because of the Olympics, but there are a lot of misconceptions. Through this post, we will break down 8 commonly held myths or generalizations about favelas and why they aren't quite true.
1. Myth - "Favelas are 'Slums'"
Catalytic Communities / Via Flickr: catcomm
If you type "favela" into Google Translate, the resulting word is "slum" or "shanty town". The word favela comes from a plant that grows in the Northeast of Brazil. When the first favela was founded in the late 1800's, it was named "Favela Hill" after the plant. Today, that favela still exists and is called Providência, in Rio's Port region. The only reason we use "slum" as a translation for "favela" is to find an easy way to relate it to something familiar in our own cities. Unfortunately, this translation brings connotations of poverty, precariousness and lack of safety. While some favelas have "slum-like" conditions, it is incorrect to generalize that favelas are slums because many of them have sturdy homes, commerce, and middle-class residents.
2. Myth - "All Favelas are the same"
Catalytic Communities / Via Flickr: catcomm
There are more than 1000 favelas in Rio de Janeiro alone that hold more than 20% of the city's population. Just to give a sense of scale, that is over a MILLION people. Favelas come in all shapes and sizes and have incredibly rich histories. Favelas like Rocinha, City of God, Complexo de Alemão (German Complex) or Maré have tens of thousands of people within them and can have smaller subsections that indicate neighborhoods within neighborhoods. Others are smaller and are small enough where everyone knows each other. In the touristy South Zone, almost all of the favelas are on very steep hills that rise over the city, but in the North Zone and West Zones of the city (which are much larger) the land is flatter, which means they are built differently and have different assets and challenges.
3. Myth - "All favelas are illegal"
David Morsi - Catalytic Communities / Via Flickr: catcomm
In fact, there are some favelas that have legal protections under Brazilian state and national laws. Additionally, during the 1980's Rio's governor Brizola gave some communities (Like Vila Autódromo (shown above) and Vila União de Curicica that were evicted for the Olympic games… awkward…) legal recognition to stay on the land by the state. Even beyond this, Brazil's constitution actually offers one of the most generous "adverse possession" protections in the world, which basically means that if you can prove you have lived on land for 5 years without someone trying to kick you off, you have a right to the land. Just based on this claim alone, many of the favelas would have legal status, but the bureaucratic, costly and lengthy process usually isn't worth the struggle for residents. Throughout the history of favelas, there have been policy initiatives to offer land titles to favela residents, though these were largely unsuccessful on large scales because of the inefficiency of the government to implement the programs.
4. Myth - "All favelas are dangerous"
David Morsi - Catalytic Communities / Via Flickr: catcomm
This is a complicated claim. Yes, it is important to recognize that there are issues within favelas like drug trafficking and police violence, but as little as 1% of favela residents are involved in drug trafficking. However, as we mentioned above, there are 1.2 MILLION PEOPLE living in the favelas. To say that the places where 1.2 MILLION PEOPLE live are dangerous would be a gross generalization that completely dismisses all of the qualities, innovations and positive qualities of these places. Further, believing this over-generalization allows policies to be made that further stigmatize the communities. It is also important to understand that this "violence" that occurs within favelas is not inherent, rather a result of the DECADES of neglect from the government that have left the poorer folks in Rio without basic services.
5. Myth - "All Favela tours are bad"
Catalytic Communities / Via Flickr: catcomm
This, too, is a complex answer. First of all, don't be an idiot and take a jeep tour through a favela. This is not a jungle, you are not going into the wild unknown, and by giving in to your fear, you are just perpetuating a very real problem of stigmatization of these neighborhoods. If you are going to take a tour, you must choose carefully. Take a tour led by a resident to understand the realities and history of these communities. It is possible to tour a favela and try and learn the deep, complex, rich, and wonderful histories that created them. Why did people settle here? Where did the people come from? Who were the first settlers? How did the favela grow? Who are the main leaders? What kinds of social projects exist in the community? What are they most proud of? What does _______ community mean to residents? Although these are the poorer neighborhoods, they are still neighborhoods. If you choose carefully and learn the local expertise, you actually will have a really unique opportunity to learn.
6. Myth - "Homes in Favelas are shoddily built"
David Robertson - Catalytic Communities / Via rioonwatch.org
This is a very common misconception about favelas and it emerged because of the direct translation of "slum" and "shantytown", which both have connotations of precariousness. However, homes and structures in favelas are largely built with concrete, bricks, reinforced steel, rock and sand. They take years to build and residents usually over-build with the hopes of further expansion. Informality means the homes are built piece-by-piece. Residents save money, understand their needs, and build according to those needs. What might start out as a small home with one bedroom, one bathroom, a small kitchen and a living room could eventually turn into a structure with four homes, each with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a large living room and a bathroom. Further, since residents usually prioritize the inside of the home over the outside, the outside might seem unfinished, but the inside will be immaculately clean and have all the finishing touches.
7. Myth - "People want to leave and get out of favelas"
Catalytic Communities
There are some people who want to leave favelas, but there are also a large number of people who want to stay in their communities. Residents in favelas talk about how there is a very close knit community where everyone knows each other and this has value. Further, there are often generations of families that live in favelas, which makes them more significant than simply a collection of structure and an actual piece of history and memory. This misconception is detrimental because it means policies are made which see the existing favelas as worthless. The thought process is, "oh, if they all want to leave, then why should we invest in upgrading?" However, this is not the case and global policies regarding informal settlements are beginning to shift away from informal settlement removal to informal settlement upgrading and integration into the formal city.
8. Myth - "Rio would be better without favelas"
Catalytic Communities / Via Flickr: catcomm
As has been mentioned twice… just for emphasis… over 1 million people live in Rio's favelas. They are an integral part of the city and have been for over a century. They also have many qualities that are actually considered good by urban planners, such as density, walkability, mixed-use function, affordability, and the fact that they are spread out through the city near other more wealthy neighborhoods. For instance, Santa Marta is near Botafogo, Vidigal is near Leblon, Rocinha is near São Conrado and Gávea… you get the point. By highlighting qualities of favelas, it is clear that viewing them with terror or disgust is not productive or correct. Further, Rio has a huge affordable housing deficit, and if the favelas are considered a "de facto" affordable housing stock, suddenly the deficit doesn't seem so extreme. Rather than building completely new affordable housing, why not protect and upgrade what exists? The key is to give options to people who want to leave their current situation and to those who would rather that their community be upgraded.
What is a favela?
Rio's favelas have a fascinating history and the Olympics provide a perfect opportunity to learn more. It is impossible to generalize about the favelas because of their immense diversity of history. Even if you don't visit a favela, you will see them. Take this opportunity to educate yourself about the realities of these neighborhoods, the struggles they face, and the culture they bring to Rio's urban fabric.
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Define mandating marriage dating links
Posted by / 29-Nov-2020 19:23
which helped doctors identify child abuse, its effects, and the need to report serious physical abuse to legal authorities.
For those with a legal disability, you might assume that overtime hours are outlawed.
However, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) allows the employee to opt-in to overtime as long as the job is "light-duty," which means that it is not particularly physically taxing.
A 2019 update to the FLSA specifically exempts white collar jobs, where the worker's duties fall into an executive, administrative, or professional capacity.
There are also special rules for volunteers, independent contractors, and seasonal workers.
Semi-truck drivers and airline pilots are examples of industries where special rules about overtime and how many hours an employee can work within a period of time.
There are some groups that are protected from this open-ended approach to forced overtime, such as minors and those with disabilities.
Under the FLSA, overtime does not necessarily kick in if you work more than 8 hours on a particular day.Most victims were in the 7–14 years group (17,738). 36% of all investigations were substantiated, with a further 8% of investigations where maltreatment remained suspected by the worker at the conclusion of the investigation and a further 5% with a risk of future maltreatment.30% of investigations were unfounded and 17% resulted in no risk of future maltreatment was indicated.As long as the person can safely physically perform these duties, disabled workers can work overtime hours and receive the higher pay that comes with it.Finally, a worker can negotiate a cutoff for overtime hours with their employer during the hiring process, regardless of disability, as long as both employer and employee agree to it in a signed employment contract.
define mandating-43define mandating-24define mandating-49


text:
The typical youth worker spends a great deal of his or her time in front of a group talking. This article is part of a series of tips to improve your public speaking skills. One of my favorite professors of all time (Dr. Julie Gorman at Fuller) said something that I will never forget: If you don't know what you want to teach well enough to say it in one sentence, you don't know it well enough. So true. I have sat through way too many lessons (and sermons) that made me confused because the point was never clearly articulated. Take a second before you teach and ask yourself: what do I want them to know? Then, whittle it down until you have it in a sentence. THEN (and only then!) build your lesson around that concept making sure all of your ideas and illustrations tie in and support that point. And, it doesn't hurt to actually say that sentence a couple of times during the lesson either.
From YouthWorker Movement


text:
Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
St. Stephen's Day
December 26, the day following Christmas Day, is called St. Stephen's Day in Ireland, and is a public holiday. It commemorates St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr. In Irish it is called Lá Fhéile Stiofán or Lá an Dreoilín — the latter translates literally as another English name used, the "Day of the Wren" or Wren's Day. This name alludes to several Irish legends linking episodes in the life of Jesus to the wren. In parts of Ireland persons carrying either an effigy of a wren, or an actual caged wren, travel from house to house playing music, singing and dancing. Depending on which region of the country, they are called Wrenboys, Mummers or Strawboys. A Mummer's Festival is held at this time every year in the village of New Inn, Co. Galway.
St Stephen's Day is also a popular day for visiting family members. A popular rhyme, known to many Irish children and sung at each house visited by the mummers goes as follows:
- The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
- On St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,
- Up with the penny and down with the pan,
- Give us a penny to bury the wren.
The contents of this article is licensed from _URL_ under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


text:
Trees Come 'From Out Of The Air' Says Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman. Really?
Originally published on Tue September 25, 2012 4:05 pm
Ask one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century a simple question, and his answer makes me go, "What? What did he just say?"
The question was: Where do trees come from?
Meaning, when you see a tree, a big, tall, heavy one, and you wonder where did it get its mass, its thick trunk, its branches — the instinctive answer would be from the soil below, plus a little water (and, in some mysterious way, sunshine), right?
Nope, says the late Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, sitting in an easy chair, thinking out loud in a You Tube video clip from 1983: "People look at a tree and think it comes out of the ground, that plants grow out of the ground, " he says, but "if you ask, where does the substance [of the tree] come from? You find out... trees come out of the air!"
From the air? Trees are hard, branchy, heavy, covered with bark. They don't precipitate out of air. This sounds like sorcery, not science.
But then Feynman says it again, "They surely... come out of the air."
If you are wondering how tons of wood, leaf, bark and all the innards of, say, a massive redwood tree can get pulled out of air, you'll want to hear Feynman's explanation, which is mostly him happily arguing with himself. ("How is it the tree is so smart... and do that so easily? Ah! Life! Life has some mysterious force? No!...")
But before you go to Feynman, it's best to start here, with this primer from Derek Miller of Australia's science video site, Veritasium. "Would it surprise you," Derek asks three young guys in a park — one of them wearing a T-shirt that says "living the dreem," "to discover that 95 percent of a tree is actually from carbon dioxide, that trees are largely made up of air?" The guys smile politely and say, "Ummmm... OK... "
I think, watching this video, you'll be more surprised than they were.
So that's the lesson: that a tree gets its mass from air and water. It "eats" air, chomps down on airborne carbon dioxide, then uses sunshine to pull the carbon dioxide apart, gets rid of the oxygen, which "it spits back into the air," says Feynman, "leaving the carbon and water, the stuff to make the substance of the tree."
But wait a second! Water is in the ground, right? Water is not in the air. Ah, says Feynman, but how did water get into the ground? "It came mostly out of the air, didn't it?" Waving his hands, he says rain "came out of the sky."
What a beautiful notion, that from the dancing air comes the towering monarchs that are our trees. But don't take my word for it, or Derek's. You're now ready to hear it from the Big Guy. When this begins, he's talking about fire. He gets to trees about two minutes in.


As Yasodhara Ashram starts planning for 2015, we want to stay inspired by focusing on Vision, Learning and Ideals. How do we bring vision, learning and ideals to life – personally and in our work and organizations? Thank you to the Yasodhara Yoga Edmonton group for the November reflections.
In this satsang talk from 2005, Swami Radhananda encourages us to let devotion override the intellect so we come from a different place of inspiration.
Swami Radha explores how the different images of the Divine relate to qualities of learning that we can bring to life in ourselves.
 1. Go on a symbolic walk. Write and/or draw a picture about your experience. With your writing and/or picture in front of you, do the eagle pose and ask yourself: Can I see the big picture of my life? Where do I want to be? What is my next step?
 2. Do the Warrior II pose reflecting on the questions: What do I know from the past that can support me in my present position? What choices are before me now? What is my vision for the future?
 3. Swami Radha writes that "Every emotion erects its own screen," keeping us blind. (Kundalini Yoga for the West, p. 141) How do emotions screen how you see yourself? Stand in front of a mirror at various times of the day, especially when emotions run high. Look at your face and ask: "How do I see myself? How are my emotions affecting how I see myself? Is this a face I can trust? Would I want to be friends with this person?" Reflect then do a Divine Light Invocation. How does your perception change?
 4. What is your vision for the future? What are your personal goals? Chant and write a reflection. Create a collage or vision board based on ideas and images from your reflection.
 5. Using the Kundalini chart and any spiritual practices of your choice, ask: How do I learn? What have I learned? What helps me to keep going? Bring a current situation into your reflections.
 6. Observing how you use your time may help clarify where your ideals lie, and how to turn your vision for a week into reality. Draw or download a chart that displays the upcoming week – hour by hour. Write in your appointments, your work schedule, travel and other activities for the entire week, including when you rise and go to bed. Reflect on your ideals for the week: What are your priorities? What have you been putting off? Be honest with how long each activity takes – overestimating to allow for the unexpected. Slot in activities and begin. Reflect daily, focusing on what constitutes a "good" or "productive" day.
 7. Read the section on "What is a friend?" (Kundalini Yoga for the West, p. 205): Do the "I am functioning from my centre" practice for three to five minutes in various locations. What kind of a friend do I want to be: with myself, with the Most High within, with others?
 8. Work with Eagle Pose: Reflect on the eagle's quality of vision. Ask: "What does it mean to be a visionary? Take time to reflect, to observe. How do you see yourself? Go into Garudasana looking at your life with compassion and seeing with divine vision." (Hatha Yoga the Hidden Language, p. 187)
Please join the discussion and share your experience with other Yasodhara Yoga Teachers on the Yasodhara Teachers Network.
November reflections were prepared by the Yasodhara Yoga Edmoton teachers: Niall McKenna, Cathy Anne Pachnowski, Michelle Blance and Carlean Fisher.
Back to Personal Practice Guides


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1. Go to the 'Content' tab, click on the 'Playlists' tab, then select your Playlist folder.
2. On your Playlist folder, select 'Add Content', then 'From my Computer', and select the images, photos, or videos you want directly uploaded into your Playlist.
Notes on Standard Playlists:
- Images can be added from your Desktop, Media Folder(s), and social network account(s).
- Videos can be added from your Media Folder(s), or Desktop only.


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|Slate Mask with weeping eye motif
WHAT'S nEW AT THE MUSEUMS?
Presently on exhibit at the Native American
Culture Museum is an impressive collection of stone ceremonial
masks and pipes dating as far back as 6000 BC. You'd be
hard-pressed to find a better display of these amazing artifacts
anywhere else in the state! We continue our exhibit of trade
beads and peace medals along with a palmetto hut and everyday
items used by the Native Americans.
AND FOR THE KIDS!
Both museums have an activity area where children can learn to crochet, weave, make a pot holder, go on a scavenger hunt, sit in a rocking chair to read a book, color a Native American design, or take a peek in the Palmetto hut.
Each Saturday the docents in the Native American Museum help the children with a project. They make either a necklace, bracelet, or a clay pot that they take home with them.
Check out our education page
for special opportunities for Young Historians>>
download or printing


income taxsmall businessStartup
New Small Business? 5 Things To Know About Federal Income Taxes
As a small business owner, you may assume the IRS isn't concerned with your tax liability. However, this assumption couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, reports suggest that the IRS has increasingly targeted small businesses for audits in recent years.
While the government may not be interested in your business before it turns a profit, it's important to pay attention to your tax responsibilities in the early stages of formation in order to maximize deductions and prevent liability issues moving forward. Here are five things every new small business should know about federal income taxes.
1. Your Legal Entity Affects Your Tax Burden
Think that all small businesses endure the same tax burden? On the contrary, the legal entity you elect to form can have a tremendous effect on your tax liability throughout the years.
From sole proprietorships and LLCs, to S corporations and partnerships, there are various business types, each with its own benefits and limitations. For example, S corporations offer small business owners the advantage of paying taxes at the shareholder level, rather than being subject to higher corporate rates. However, a company of this kind must be limited to 100 shareholders and feature a single stock class. On the other hand, while C corporations can deduct a wider range of expenses and include hundreds of shareholders, these groups must contend with double taxation.
Do your research to determine what legal entity best suits your needs.
2. You Can Deduct More Than You Think
It's no secret that small business owners have to learn ways of stretching their scant financial resources. From raw materials, to employee salaries, to business rent, to utilities, the various operational costs of a startup can be overwhelming. Fortunately, as a new small business owner, you may be able to deduct a number of expenses in order to minimize your tax burden while maximizing company profits.
According to the IRS, businesses can deduct expenses deemed both ordinary and necessary. Ordinary expenses refer to those that are common to your specific trade, meaning what's reasonable for one company may not be relevant for another. On the other hand, necessary expenses are helpful (but not always obligatory) in your field.
Some of the most common business deductions include rent on a business or home office, supplies, furniture and equipment, such as computers, copiers and fax machines. Additionally, many small businesses can deduct costs associated with providing healthcare benefits for their employees.
Do your research to identify all possible deductions and give your company a leg-up come tax time.
3. Don't Forget About Startup Expenses
Many brand-new startups make the mistake of thinking business expenses aren't deductible until their businesses are up and running. However, the truth is that the IRS allows small business owners to deduct a wide array of startup expenses before they open their doors to customers.
Although startup expenses differ by industry, most business types can deduct investigational costs related to researching markets and analyzing products. Additionally, startups can deduct costs accumulated before they open for business, such as training employees, attending trade shows and seminars, locating suppliers and advertising to potential clients. While companies cannot deduct licensing and incorporation fees as startup expenses, these costs may be deductible as incorporation expenses.
It's important to remember that startup founders can only deduct those expenses leading to the creation of a viable business entity. If you decide against forming your business, the above costs will be labeled as personal expenses, and you may not be able to deduct any of your costs.
4. You Must Make Estimated Payments
As a new small business owner, you probably know that it's important to pay taxes accurately and on time. However, you may not realize that self-employed persons are responsible for making quarterly estimated tax payments throughout the year.
While startup founders are excused from making estimated tax payments in the first year of operation, they are responsible for submitting accurate quarterly payments in the years to come. Business owners filing as sole proprietors, partners and S-corporation shareholders must all make estimated tax payments if they anticipate owing $1000 or more for the tax year.
Filing estimated tax payments for the first time? You may want to use last year's income, tax credits and deductions to calculate your expected tax burden. Business owners who fail to submit at least 90% of the taxes they owe may be subject to penalties, so perform your due diligence to ensure you're in the clear.
5. You're Responsible for Paying Self-Employment Tax
If you've never owned your own business, then you are likely unaccustomed to paying self-employment taxes. Comprised of Social Security and Medicare taxes, self-employment tax is paid by workers whose income is not subject to employer withholding. As a self-employed person, you are responsible for both your own portion of the self-employment tax and the half typically paid by an employer.
To ease the burden at tax time, small business owners should remember to deduct the employer-equivalent component of their self-employment tax. Business owners can claim half of what they pay in self-employment tax as an income tax deduction, so a $5,000 tax payment decreases income by $2,500. Additionally, it's important to take advantage of all possible business and startup expenses to limit net income and, by extension, your self-employment tax burden.
Want to ensure your tax return is on the up-and-up? You may want to consider hiring a tax advisor to help you maximize deductions while ensuring your startup is meeting its tax burden. Not only does working with a professional safeguard your business and personal wealth, but it also allows you to focus on what matters: building your company into a successful operation.


Efforts to ban smoking in central government buildings in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district are having little effect as old habits prove tough to break.
The National Personnel Authority issued a guideline July 10 aiming for a total smoking ban in all central government buildings. But resistance from smokers, as well as the structure of the old buildings, is making it hard to protect workers from secondhand smoke.
Kyodo reporters recently checked the smoking situations in the buildings of the National Personnel Authority and nine ministries, including the Foreign Ministry, and found that none of them had implemented a total ban.
The guideline, created after a law aimed at curbing smoking in public places went into force in May, calls on ministries and government agencies to ban smoking as much as possible.
The guideline says a smoking room should be set up within a building as a minimum measure, and there should not be any smoking areas within offices.
The reporters found that many of the 10 buildings had a smoking space set up on each floor, but some of these had no walls or system to vent cigarette smoke, as the guideline specifies.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry was one of the ministries going against the guideline by setting up smoking areas within offices. Other ministries that did the same were the Justice Ministry, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and the Finance Ministry.
Nonsmokers were relatively better protected at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, where smoking spaces were set up with exhaust systems.
A health ministry official said it is difficult to level a total ban on smoking.
"There's no space outside for a smoking room," he said. "And with people busy with the budget and the Diet, a total ban would probably cause some to become irritable and unable to concentrate on their work."
In the health ministry building, which also houses the Environment Ministry, the walls cannot be cut through, and so it is impossible to set up a ventilation system. Smokers can light up only in the smoking space on the ground floor.
"This is a 26-story building. Can we expect people to go down to the ground floor to smoke?" one health ministry official asked.
"There is a limit to what we can do," the official said, noting that one smoking space is insufficient for the roughly 15,000 people who use the building every day.
Even the National Personnel Authority, which drew up the guideline, is in no hurry to ban smoking, saying it has yet to set up a schedule on when to ban smoking altogether in its building.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.


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A type of animated, interactive graphics was famously presented to the world by Hans Rosling of the Gapminder Foundation in a TED talk. The bubble plots that were presented clearly showed changes for several variables over time. Paul Murrell produced an animated
ggplot2 plot based on the Gapminder bubble plots. This demonstration is perhaps more informative as it separates countries into different continents and draws a separate panel for each continent. In doing so we can more easily see the variation within continents.
We can see that over time, for all continents, the general trend is that as the number of children per woman decreases, it is associated with an increase in life expectancy. What is interesting is how it is possible to observe significant events such as wars occurring within each continent.


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Panuridae – Bearded Reedling
The bearded reedling is a small, sexually dimorphic reed-bed passerine bird. It is frequently known as the bearded tit, due to some similarities to the long-tailed tit, or the bearded parrotbill. It was formerly placed with the parrotbills in the family Paradoxornithidae, after they were removed from the true tits in the family Paridae. More recent research suggests it is actually a unique songbird – no other living species seems to be particularly closely related to it
There has long been controversy about just which family the Bearded Reedling belongs in and most thought it resolved when it was declared a parrotbill. However, DNA sequencing has shown that it warrants a family to itself.
This is a small orange-brown bird with a long tail and an undulating flight. The male has a grey head and black moustaches (not a beard); the lower tail coverts are also black. The female is generally paler, with no black. Flocks often betray their presence in a reedbed by their characteristic 'ping' call.
This species is a wetland specialist, breeding colonially in large reed beds by lakes or swamps. It eats reed aphids in summer, and reed seeds in winter, its digestive system changing to cope with the very different seasonal diets.
It is generally a species of temperate Europe and Asia. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate other than eruptive or cold weather movements. It is vulnerable to hard winters, which may kill many birds. The English population of about 500 pairs (but probably growing after a series of mild winters) is largely confined to the south and east with a small population in Leighton Moss in north Lancashire. In Ireland a handful of pairs breed in County Wexford. The largest single population in Great Britain is to be found in the reedbeds at the mouth of the River Tay in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, where there may be in excess of 250 pairs.
Bearded Reedling Panurus biarmicus
Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicusSpecies AccountA brown, long-tailed bird, usually seen flying rapidly across the top of a reedbed. Males have black'moustaches' rather than 'beards'. They are sociable and noisy, their 'ping' calls often being the first clue to their presence.…
Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicusIUCN Species StatusPopulations have always been subject to regular annual population fluctuations. However in some areas such as Turkey, the breeding population is thought to be decreasing owing to the drainage of marshland habitat (Robson 2015). Declines have also been reported in the Netherlands as a result of habitat loss (Hagemeijer and Blair 1997), which may also occur due to reed cutting (Burton and Burton 2002). The species is also noted for its sensitivity to severe cold winters (Hagemeijer and Blair 1997) and it has been exploited by the cage-bird trade in the past (Burton and Burton 2002).
Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicusSpecies AccountSound archive and distribution map
Number of bird species: 1


Nondestructive digging has become a popular method of doing digging and excavation works because it is safer, efficient, and more cost-effective when compared to the traditional way of digging.
The traditional method of digging is the mechanical one wherein heavy equipment such as bobcats, backhoes, drills, and the like are used to dig holes. That is why you can also hire the best general engineering utilities in Los Angeles at as per your needs.
This way has caused many problems in the past because it can hit and damage utilities that are located underground. These utilities are electric cables, gas pipes, water pipes, and sewers.
This is the main reason why most contractors prefer to use the nondestructive digging method.
There are two ways that nondestructive digging can be done, hydro excavation and air vacuum excavation. Each one has its own strength and weaknesses.
Contractors can choose whatever way they prefer depending on availability and if it is applicable in a particular site. Hydro excavation is also known as wet vacuum excavation. As the name suggests, water is a main part of the process.
In this way, there are no problems with dust flying around within the construction site. However, there are environmental concerns as well because this way uses thousands of liters of water which is a precious commodity.
Also the mud it leaves behind makes the area slippery which can cause injury not only to the workers but also to some people who are just passing by.
If you want to know which way will work best for your construction site, then it is best to get in touch with professional contractors who can work with you.


Use multiple Ledger devices
The Ledger Live application can be used with multiple Ledger devices. You can either use multiple devices yourself or share a computer with multiple people each owning a device(s).
Add accounts from multiple devices
A Ledger device gives access to the crypto asset accounts associated with the 24-word recovery phrase it was configured with.
Devices with different recovery phrases
If you have set up multiple devices with different recovery phrases, each device controls a different set of accounts. In that case, follow these tips:
 - First, add the accounts linked to the first device, and repeat for your other device(s).
 - Name the accounts such as to know which device it belongs to, assuming that you've labeled the devices.
 - Always connect the device that controls the selected account when sending or receiving
Devices with the same recovery phrase
If you've set up one device and restored the same recovery phrase on another, both devices control the same accounts. In that case, both hardware wallets can be used interchangeably with Ledger Live. You can freely add accounts, as well as verify and sign transactions with either of the two devices.
Share a computer with multiple people
To share a computer with multiple owners of a Ledger device:
 - Add a user account in your operating system for each person.
 - Log in to your personal user account to use Ledger Live with your hardware wallet(s).
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Can you guess how many calories are in 31,370 tons of food? That's how much food and how much life-sustaining energy the residents and businesses of Clark County throw away in a year.
At the same time, Washington ranks second worst in the nation (after Oregon) for hunger.
The households in Clark County without enough to eat get by with help from a network of food banks, shelters, and meal sites around the county. These hunger relief agencies are excellent, hardworking, and committed, but the need is bigger than the pantry.
Donating edible food rather than throwing it away provides a powerful community service by helping feed the hungry. It also saves garbage costs and landfill space.
If your business or institution throws away food that someone could eat, please consider contacting a food bank. Food bank staff will be happy to arrange a way to collect your foodstuffs for distribution to the hungry. Charitable donation receipts can be provided for your records.
YOU ARE PROTECTED from liability!
Federal and state "Good Samaritan" laws were specifically designed to protect donors against liability arising from donated food. These laws are intended to promote donation.
Briefly, the laws say that if you make a food donation in the belief that the food is safe and edible, then you cannot be held liable for any harm the food might do. Link to _URL_
THE STEPS TO FOOD DONATION
STEP 1: Identify the types of food suitable for donation
Many items can be donated, including:
- Menu, buffet, or catered entrees prepared but not served
- Fresh and frozen produce
- Canned and packaged goods
- Frozen meats or refrigerated processed meats
- Dairy products and eggs
- Baked goods
Donation of shellfish and potato, chicken, egg, or seafood salads is not advised. Also, homemade and home-canned goods cannot be accepted.
Both large and small servings are welcome.
STEP 2: Contact hunger relief agency to arrange donation
Contact a food bank and arrange for a donation! Phone numbers and addresses for many food banks are included in the insert that came with this brochure.
Food donations can be picked up on an on-call basis or a pre-arranged schedule. You also can drop food off at the food bank during its office hours.
Some food banks will provide donors with containers for food pick-up and will replace the containers with new, clean containers after each use.
STEP 3: Handle perishable and prepared foods safely
Time and temperature are the most important factors when handling perishable and prepared food items.
- Keep hot foods at 140°F or above until they are transferred
to refrigerated conditions.
- Cold foods should be kept at 40°F or below.
- Divide hot foods into shallow containers for rapid cooling. Put food directly into refrigerator or freezer.
- Food should not be held out of temperature (between 40°F and 140°F) for more than two hours. Keep in mind as well the time needed to transport the food back to the recipient agency.
- For prepared foods, label the container with the food type, date, and time of preparation.
For their part, food banks and hunger relief agencies hold to well-defined protocols to ensure the safe collection and distribution of donated food.
STEP4: Examine the food you want to donate
Inspect items carefully when preparing them for donation:
- Food should be safe if it has passed the "best by" or
"sell by" date, so long as it has not passed the "use by" or true
- Has the food been packaged and handled properly to ensure that it is safe and wholesome?
- Does frozen food look as if it has been thawed and refrozen?
- Has anything leaked onto the food from another container?
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Clark County Public Works
_PHONE_
Clark County Health Department
For information and agencies elsewhere.
Washington Department of Health
Oregon Food Bank
Metro Regional Services


Brno - Klein Palace
This neo-Renaissance burgher palace was built in _PHONE_ on a design by Viennese architect Ludwig von Förster. It was built for the Klein family who traded in iron. This was also reflected onto the house, respectively into its facade, which was fitted with distinctive architectural elements of cast iron.
In 1946, the palace was confiscated and began to deteriorate, mainly due to insufficient maintenance and the confused and inadequate use of its premises for various purposes. The years _PHONE_ saw a costly reconstruction (to the tune of about 70 million CZK) and the house was brought back to life.
Brno - pocket guide with maps
Brno on the map
Detail of the facade of Klein Palace


Subscribe English
look up any word, like sapiosexual:
A scientific discovery that is completely obvious to the rest of the world, such as that sugar cereal makes kids hyper, or that people don't exercise enough.
Scientists made a major duh-scovery today, revealing that those who eat salads and raw vegetables with salad dressing have considerably higher levels of vitamins C, E, B6, and folic acid.
by martica April 16, 2007
5 0
Words related to duh-scovery:
discovery duhscovery epiphanot geek science


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Healthy Choices Labelling in Scandinavia
Lisa Maria Garnweidner, Akershus/NorwayThe "keyhole" label has existed in Sweden since 1989. Its purpose is to make it easier to choose healthy food choices – as well as to stimulate the food industry to make healthy choices more available. Foods eligible to carry the keyhole symbol must fulfil certain conditions. These conditions cover criteria for fat quality, the maximum amounts of fat, salt and sugars, together with the minimum amount of dietary fibre and whole grain – in 25 different food groups.
Now that this system has been in operation for 20 years in Sweden, the health authorities in Denmark and Norway have agreed to use the keyhole label as a joint healthy choices label. The scientific nutritional background for the establishment of the conditions is provided by the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations. The criteria and food groups are under further regular development. Consumer research indicates that the popularity and recognition of the label is increasing in all three countries.
Simultaneously, the assortment of keyhole-labelled products is expanding. The successful implementation of the label alone is probably insufficient to prevent the onset of obesity and the risk of diet-related non-communicable diseases in the whole population. However, in combination with different national approaches, the implementation of the label can contribute to improved nutrition behaviour and knowledge.
Keywords: healthy choices label, nutritional value labelling, keyhole-label, consumer behaviour
Sie finden den Artikel in deutscher Sprache in Ernährungs Umschau 03/11 ab Seite 128.


- Krunal Odedra
[WI] Figure-Ground & World Around
This week's inspiration is the about the Gestalt's principal and its existence in the world around. Knowingly, unknowingly we would have come across many graphics which uses this Gestalt's principal. But, now that I am aware of it I tend to notice it. And you would be as well surprised where and how it can used to demonstrate meaningful illustration, to market products, depict alphabets, to be novel cover page or just artist's impression.
Coca-Cola's been known for its marketing and it's no less involved in graphic as well. In above depicted illustrations it show how creatively they are used figure-ground concept to create the shape of their iconic bottle using floater and knife-fork. And another picture show connection between two human as well the coke wave where as in the centre there's coke bottle portraying coke connect them.Emotional marketing to its full potential.
Media: Movie posters and novel covers
Another common area where we see figure ground being used frequently are novel cover pages and movie posters. Here are some remarkable examples.
 1. Criminal Underworld show batman and penguin juxtaposed
 2. Two Tower of LOR grounded against hand and golden precious ring
 3. Clint Eastwood posed against gun, poster's about the dirty police and crime.
 4. Rocky climbing up against its failure
 5. Sherlock Holmes in the smoke against it's pipe.
Typography & Logos:
Each letter speak its own story likewise each letter can be depicted with a meaning attached to it using figure ground principal. Let's consider some of the examples here. 1. 'F' show Folder 2. 'F' show a bus 3. 'M' show mountain, 4. 'OUT' with horizontal strike-through and part coming out of each letter complements the word itself 5. Whole set of alphabet where in each letter represent a villain from famous stories, movie, novels and comic series.
Artistic works:
Many illustrator contributes to this segment creating beautiful as well-meaning artworks. Some of them can seen here..
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My new teaching position has introduced me to a lot of new challenges in finding harmony between CI-based methodology and a textbook-based pacing guide. Our French 2 textbook is especially heavy on irregular verbs, and although my students are working their hardest — engaging actively in CI practice during class and completing a wide variety of practices at home — we're still struggling to the meet the goal of mastering all these verbs forms. As usual, the textbook considers a set of verbs like dormir, partir and sortir to be one "rule" because all the verbs have similar irregularities. The reality is that acquiring all the presentand past-tense forms of these three verbs solidly enough for confident production is far beyond the scope of one week's learning, and that doesn't even take into account the twenty or more additional lexical items to be covered in the week. It's also far more than can be sensibly addressed totally through CI activities.
Enter Conjuguno. I developed this activity to give students some kind of purpose for using all these verb forms that's hopefully enjoyable enough to at least trigger a few good neurochemicals and boost their retention.
The game works more or less like real Uno, except we're playing with verb forms instead of colors and numbers. It's a very easy game to make once you get your first set created, and I've found it engaging enough to hold students' attention for a decent chunk of independent practice and yet fast-paced enough to provide quick review before assessments. Students can easily play the game during that tough phase between CI-based introduction of the forms and actual long-term acquisition. The forms are provided for them, so I know they're getting accurate exposures to the verbs.
Creating a set of Conjuguno cards
To create a set, you need at least two different verbs. I typically put two or three irregular verbs in a set, or at lower levels, two or three verbs in regular patterns (e.g. -er, -ir, -re). Your set can focus on a single tense or multiple tenses, and you can also include infinitives that are played as "wild cards". I simply create a table in Word and start typing in all the verb forms I want to practice, and then cut the cards out to made a deck. I make enough decks so that students can play in groups of 3-4, which seems to be the best group size.
To play the game, you'll put students into groups and assign a dealer. The dealer will deal one card to each student and to the draw pile, continuing until all the cards have been dealt out. They'll place one card from the draw pile in the center of the table to start.
Like real Uno, students play cards by matching to the card on top of the pile; their goal is to be the first person to play all their cards. Cards match when they have either the same subject pronoun (e.g. je commence, je finis) or are forms of the same verb in any tense (e.g. je finis, elle finit or elle finit, nous avons fini). Students who have infinitive cards can play them at any time like a "wild card"; the next person will have to match to that same verb. However, students must also use the form they play in a complete sentence, except in the case of infinitive "wild cards". This keeps them focused on both form and meaning and encourages recycling of vocabulary.
If a student can't match to the current card, the student will draw a card from the draw pile and play continues. Students can shuffle the pile of played cards as needed when the draw pile runs out.
Gameplay will move fairly quickly, and that's really the point. I want students to see and use as many different forms as possible. And students generally do a good job of keeping each other on track, since the penalty for skimping on a rule (like using the form in a sentence) is having to draw an extra card. The process of finding matches also helps students see some of the similarities and differences that textbooks assume students will notice right off the bat.
Conjuguno isn't a perfect solution for tackling huge chunks of irregular verbs, but I do think it's a worthwhile activity. Best of all, it's very easy to create new sets to mix old and new verb patterns when students start to get rusty.


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This is an old revision of DiscoverHighAshurst from 2010-03-30 11:56:50.Discover High Ashurst
Discovering High Ashurst
At the beginning of 2007, Heritage Enterprise was approached by Surrey's Youth Development Service with a request: could we act as advisors to a very excitable bunch of enthusiastic young people whilst they undertook an archaeological project of their own? We were happy to, and so started months of project planning and preparation.
As this was to be their own project, the young people had to find a suitable site, carry out a desk-based assessment and plan the aims of the project. The group already had a site in mind, the High Ashurst Outdoor Education Centre near Mickleham. It is well known that a house once stood close to the now converted coach house, but the group wanted to discover what was now left of it, and more about the history of the site.
A week of fieldwork began on 3 September 2007. Using plans of the house located during their research, the young people chose areas to investigate, taking into account the evidence that still survives on the ground. This includes cellar tunnels for pipe work, an outside staircase, a garden pathway retaining wall and the oral history evidence for a mosaic.
According to staff at the Outdoor Centre, the mosaic (thought to belong to the entrance hall of the house) had been exposed to the elements and visiting school groups for many years, until little bits of it started to be taken home! It was covered over with rubble, and finding and recording the state of preservation of the mosaic was to be one of the main aims of the 2007 team.
In all seven small trenches were opened up and recorded:
Trench 1 over the position of a bay window in the dining room. The slate damp-course was uncovered.
Trench 2 was located where a small part of wall was exposed. It was thought that this could be the foundation for the south-west corner of the house, but turned out to be part of a small garden wall, in alignment with six alder trees marking the main western driveway.
Trench 3 was located over the eastern edge of the house, close to the cellars and toilet blocks. This trench in particular suffered from tree root action, but evidence for a wall and a possible cellar windowsill was found.
Trench 4 was located just below Trench 2, investigating a possible garden step, and one of the stone bollards (four were located in this area), which were presumed to be the driveway markers as seen in an 1881 drawing of the house.
Trench 5 was positioned to uncover the entrance hall mosaic. People who had seen the mosaic when it was previously uncovered described it as being fairly small, black and white in colour and with square blocks of pattern. After the team had shifted a fair amount of brick rubble, what was revealed came as a bit of a surprise: a pink, blue and white tiled mosaic with wave and Fleur de Lis patterning!
Trenches 6 and 7 were excavated to the south of the mosaic to try to locate the position of the front door. The pathway, which is known to run across the length of the house was located in Trench 6, and to the north Trench 7 picked up a stone block, possibly a door step.
During the week Finds Liaison Officer David Williams visited the team, along with local metal detector, John Cole, who helped the group locate several interesting finds including coins, a button and an abundance of metal curtain hooks!
The Discover High Ashurst group followed their fieldwork week with several days of post excavation work. This involved washing and packing the finds from site, which included a large quantity of brick rubble, window glass, plaster and iron objects.
Following the success of Discover High Ashurst, the project has gone on to be used as an activity for Surrey Youth Justice, local archaeology and youth groups, and regular tours for Heritage Open Days.
If you are interested in taking part in the project or would like further information on other Community Archaeology projects in Surrey please contact: Abby Guinness, Community Archaeologist, Tel: 01483 518772, email: _EMAIL_
Find out more: _URL_
| CBA, St Mary's House, 66 Bootham, York YO30 7BZ.
tel: +(44) (0)1904 671417 | fax: +(44) (0)1904 671384 | email:


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Baselines--Key to the Costs and Benefits of Environmental Markets
Farms jointly produce agricultural commodities for sale and environmental services that historically have not been marketed. Recently, markets have been developed or proposed that could allow farmers to generate and sell environmental credits when they adopt farming practices that improve water quality, sequester more carbon, restore wetlands, or provide other environmental services.
Environmental markets use baselines to determine whether proposed improvements by agricultural producers qualify for marketable credits and, if so, the number of credits to be awarded. As a result, setting baseline emissions levels is often a contentious element of market design. Baselines help ensure that market payments result in "additional" environmental improvements over what would have taken place in the absence of the market. Additionality is required since awarding credits or payments for improvements that have already been implemented, or would normally be expected without a market, undermine the environmental gains expected from the program.
While in theory a baseline can be established that assures that market credits are awarded only for improved emissions levels that go beyond current or projected "business-as-usual" (BAU) reductions, estimates of BAU emissions reductions are imprecise and expensive to develop. As a result, proxy baselines that reflect imperfect approximations of BAU performance, such as the average regional adoption rate for a given practice, may be established. In practice, existing and proposed environmental markets use a variety of different approaches. For example, Pennsylvania's nutrient trading program calculates tradable credits relative to a minimum practice standard associated with one or more best management practices established for the region, rather than relative to what is actually happening on a specific field when the program is enacted. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, on the other hand, awards offset credits for installation of anaerobic digesters relative to site-specific uncontrolled manure storage performance estimates.
The range of options for defining baseline emissions varies across several dimensions. Baselines can be:
- Defined by a specific technology/practice or by a baseline year (for example, for all improvements made after 2010, or for adoption of any tillage system with lower erosion levels than a conventional system).
- Constant (static) or changing (dynamic) over time (for example, a dynamic baseline might assume a 10-percent improvement every year in the absence of a market).
- Calculated at the farm level or at a larger sectoral level (for example, the baseline could reflect prevailing practices on each participating farm (or field), or might be set at the average performance level for the entire county where the farm is located).
For any given farm, each of these baselines may overor under-predict actual BAU emissions.
Due to the complexity and costs associated with defining, measuring, and verifying environmental baseline levels, program managers face a tradeoff between the precision with which environmental performance change can be estimated and the cost of refining those estimates. Baseline selection affects the environmental integrity of the credits generated, the implementation costs associated with an environmental services market, the cost to farmers of generating credits (and the price at which those credits are sold), the number and types of farmers that may benefit from trading, and, ultimately, the number of credits that are traded and the size of the market that is created.
This article is drawn from...
Baselines in Environmental Markets: Tradeoffs Between Cost and Additionality, by Elizabeth Marshall and Marca Weinberg, USDA, Economic Research Service, February 2012


Sunday 29 November 2015
Internet handshake extends the human touch
Scientists have developed a means of shaking hands across continents by using the internet to transmit such properties as grip, movement, even skin texture.
How the device works
Virtual handshake: How the device works
Scientists have developed a means of shaking hands across continents. Using the internet, the new technology can transmit such properties as grip, movement, even skin texture - everything, in fact, but actual physical contact.
A device that allows computer users to "feel" things online means that old friends thousands of miles apart could shake hands for the first time in years, a mother could soothe her child's troubled brow from miles away or even send a kiss via the web.
With the aid of a series of tiny motors and pressure pads built into a glove, users can transmit information about the position of their fingers, strength of touch and even the feel of their skin.
Prof Alan Marshall, from the department of electrical engineering at Queen's University, Belfast, who has been developing the "haptic" or touch technology, believes it will make using the internet a far more "complete" experience.
He tested a prototype of the technology by conducting a virtual handshake between one person in Belfast and another at BT's research laboratories in Ipswich.
The pair could see each other on their monitors and were able to feel their hands grasping, despite being more than 300 miles apart.
Prof Marshall is now developing the technology so that internet users will be able to "feel" their way around and even handle products while shopping online.
He said: "Almost since its conception, the internet has really only used two of the senses - visual and audio. It will have to enhance the experience by making it more realistic.
"Haptic devices give the illusion of actually being able to shake hands, or move an object like a cup around a screen while actually feeling what it is like."
Prof Marshall and his team are working with companies in America and Canada to create sensory products that can be used over standard connections and compensate for the variable download speeds that might be expected to interfere with the "realism" of the -experience.
He claims, however, that it will be possible to send detailed touch information over normal networks and even to embed information about the physical properties of objects in photographs on web pages.
That would mean, for example, that online stores could let shoppers handle their products before they buy. There are also interesting possibilities for computer games, which could be made to seem more realistic.
Prof Marshall said that he expected haptic devices to be commonplace within about five years, perhaps even replacing the computer mouse.
He said: "The motors give the impression that you can touch the object, and you can embed different properties such as sponginess, tactile sensation and grip strength in an object on a screen.
"Take games consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, which have already given players the ability to control their screen characters with their own movements.
"Imagine what it would be like if you could play as a virtual tennis player and feel every impact of his serve."
Prof Nigel Shadbolt, president of the British Computer Society, said: "Allowing people to feel directly what they are seeing on a computer screen is a Holy Grail.
"While it is challenging, I am certain it is coming and will open up the internet like never before."
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1 MNET:MIT.SLFP Last updated: 10 November 1987 This file contains technical documentation of the MIT Serial Line Framing Protocol, as implemented in the Merit Computer Network. It was retyped from the original information from MIT on 11/10/87. Appendix I: Serial line Framing Protocol (This description is from a very old file written when we were first implementing the protocol. Details are still accurate, though.) This is preliminary documentation on the serial line protocol used between the IBM PCs and the PC Gateway. The protocol has two levels: the low-level protocol (LLP) and the local net protocol. The low level protocol wraps a packet and delivers it to the PC Gateway. The local net protocol tells the PC Gateway what kind of packet it is. Currently there two types of packets: Internet and Address Request. When the PC Gateway receives an Internet packet, its action is to forward the internet packet to a process which checks the packet for validity and then sends it to the net. On receipt of an Address Request packet, the PC Gateway sends an Address Request packet back to the PC with four bytes of data (the PC's internet address) in the body of the packet. Neither the LLP nor the local net protocol provide for prioritized transmissions, checksums or complex line control. They are merely a simple way to get packets to and from machines. The local net protocol consists of a four byte leader. For an internet packet, this leader is: 2,1,0.0. For an Address Request, the leader is 2,3,0.0. There is no data in the Address Request packet sent from the PC; it is only the four byte local net header wrapped in the serial line protocol. The receipt of any packet with a local net header that does not identify the packet as either internet or address request is an error and the receipt of such a packet should be logged and the packet discarded. LLP consists of four bytes with special meanings when received over the serial line. These are: ESC, REQ, ACK, and END. A packet is enclosed in a REQ and an END. When a PC wishes to send a packet it first sends a REQ to the PC Gateway. It then waits a suitable length of time to receive an ACK from the PC Gateway. If no ACK byte is received, the PC Gateway is assumed to be unable to handle the packet right now and a timeout is said to have occurred. The PC may either retry, wait or return an error. After the PC receives the ACK signal, it may begin sending the packet. The first four bytes of the packet should be the local net header and an error will occur if they are not valid. When the PC has completed sending the packet, it should send an END byte to the Gateway. The PC gateway will then consider the packet and act upon it. 1 2 The PC Gateway goes through a similar process when it sends a packet to a PC; only the roles are reversed. It is an error for the PC Gateway to send a PC its address if the PC has not requested its address from the Gateway. If a machine should receive a REQ embedded in a packet, this indicates that the END signal was dropped somewhere. The receiving machine should drop the packet it was receiving and begin to receive a new one. ACKs may be mixed inside packets to allow immediate response to REQs. The receipt of an ACK by a machine should be duly logged (and perhaps appropriately ignored if the PC doesn't have an outstanding request). The final code, ESC, is used to allow the characters whose codes are used by ESC, REQ, ACK and END to appear in packets. Receiving an ESC indicates that the next byte should be looked at to produce the correct character. Here is a table of the codes for the signals and the ESC sequences to produce the data whose codes they use. ESC 242 ESC 0 REQ 243 ESC 1 ACK 244 ESC 2 END 245 ESC 3 A simple way to unstuff the bytes is to add the character following an ESC to the ESC to get the correct code and then put it in the packet as data. It is an error to have any character >3 follow an ESC. If a machine receives any character other than a REQ or an ACK when it is not in the process of receiving a packet, it should discard that character. Low-level protocol specification: IBM to Gateway, Gateway to IBM. The following ASCII codes are used as flags in the manner specified: 242 - Prefix code for sending data codes which are set aside for protocol use. 243 - Request to send (REQ). 244 - Acknowledge (ACK). 245 - End of packet (END). A typical data transfer occurs as follows: IBM wants to send packet to Gateway: It sends REQ and waits for ACK. Gateway is ready to receive packet: It sends ACK IBM sends packet to Gateway followed by END. The packet itself is encoded so that REQ, ACK, and END never appear in the text. This is done by performing the following substitutions: 1 3 242 --> 242 0 243 --> 242 1 244 --> 242 2 245 --> 242 3 Note that transfers can occur in both directions simultaneously. However the ACK signal may be embedded within a data packet and must be explicitly removed: IBM wants to send packet to Gateway: It sends REQ and waits for ACK. Gateway is ready to receive packet: It sends ACK. IBM starts sending packet. Gateway wants to send packet to IBM: It sends REQ and waits for ACK. IBM is ready to receive packet: It sends ACK. IBM continues sending its packet, while Gateway sends a packet to IBM. Timeouts may occur if the wait between a REQ and an ACK is too long or no packet characters are transmitted for too long a time. In both cases no recovery action is undertaken: the other system is assumed to have crashed. Receipt of protocol codes within a data packet has the following consequences: REQ - End portion of data packet being sent has been lost. ACK - Should be removed from input packet and its presence logged for use by the process which is sending characters. END - Packet has been completely sent.


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This article published by Yongyut Trisurat, Anak Pattanavibool, George A. Gale and David H. Reed in CSIRO Publishing. Wildlife Research. 2010, 37, 401-412, demonstrates how the CAP principles helped assess wildlife population viability for multiple species in the Western Forest Complex in Thailand. If you wish to request a copy of the article, please contact Yongyut Trisurat (_EMAIL_).
Context. Assessing the viability of animal populations in the wild is difficult or impossible, primarily because of limited data. However, there is an urgent need to develop methods for estimating population sizes and improving the viability of target species.
Aims. To define suitable habitat for sambar (Cervus unicolor), banteng (Bos javanicus), gaur (Bos gaurus), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and tiger (Panthera tigris) in the Western Forest Complex, Thailand, and to assess their current status as well as estimate how the landscape needs to be managed to maintain viable populations.
Methods. The present paper demonstrates a method for combining a rapid ecological assessment, landscape indices, GIS-based wildlife-habitat models, and knowledge of minimum viable population sizes to guide landscape-management decisions and improve conservation outcomes through habitat restoration.
Key results. The current viabilities for gaur and elephant are fair, whereas they are poor for tiger and banteng. However, landscape quality outside the current distributions was relatively intact for all species, ranging from moderate to high levels of connectivity. In addition, the population viability for sambar is very good under the current and desired conditions.
Conclusions. If managers in this complex wish to upgrade the viabilities of gaur, elephant, tiger and banteng within the next 10 years, park rangers and stakeholders should aim to increase the amount of usable habitat by ~2170 km2 or 17% of existing suitable habitats. The key strategies are to reduce human pressures, enhance ungulate habitats and increase connectivity of suitable habitats outside the current distributions.
Implications. The present paper provides a particularly useful method for managers and forest-policy planners for assessing and managing habitat suitability for target wildlife and their population viability in protected-area networks where knowledge of the demographic attributes (e.g. birth and death rates) of wildlife populations are too limited to perform population viability analysis.


The coronavirus pandemic has had a massive effect on schools around Berkshire.
There have been numerous cases of pupils being sent home after positive coronavirus tests since the start of the pandemic.
Some schools have also had to close completely for deep cleaning and others have had to send massive amounts of pupils into self-isolation.
For example, at the time of writing there are around 200 pupils at Maiden Erlegh School in Silverdale Road, Earley, who have been sent home after positive tests there, prompting one parent to question why schools are open at all.
Managing schools has been extremely difficult for headteachers and staff, especially as the future of 2021's GCSE and A level exams remains uncertain.
What the uncertainty has prompted is parents in towns like Reading, Windsor, Maidenhead, Bracknell, Wokingham and Slough, to question whether the pandemic might have any impact on the Christmas holidays.
BerkshireLive email updates: We bring the stories to you
BerkshireLive put the question to the Department for Education.
A spokesperson said there are measures in place which do allow schools to change their holidays if they feel the need. They said any changes to holidays would have to be agreed with the local authority.
For example, a school in Berkshire could add a week to its Christmas holidays if it felt the need, but it would mean shortening another holiday like Easter to balance out.
But the spokesperson stressed, in terms of government policy, there are no plans at all to have a blanket change to the Christmas holidays.
They said: "We are prioritising children's and young people's education and wellbeing, by keeping nurseries, schools, colleges and universities open.
"The Chief Medical Officer remains of the view that schools should remain open, and has highlighted the damage caused by not being in education to children's learning, development and mental health.
"There are no plans for schools to break up for Christmas early."
Local authorities in Berkshire also said they would follow government guidelines on any changes, but stressed there were no plans at the moment from any school.


A bill before the Indiana House is an accident waiting to happen... Literally.
Anyone who drives a vehicle has sat frustrated waiting for a red light to change. For motorcyclists and other riders of two-wheel vehicles, the wait can be even more frustrating.
That's because many traffic signals change when a weight sensor is activated, the motorcycles and scooters don't have enough weight to trip the sensor and change the light.
The legislation which has been introduced by Rep. Mike Karickhoff authorizes the operator of a motorcycle, motorized bicycle, motor scooter or bicycle to proceed through the red light if they wait 120 seconds. The law requires the operators to yield the right-of-way to other traffic and use caution when proceeding through an intersection.
The bill has been assigned to the Roads and Transportation Committee of the Indiana House.
Anyone see a problem here?
As one would expect, motorcycle proponents support the legislation. They argue that it is frustrating to sit waiting for a light to change when nobody is around. But car drivers experience the same frustration.
Here are some of our concerns:
- If an accident were to happen would the state prosecute the other driver?
- Could a police agency legally charge a rider with disobeying a traffic signal if an accident were to occur - even if the rider waited two minutes?
- If the driver of a car proceeds through a red light after waiting two minutes, would the driver receive a citation?
Steve Luce, executive director of the Indiana Sheriffs' Association agreed that the new law would be difficult to enforce.
"This would be difficult to enforce and very hard to decide when a violation occurs," Luce told the Associated Press. "We do recognize there are many who use bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles as a means of their transportation."
We know most motorcycle riders are responsible and would respect the law. But we fear that for some riders that 120 second would become 90 seconds, then 60 second and eventually little more than a rolling stop... after all, nobody would be around to see it, right?


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Troubleshooting Hive replication using REPL
You need to know how to recover from the FAILED_ADMIN state that stops the replication process.
Problem: A non-recoverable error appears for a replication job and the status says FAILED_ADMIN. How do you recover a schedule from the FAILED_ADMIN state?
Solution: Perform the following steps to recover a replication schedule from this state:
- Navigate to the error log path.
- Search for the file _non_recoverable.
- Open the file, and look for information about an error that caused the replication failed.
- Fix the error.
- Delete the _non_recoverable file.
The_non_recoverable file from the last replication command execution must be deleted; otherwise your replication attempt will malfunction.
Problem: Notification events are missing in the metastore.
Solution: If notification events are not present in the metastore during replication, the replication might be in a FAILED_ADMIN status. When this occurs, notifications are deleted in the metastore. In this case, the workaround is to start a fresh bootstrap phase of replication, as follows:
- Drop the target database using beeline.
- Remove the dump directory on HDFS for the required policy. The path of _non_recoverable
error file path has the dump directory path.
The replication continues where it stopped.


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Dr. Dolly's SELFSHAPES™ – Ellipse
Because you have chosen an Oval or Ellipsis, your dominant SELFSHAPE™ in Dr. Dolly's SELFSHAPE™ categorization system is likely an OVAL or ELLIPSIS, a slightly compressed circle, an eggor eye-like shape with strong perceptivity, empathy, and sensitivity. Life has sometimes crushed the natural spiritual/caring/compassion traits of a CIRCLE, and given birth to art, possibly even great art, whether visual, literary, theatrical, or musical. Or perhaps even scientific, medical, or mathematical. Ovals also make effective change agents, such as psychologists or occupational, physical, or speech therapists. The challenge is to let light outweigh darkness. An OVAL or ELLIPSIS may begin as a child who felt misunderstood, or was maybe even bullied or abused, yet rose to extraordinary achievement—which may or may not pay off financially. Passion and compassion tend to be more motivating than security or financial wealth. OVALS are most rewarded by self-fulfillment and helping others.


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6.4.4 Specific Conditions: Driving Devices and Modifications Grant
Driving devices and modifications grants are issued for the modification of VAS vehicles. In specific circumstances, driving lessons may be approved (refer to the end of this section for further information).
When determining whether to approve a driving devices and modifications grant, a number of issues must be considered as outlined in Part 6 of the VAS instrument. These issues include:
1. Are the proposed driving devices and modifications necessary to enable the veteran to drive safely, or be transported safely, in reasonable comfort?
In order to receive a driving devices and modifications grant, the proposed driving devices and modifications must be necessary to enable the veteran to drive safely or be transported safely in the vehicle, in reasonable comfort.
This requirement can only be satisfied if the vehicle has been assessed, and the modifications have been recommended, by a Driver Trained Occupational Therapist (OT).
2. What amount of grant can be provided?
The amount of a driving devices and modifications grant is an amount the Commission considers reasonable, in all the circumstances, having regard to all relevant matters. Matters which may be considered relevant are listed under s6.1.2 of the VAS instrument and are summarised below:
- the nature of the incapacity of the veteran from war-caused injury, or war-caused disease, or both; and
- the nature of the proposed driving devices or modifications; and
- whether there are alternative suitable driving devices or modifications that are reasonably available and cost effective; and
- whether there are alternative providers of suitable driving devices or modifications that are reasonably accessible and cost effective.
3. Requirement for three quotes
The VAS delegate can only give due consideration to the matters under s6.1.2 of the VAS instrument after three quotes for the recommended modifications have been obtained from three independent and authorised vehicle modifiers.
4. Choice of dealer
The choice of dealer will ultimately be determined by the delegate, after consideration of the factors under s6.1.2 of the VAS instrument and three independent quotes have been obtained from independent and authorised vehicle modifiers.
5. Direct payment to the supplying dealer
The amount of the grant is to be paid directly to the supplying dealer who will be fitting the driving devices and modifications.
6. What are the client's responsibilities?
The veteran must provide to the VAS contact person or the VAS delegate:
- a copy of a drivers licence demonstrating that the primary driver of the VAS vehicle (the veteran, or if the veteran does not drive – their partner or carer) continues to hold a valid drivers licence;
- evidence showing that the veteran has comprehensively insured the vehicle for it's full market value*; and
- a payment summary or receipt showing that the driving devices and modifications grant was used to purchase the necessary driving modifications and devices.
*Note: The insurance may be taken out in the name of the veteran and the partner or carer, but the name of the veteran to whom the financial assistance under the VAS must appear on the insurance certification.
Driving lessons may be approved where a Driver Trained OT:
- has recommended a modification or device be provided to a client under the VAS;
- has recommended driving lessons, to enable a client to learn how to drive with the modification or device;
- has specified how many lessons are required by the client, in order for them to drive in safely and relative comfort with the modification; and
- has provided three quotes for lessons or if three quotes are not possible, reasons why less than three quotes could be obtained.
Where these conditions are met, funding for lessons can be provided as part of the devices and modifications grant.