20 February 2019
The ink on the French data protection authority's decision in the Google-case is not even dry and the German antitrust authority has already imposed sanctions against the other 'giant' Facebook because of its unlawful data processing activities. I suppose you wonder what is the connection between the data protection and the economic competition? Well, read our short article and you will know the answer.
1. Why was the German antitrust authority competent in the case?
As mentioned in the foreword, at first sight it is a little odd that the German antitrust authority acts in the case of the US-company Facebook which rather concerns data protection related questions.
However, the German antitrust authority is competent to act in all cases where a competition restraint could have an effect in Germany. Indeed, Facebook's market behaviour has effects in Germany, in addition Facebook has a German subsidiary, thus the authority is competent.
Further, the antitrust authority has taken into consideration that the data processing practices of such a relevant economic operator as Facebook, could be relevant not only for the data protection authorities but also for the antitrust authorities. The German antitrust authority, in fact, considers it an important task to monitor the data processing activity of market leaders and strongly cooperates with the data protection authority.
2. How does Facebook use our personal data?
The subject of the examination were basically the terms of service of Facebook. It is hardly news that the users need to agree in the terms of service in order to be able to use Facebook. Thus, among others the user shall accept that Facebook collects his data from external sources, such as third-party webpages, mobile applications and to assign those data the user's Facebook account.
Obviously, nobody is surprised that Facebook uses that data that the user shares on the Facebook or which otherwise could be get about him because of his Facebook activities. A well-informed user probably also expects that the pictures posted by him on the Facebook-owned Instagram are assigned to his Facebook account.
What is probably unknown for the majority is that Facebook also collects data about us from third-party webpages which embedded a "Like" or "Share" button or are using the Facebook Analytics. The shocking thing is that the visitor does not even need to click on the "Like" button, the data will be transmitted to Facebook when the user calls up the webpage.
3. Why is Facebook considered as a market leader?
While it is appalling that Facebook collects from everywhere and then combines by all means possible our data, this would not really be relevant from competition point of view, if Facebook was not a market leader.
This seems pretty obvious in the light of the activity of Facebook, considering for example that in Hungary all similar providers (eg. IWIW) were shut down, but the German authority supported his statement with comparative data and numbers.
Facebook has 2,3 billion monthly active users worldwide, out of which 1,5 billion people use Facebook on a daily basis. Regarding the German "social media" market, however there are some webpages and applications which offer partly similar services as Facebook (eg. YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest), in the reality these platforms do not substitute Facebook.
Examining narrowly the relevant market, Facebook has a market share of more than 90%, having 32 million monthly and 23 million daily active users. Besides Facebook, there are only some smaller service providers on the social media market, but their market share is marginal.
4. Why is the infringement of the GDPR an abuse of market power?
The antitrust authority thinks that in the light of Facebook's privacy policies it can be established that his data processing practices infringe the GDPR. Facebook does not have a valid legal basis to collect data from third-party webpages and to assign those data to the user's account.
Indeed, the user does not have a real choice: if he would like to use Facebook, he shall give his consent to the data processing for the above mentioned purpose, which makes the consent invalid since it is not freely given.
The German antitrust authority is on the opinion that that contract terms used by a market leader that make the possibility of the usage of the service dependent from the user's wide consent to the processing of his personal data, shall be regarded as exploitative contract terms.
Although it is a fact that Facebook's exploitative terms do not cause direct financial loss to the user, he suffers damages because he loses control over the processing of his data and will be a "subject" of a data processing which he could not have foreseen.
5. What is the obligation of Facebook based on the decision?
Instead of a punitive sanction, the German authority rather imposed „corrective" sanctions. That means, that for the time being, he has not fined Facebook, but imposed restrictions on him setting out how he should terminate his exploitative practices.
Facebook can continue to collect data from platforms which he owns, like Instagram or WhatsApp, but he can only assign those data to the user's account if the user has freely consented to it. From third-party webpages Facebook can only collect data if he obtains the user's freely given consent.
The consent in this case will only be regarded as freely given if the usage of Facebook is not subject to the provision of the consent.
The decision is not yet final thus Facebook can pursue remedies against it. If the decision will be final and yet Facebook does not comply with the obligation, he will face competition fines even higher than the data protection fines.


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Answer Garden is where you can "plant a question, grow answers". It's a feedback tool that can be used online, or it can be embedded within a blog. Creating an Answer Garden is very easy to use and integrate. You provide a question, or brainstorming statement, and your students provided the answer... in 20 characters or less. The answers are presented in a word cloud format. If the same answer is submitted multiple times, it grows larger.
Answer Garden can be integrated in many ways - for brainstorming, classroom polls, exit cards, open-ended questions... The possibilities are endless.
Please share how you'll use Answer Garden in your class.

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


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Good Cards Patent
The innovation in which an application has been submitted to be patented is the "method and system for action tracking", which in particular relates to the tracking of an action of user. Pawel Nazaruk is the owner of the patent application which was submitted to the USPTO on 6th February 2016.
The key components of the Patent application are:
1. A method for tracking an action of a user, comprising:
a. obtaining a first set of data from the user;
b. associating the obtained first set of data to a profile of the user; and #
c. determining a second set of data that is associated to the first set of data.
2. A system for tracking an action of a user, comprising: #
a. a data acquisition module adapted to obtain the first set of data from the user;
b. an analytics module adapted at least to associate the obtained first set of data to a profile of the user and to determine a second set of data that is associated to the first set of data;
c. a storage module adapted to store at least the first set of data and second set of data; and d. one or more processing module adapted to process at least the first set of data, the second set of data and the profile of the user.
Prior to the submission of the patent application, a freedom to operate analysis was undertaken in order to determine whether or not this patent application could interfere with the rights of others. Searches have been made through Espacenet and USPTO to discover whether this innovativation is unique. There have been no results yielded that suggest the application for this patent conflicts with existing patents.
This innovation that has been submitted for patent has the potential to create better communications amongst individuals and provide accurate information on the impact of social good deeds committed by individuals which has previously been difficult to track. This identifiable information can also be used to inspire others to do good deeds.
In regards to implementing regulations, there are several EU regulations/Directives which this innovation addresses and which provide new business opportunities. For example, there are several EU Directives focusing on the use of energy including:
Directive 2009/28 / EC, which states the principle of 3×20 EU Member States
Directive of the European Parliament and the Council 2009/125 / EC of 21 October 2009, which establishes a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products
The Goods Cards patent has the power to meet EU Regulations as the goals and missions to be documented by the user tracking mechanism are focused on creating environmental and social benefits which are current issues faced by the globe today.


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BPS District Social Emotional Learning Book
The ability to successfully regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations effectively managing stress, controlling impluses, and motivating oneself. The ability to set and work toward personal and academic goals.
- IC Impluse Control
- SM Stress Management
- SD Self-Discipline
- S-M Self-Management
- GS Goal Setting
- OS Organizational Skills
Students will be able to...
- SEL-K2.S-M.1ic Demonstrate self-control in a variety of settings.
- SEL-K2.S-M.2sm Define stress.
- SEL-K2.S-M.3sd Identify what it means to be responsible and list personal responsibilities.
- SEL-K2.S-M.4s-m Utilize self-talk for the purpose of self-motivation.
- SEL-K2.S-M.5gs Identify goals for academic success and classroom behavior.
- SEL-K2.S-M.6os Utilize prescribed routines to understand physical and mental organizational strategies.
- SEL-EL.S-M.1ic Apply self-monitoring strategies to regulate emotions.
- SEL-EL.S-M.2sm Identify personal stressors.
- SEL-EL.S-M.3sd Display consistent behaviors to meet personal responsibilities.
- SEL-EL.S-M.4s-m Identify internal and/or external motivating factors in a variety of situations.
- SEL-EL.S-M.5gs Apply a goal setting process to work toward goal achievement (e.g. SMART).
- SEL-EL.S-M.6os Identify strategies for planning, prioritizing and managing time.
- SEL-MS.S-M.1ic Explain possible outcomes of expressing emotions in a various way.
- SEL-MS.S-M.2sm Apply stress management strategies.
- SEL-MS.S-M.3sd Display endurance when facing adversity for the purpose of personal growth.
- SEL-MS.S-M.4s-m Display indicators of a growth mindset.
- SEL-MS.S-M.5gs Create and monitor personal and academic goals to meet identified needs.
- SEL-MS.S-M.6os Apply strategies for planning, prioritizing and managing time.
- SEL-HS.S-M.1ic Apply strategies to mitigate personal response to different levels of emotions.
- SEL-HS.S-M.2sm Create a long term plan for stress management throughout the lifespan.
- SEL-HS.S-M.3sd Consistently apply strategies for working hard in challenging settings.
- SEL-HS.S-M.4s-m Apply strategies for developing and maintaining a growth mindset. S-M
- SEL-HS.S-M.5gs Create a plan for monitoring progress toward personal and academic short and long-term goal achievement.
- SEL-HS.S-M.6os Create a plan for planning, prioritizing and managing time independently to maximize efficiency.


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Rolled hinges is the collective name for all hinges with a bead. Rolled hinges refers to the hinge shape having been formed by 'rolling' the metal. Rolling is a pressing process; a special beading tool creates a 'roll' in both parts of the hinge. The hinge halves are then calibrated to receive the correct pin diameter. The parts are connected with a pin to create the hinge.
Simply let us know your requirements and we will immediately provide you with a quote.


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|Photo by Coke Smith (Coke & Som Smith Photography)|
reed parrotbill (en); bico-de-papagaio-do-Yangtzé (pt); paradoxornis du Yangtsé (fr); picoloro del Yangtsé (es); Jangtsepapageimeise (de)
This Asian species occurs in two separate areas, one in north-eastern China, and across the border into Mongolia and Russia, and another in south-eastern China, along the Yangtze river.
These birds are 20-24 cm long and weigh 17-28 g.
These birds are found in reed beds, in freshwater lakes, rivers and streams. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 800 m.
Reed parrotbills mostly eat insects, but also seeds.
These birds nest in a cup-shaped nest, made of leaves and grasses, attached to the stalk of a reed. There the female lays 3-5 eggs, which are incubated for 12-13 days. The chicks fledge 12 days after hatching.
IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)
This species has a restricted breeding range and is described as locally common, but totally dependent on reedbeds. The reed parrotbill is likely to be declining throughout its range as a result of human encroachment, development and habitat degradation within reed bed habitats due to reed harvesting.


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Ensuring transaction-safety in Google App Engine
In last week's exciting post, I described an alternative to transactions that we use at Khan Academy, to ensure atomic datastore operations.
When used correctly, both the user-write lock and transactions are effective at avoiding a particular form of database corruption -- call it "data stomping." Data stomping happens when two requests try to modify the same datastore entity at the same time.
Request B does not see A's modifications, and its PUT overwrites A's PUT. A's modifications are entirely lost, even when they don't conflict with B's.
Transactions solve this problem by noticing the contention at request B's put() time, and forcing request B to retry from the beginning. Locks solve the problem by not allowing the time-overlap at all.
Note that for both techniques, you need to follow the GET - MODIFY - PUT idiom. It is an error -- a db stomping waiting to happen -- to do the GET outside the transaction/lock!
In this blog post, I describe the infrastructure we put in place at Khan Academy (which uses Google App Engine) to notice that error, and to make it easy to modify the source code to prevent it. We are making the source code available in two files:
- db_hooks.py: a generic db/ndb hooking infrastructure
- txn_safety.py: the specific hooks we use to detect and alert for transaction-safety violations
How do people use transactions (and locks) wrong?
The mistake people make is simple: they do the GET outside the transaction (or lock). Then when the transaction retries, it doesn't re-GET, so you end up with request B stomping out request A's changes.
You may think it's easy to remember to always do your GET's inside a transaction, but there are many ways to get this wrong:
- You do the PUT in a function that's far removed from the GET.
- You are given an entity and forget to run entity = entity.key.get() to "re-GET" inside the transaction
- There are multiple codepaths used to GET an object, and only some of them -- maybe the ones used 99% of the time, so everything seems mostly-fine -- are done inside the transaction
- The get() call gives a cached result
This last cause was a big problem for us: we would cache the entity corresponding to the current user, for efficiency. Then, whenever we wanted to update the current user, we'd do get_current_user().modify().put() inside a transaction, without realizing that get_current_user() was returning some cached entity that was fetched way before the transaction started.
The solution is pretty straightforward, once you realize there's a problem. The issue is finding out there's a problem in the first place, and then tracing through the code to find the problematic GET.
A Taxonomy of Data Stomping Errors
While the GET-outside-transaction error is the most common, there are many related types of data corruption. The infrastructure we put in place catches the following three types:
Doing the PUT inside a transaction or user-lock, but not the GET.
_USER_.transactional def seems_ok_but_is_not(uid): user_data = UserData.get_from_id(uid) # cached! user_data.points += 5 user_data.put()
The problem here is that get_from_user_id() gets the user-data entity from a cache. So even though it looks like you're doing the GET from within the transaction, you're actually (potentially) just seeing some object that was gotten much earlier in the request, outside this transaction.
- Totally unprotected stomping
Doing a GET - MODIFY - PUT entirely outside a transaction or user-lock.
def badfunc(user_data): user_data_again = db.get(user_data.key()) user_data_again.points += 5 user_data_again.put()
- Internal stomping
Doing two nested (or interleaved) GET - MODIFY - PUT's inside a single transaction/lock.
_USER_.transactional def _internal_fn(uid): user_data1 = get_user(uid) user_data1.points += 5 user_data1.put() _USER_.transactional def public_fn(uid): user_data2 = get_user(uid) user_data2.points += 10 _internal_fn(uid) user_data2.put()
The problem here is that user_data1 and user_data2 are totally different python objects. When we do the user_data2.put(), it totally overwrites the change made in user_data1. This is the classical db-stomping problem, but within a single request!
How To Use It
To get the benefits of transaction-safety checking, you must annotate a db/ndb model with a decorator saying what method you use to guarantee safe put()'s:
- _USER_() -- super rare!
- _USER_() -- commonly for polymodels and utility classes
- _USER_() -- for (Local)StructuredProperty models
- _USER_() -- easiest to use correctly (no need for transactions)
- _USER_() -- you put get-modify-put in a transaction
- _USER_(lockid_fn) -- you put get-modify-put in a user write lock
- _USER_() -- appengine lets you schedule cron jobs; if an entity is only accessed via a cron job, we know two requests will never access that entity at the same time
- _USER_() -- for legacy code
- _USER_() -- ditto
These instruct the transaction-safety system what kinds of violations to look for. There is much more documentation of each choice at the bottom of txn_safety.py. Note that _USER_ takes an argument: that should a be a function that takes an entity and returns the lock_id for that entity. For instance, if the lock is protecting a single user, the lock_id might be the user-id. This is necessary because a single lock can protect many different entities. Example:
_USER_.written_with_user_lock_model(lambda e: e.kaid) class UserVideo(db.Model): """A single user's interaction with a single video.""" user = db.UserProperty(indexed=True) kaid = db.StringProperty(indexed=True) # user's user-id video_key = object_property.KeyProperty(indexed=True)...
Second, you have to wrap your WSGI application in the transaction-safety middleware:
app = webapp2.WSGIApplication([...routes...]) app = txn_safety.TransactionSafetyMiddleware(app)
Then you just run your application. If there is a transaction-safety violation, the system will log it:
Did a put() of the same entity from two different python objects: . Other put: --- File "/api/internal/scratchpads.py", line 408, in update_user_scratchpad old_points, old_challenge_status, client_dt, time_taken) File "/api/internal/scratchpads.py", line 436, in add_actions_for_user_scratchpad finished=(progress == "complete")) File "/scratchpads/models.py", line 2775, in record_for_user_and_scratchpad scratchpad=scratchpad) File "/rewards/triggers.py", line 119, in update_with_triggers_no_put user_data, possible_badges, dry_run=dry_run, **kwargs) File "/rewards/util_rewards.py", line 158, in maybe_award_badges_no_put badge.award_to(user_data=user_data, **kwargs) File "/badges/cs_badges.py", line 450, in award_to user_data, self.name, self.description) File "/notifications/cs_notifications.py", line 201, in send_certificate_notifications coach.put() File "/user_models.py", line 4173, in put result = super(UserData, self).put(*args, **kwargs) --- Traceback (most recent call last): File "/api/internal/scratchpads.py", line 408, in update_user_scratchpad old_points, old_challenge_status, client_dt, time_taken) File "/api/internal/scratchpads.py", line 436, in add_actions_for_user_scratchpad finished=(progress == "complete")) File "/scratchpads/models.py", line 2777, in record_for_user_and_scratchpad user_data.put() File "/user_models.py", line 4173, in put result = super(UserData, self).put(*args, **kwargs) File "/db_hooks.py", line 55, in wrapper hook(model_or_models) File "/db_patching.py", line 613, in _examine_put_state _examine_tainted_put(entity) File "/db_patching.py", line 605, in _examine_tainted_put % (type(entity), tb))
This is an example of "internal stomping." If you had access to the source code, these tracebacks would be enough to tell you that record_for_user_and_scratchpad does a get() + put() of some user-data, and send_certificate_notifications does a nested get() + put() of the same user-data.
For power users, the source code documents functions like disable_user_write_lock_checking_in_test().
In the last blog post I mentioned that lock_util.py's fetch_under_user_write_lock could not be used at that time. Well, with the functionality in this blog post, it can be!, making it really easy to re-fetch an entity -- or not, as needed -- under the user write lock.
def update_points(user_data): with fetch_under_user_write_lock(user_data) as ud_again: ud_again.points += 5
If we are already under the write


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Asian pickled vegetable consumption. Results from the research are described as having "high heterogeneity" and the study said that further well-designed prospective studies were warranted. However, their results stated "The majority of subgroup analyses showed a statistically significant association between consuming pickled vegetables and Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma".
The 2009 meta-analysis reported heavy infestation of pickled vegetables with fungi. Some common fungi can facilitate the formation of N-nitroso compounds, which are strong oesophageal carcinogens in several animal models. Roussin red methyl ester, a non-alkylating nitroso compound with tumour-promoting effect in vitro, was identified in pickles from Linxian in much higher concentrations than in samples from low-incidence areas. Fumonisin mycotoxins have been shown to cause liver and kidney tumours in rodents.
- Chou, Lillian. "Chinese and Other Asian Pickles". Flavor and Fortune (Fall 2003 Volume). Institute for the Advancement of the Science And Art Of Chinese Cuisine. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- Minnesota Department of Agriculture "Pickle Bill" Fact Sheet
- Antimicrobial Effects of Mustard Flour and Acetic Acid
- McGee, Harold (2004). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, pp. 291–296. ISBN 0-684-80001-2.
- Science of Pickles: Fascinating Pickle Facts
- Zeldes, Leah A. (2009-12-02). "Eat this! Southern-fried dill pickles, a rising trend". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
- Pickled Pigs Feet Recipe
- Brain damage from alum used in pickling
- Islami, F (2009). "Pickled vegetables and the risk of oesophageal cancer: a meta-analysis". British Journal of Cancer 101: 1641–1647. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc._PHONE_. Retrieved 2013-05-14.
- Liu, J. G.; Li, M. H. (1989). "Roussin red methyl ester, a tumor promoter isolated from pickled vegetables". Carcinogenesis 10 (3): 617–620. doi:10.1093/carcin/10.3.617. PMID _PHONE_.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pickled food|
- Fermented Fruits and Vegetables. A Global Perspective. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
- National Center for Home Food Preservation: How do I...Pickle
- Pickles (BBC)
- British Journal of Cancer Review of Research involving cancer risk from pickled vegetable consumption

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


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Direkoglu, Cem and Nixon, Mark S.
Shape Classification using Multiscale Fourier-based Description in 2-D Space.
At IEEE International Conference on Signal Processing (ICSP 2008), Beijing, China,
In shape recognition, the boundary and exterior parts are amongst the most discriminative features. In this paper, we propose new multiscale Fourier-based object descriptors in 2-D space, which represents the boundary and exterior parts of an object more than the central part. This representation is based on using a high-pass Gaussian filter at different scales. The proposed algorithm makes descriptors size, translation and rotation invariant as well as increasing discriminative power and immunity to noise. In comparison, the new algorithm performs better than elliptic Fourier descriptors and Zernike moments with respect to increasing noise.
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By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio, EETimes (August 1, 2022)
Compact, low–latency, and low–power computer systems are required for real–world sensory–processing applications. Hybrid memristive CMOS neuromorphic architectures, with their in–memory event–driven computing capabilities, present an appropriate hardware substrate for such tasks.
To demonstrate the full potential of such systems and drawing inspiration from the barn owl's neuroanatomy, CEA–Leti has developed an event–driven, object–localization system that couples state–of–the–art piezoelectric, ultrasound transducer sensors with a neuromorphic computational map based on resistive random–access memory (RRAM).
CEA–Leti built and tested this object tracking system with the help of researchers from CEA–List, the University of Zurich, the University of Tours, and the University of Udine.
The researchers conducted measurements findings from a system built out of RRAM–based coincidence detectors, delay–line circuits, and a fully customized ultrasonic sensor. This experimental data has been used to calibrate the system–level models. These simulations have then been used to determine the object localization model's angular resolution and energy efficiency. Presented in a paper published recently in Nature Communications, the research team describes the development of an auditory–processing system that increases energy efficiency by up to five orders of magnitude compared with conventional localization systems based on microcontrollers.
Click here to read more...


Karate Thoughts Blog
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1650+ Posts... and Counting
A lot is made of lineage in Karate: who is your teacher and who was his, etc.
It should be obvious that a great teacher, such as Anko Itosu knew a great deal. That does not mean that every student who learned from him became a great teacher. Having a great teacher gives the student a tremendous opportunity. Whether or not the student takes full advantage of that opportunity is up to him.
Also, a lot depends on how long and how intensely the student learned from his teacher. I practiced once with Shoshin Nagamine and had my photograph taken with him. That does not make me his student! I've trained with many teachers but have had only a few sensei.
It is possible to learn from a poor teacher (one with limited skills). If the student is very bright and works hard, he can learn. Hopefully, the teacher is open minded enough to encourage his student to consult with other experts.
It is pretty silly to brag about lineage. In an actual self-defense situation, it won't help you. The only thing that will matter is your training and skill.
A teacher cannot teach you everything. At best, it is said that a teacher can teach you 80%. The other 20% will be your own interpretation or creation. Also, it is said that you learn 50% when you are taught and the other 50% when you teach. Therefore, much of what you learn comes from your own effort and actions. And you might choose to emphasize different aspects of the art than your teacher did.
I feel that too much is made of lineage, often for egotistical and commercial reasons. Choki Motobu may have been your teacher's teacher's teacher's teacher, but that won't help you at all unless you train hard yourself. I had the good fortune to meet Motobu Sensei's son, Chosei, who still teaches his father's and uncle's (Choyu Motobu) arts. Although the style of Shorin-Ryu I had studied for many years was partially derived from Choki Motobu, I found that much of what we did conflicted with his basic teachings. Name alone means little or nothing.
If you trace your lineage to a famous teacher, study what he taught and how he taught it. Also study his teachers and contemporaries. Study as much as possible. Don't rely on lineage alone.
Charles C. Goodin


Battle of Calderón Bridge
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Battle of Calderón Bridge
Part of the Mexican War of Independence
Batalla Calderón.jpg
Plan of the Battle of Calderón Bridge
Date 17 January 1811
Location Calderón Bridge, Zapotlanejo, Jalisco, Mexico
Result Spanish victory
 Mexico Spain Monarchy of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Miguel Hidalgo Félix María Calleja del Rey, 1st Count of Calderón
100,000 6,000
Casualties and losses
13,000 1,200
The Battle of Calderón Bridge (Spanish: Batalla del Puente de Calderón) was a decisive battle in the Mexican War of Independence, fought on the banks of the Calderón River 60 km (37 mi) east of Guadalajara in present day Zapotlanejo, Jalisco. Almost 100,000 Mexican revolutionists contributed to the attack, commanded by Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama and Mariano Abasolo. The Royalist forces, made up of little more than 6,000 professional soldiers, and fighting for the King of Spain, were led by Félix María Calleja del Rey, a Spanish military officer and (later) viceroy of New Spain. He was later given the title of conde de Calderón for the victory.[1]
The battle owes its name to the adjoining bridge, and the combatants' objective. The Battle of Calderón Bridge was the last militant episode of the first stage of the War of Independence.
Following Hidalgo's failed attempt to take Mexico City in October 1810, insurgent troops retreated toward Guanajuato, pursued by Royalist forces led by General Félix María Calleja. Unable to defend positions at Aculco, where Calleja's army intercepted the insurgents, Hidalgo decided to continue his army's retreat towards Guadalajara.[2]
The insurgent army, numbering approximately 100,000,[3] took up a defensive position at the Bridge of Calderón, where the road from Guanajuato to Guadalajara crossed the Calderón River. Ignacio Allende commanded the troops at the position. Calleja's forces, which numbered only 6,000 but were better equipped than the insurgent forces, arrived at the Bridge on January 16.
As the battle ensued, Royalist artillery struck an insurgent ammunitions wagon, which caused it to explode. The explosion dispersed much of the insurgent force, giving victory to the much smaller but better disciplined and equipped Royalist forces. Insurgent forces fled northwards after losing the battle with Royalist troops following them.
The insurgents' defeat in this battle effectively was a turning point in the War of Independence and resulted in a ten-year delay before insurgent victory and independence could be achieved.
The battle marked the end of the first stage of the war and was noted for the fact that the insurgents fought with more passion than strategy. The insurgent forces were devastated and the events that followed would lead up to the capture and ultimately the sentence of Hidalgo.
The insurgents fled north where, near Zacatecas, Hidalgo was divested of his military command in favour of Allende.[4] In March they received an invitation by the New Leonese general Ignacio Elizondo to meet at the Wells of Baján (Norias de Baján) in Coahuila, from where they would buy armaments in the United States. The first contingent arrived on March 21 with Allende, Aldama, Jiménez and Indalecio, son of Allende. They were welcomed and in an act of ambush, immediately taken prisoner. When the second contingent arrived with Abasolo, they were also captured and taken prisoner. Hidalgo ultimately arrived on horse and was personally apprehended by Elizondo.
The prisoners were taken to Chihuahua where they were tried. Allende, Aldama and Jiménez were shot on June 26, Hidalgo on July 30 and Abasolo was sentenced to life in prison in Cádiz, Spain, where he died in 1816.
Calderón Bridge was declared a Mexican historical monument in 1932.
 1. ^ (Spanish) "Calleja del Rey, Félix María," Enciclopedia de México, v. 2. Mexico City: 1996, ISBN 1-56409-016-7.
 2. ^ Meyer, Jean (1996). Hidalgo (in Spanish). Mexico: Editorial Clío.
 3. ^ [1]
 4. ^ Krauze, Enrique (August 1, 2002). Siglo De Caudillos (Trilogia Historica de Mexico) (in Spanish) (1 edition ed.). Barcelona: TusQuets. ISBN 970-699-048-8.
This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Spanish Wikipedia.
 - Velázquez, Rogelio (2000). Historia de México (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editorial Castillo. ISBN 970-20-0019-X.
 - Nieto López, José de Jesús (1998). Historia 3 (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editorial Castillo. ISBN 970-642-214-5.
 - Fuentes Mares, José (1984). Historia Ilustrada de México (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editorial Océano. ISBN 968-491-045-2.
 - Zárate, Julio (1889). Mécico a Través de Los Siglos (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editorial Cumbre.
 - Villalpando, José Manuel (2002). Miguel Hidalgo (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editorial Planeta D'Agostini. ISBN 970-726-050-5.
 - Hernández, Maite (2003). Miguel Hidalgo (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial Dastin. ISBN 978-84-_PHONE_-5.
 - Young, Philip. History of Mexico, Her Civil Wars, and Colonial and Revolutionary Annals.
 - Bancroft, Hubert Hugh. History of Mexico, Vol. 4.
External links[edit]


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|git-annex-setpresentkey(1)||General Commands Manual||git-annex-setpresentkey(1)|
NAME¶git-annex-setpresentkey - change records of where key is present
SYNOPSIS¶git annex setpresentkey key uuid [1|0]
DESCRIPTION¶This plumbing-level command changes git-annex's records about whether the specified key's content is present in a remote with the specified uuid.
Use 1 to indicate the key is present, or 0 to indicate the key is not present.
- Enables batch mode, in which lines are read from stdin. The line format is "key uuid [1|0]"


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If you have ever tried to implement a recursive calculations in DAX similar to how you would have done it back in the good old days of MDX (see here) you would probably have come up with a DAX formula similar to the one below:
However, in DAX you would end up with the following error:
|A circular dependency was detected: 'Sales'[Sales ForeCast],'Sales'[Sales ForeCast].|
This makes sense as you cannot reference a variable within its own definition – e.g. X = X + 1 cannot be defined from a mathematical point of view (at least according to my limited math skills). MDX is somehow special here where the SSAS engine takes care of this recursion by taking the IF() into account.
So where could you possible need a recursive calculation like this? In my example I will do some very basic forecasting based on monthly growth rates. I have a table with my actual sales and another table for my expected monthly growth as percentages. If I do not have any actual sales I want to use my expected monthly growth to calculate my forecast starting with my last actual sales:
This is a very common requirement for finance applications, its is very easy to achieve in pure Excel but very though to do in DAX as you probably realized on your own what finally led you here
In Excel we would simply add a calculation like this and propagate it down to all rows:
(assuming column C contains your Sales, D your Planned Growth Rate and M is the column where the formula itself resides)
In order to solve this in DAX we have to completely rewrite our calculation! The general approach that we are going to use was already explained by Mosha Pasumansky some years back, but for MDX. So I adopted the logic and changed it accordingly to also work with DAX. I split down the solution into several steps:
1) find the last actual sales – April 2015 with a value of 35
2) find out with which value we have to multiply our previous months value to get the current month's Forecast
3) calculate the natural logarithm (DAX LN()-function) of the value in step 2)
4) Sum all values from the beginning of time until the current month
5) Raise our sum-value from step 4) to the power of [e] using DAX EXP()-function
6) do some cosmetic and display our new value if no actual sales exist and take care of aggregation into higher levels
Note: The new Office 2016 Preview introduces a couple of new DAX functions, including PRODUCTX() which can be used to combine the Steps 3) to 5) into one simple formula without using any complex LN() and EXP() combinations.
We can use this formula to get our last sales:
It basically checks if there are no [Sales] next month. If yes, we use the current [Sales]-value as our [Last Sales], otherwise we use a fixed value of 1 as a multiplication with 1 has no impact on the final result.
Get our multiplier for each month:
If we do not have any [Last Sales], we use our [Planned GrowthRate] to for our later multiplication/summation, otherwise take our [Last Sales]-value.
Step 3 and 4:
As we cannot use "Multiply" as our aggregation we first need to calculate the LN and sum it up from the first month to the current month:
Step 5 and 6:
If there are no actual sales, we display our calculated Forecast:
Note that we need to use SUMX over our Months here in order to also get correct subtotals on higher levels, e.g. Years. That's all the SUMX is necessary for, the IF itself should be self-explaining here.
The calculation is flexible enough to handle missing sales. So if for example we would only have sales for January, our recursion would start there and use the [Planned GrowthRate] already to calculate the February Forecast-value:
Quite handy, isn't it?
The sample-workbook (Excel 365) can be downloaded here: RecursiveCalculations.xlsx


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A new report on how states in the European Union implement ID cards has found 17 countries have made national ID cards mandatory for their citizens, while only four have not, Security Document World reports.
Of the 17 countries, 13 use traditional plastic ID cards and eight have introduced new smartcard technology. Smartcards feature an embedded chip that can store more detailed information, making them a stronger security tool than conventional IDs.
Smartcards can also include biometric information, which currently is one of the strongest security mechanisms available for governments to defend against counterfeit plastic cards. Of the eight countries that use smartcards, Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are the only ones that have introduced biometric data on to them, the report relays.
Countries across the globe have introduced smart card technology to improve safety and convenience for residents. Canada was one of the leading adopters of biometric passports, using the technology to ensure more oversight and security within its borders.
Related ID News:


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Access to safe drinking water is a pressing social policy issue globally. Despite the milestones reached in this area of Canadian public health, marginalized and vulnerable populations, including those founded on racialized identity, such as First Nations, continue to be plagued by accessibility issues. This work sheds new perspective on the issue, arguing for a research and policy focus that is inclusive of risk perception. A model of risk perception of drinking water is developed and tested for First Nations on reserve in Canada using the 2001 Aboriginal Peoples Survey. It is shown that the analytical use of racialized identity advances understanding of risk perception and the environment (water). Moreover, a large degree of heterogeneity within the First Nation population across a number of social determinants of risk perception illustrates the shortcomings of framing the issue in a simplistic manner (First Nation population versus general population). Implications for risk research, including risk communication & management, and policy are provided.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
"Is it Safe?" Risk Perception and Drinking Water in a Vulnerable Population. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 3(3)
. Retrieved from: _URL_


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In English, many things are named after a particular country – but have you ever wondered what those things are called in those countries?
1(for book)señalador masculinemarcador masculine
- Awareness material including bookmarks, car stickers and posters will be distributed.
- I mumbled, putting the bookmark in my book, sitting up and picking up the phone.
- In the vain hope that if she ignored him, he might go away, she took out her book again, opening it to where her bookmark had marked her spot.
- Sighing, she unwillingly placed her bookmark in the book, and went to open the door for Chris.
- She placed the bookmark in her book, set it down on the chair beside her, stood, squared her shoulders and marched into the house.
- She stared at the shut door for a moment, before putting the supermarket receipt she used as a bookmark in to mark her place and carefully closing the book.
- And most importantly, who had an opportunity to put the bookmark into my book?
- Two separate competitions were held, to design a bookmark and to write a review of one's favourite book.
- I put my bookmark in the book and placed it in the pocket in front of me.
- I use a bookmark and make any notes at the back of the book.
- He put his bookmark in his book, and bent to pick his other fallen books off of the ground.
- I dug out the book, which has a bookmark about half-way through that marks the point where I finally threw it against the wall in frustration.
- I asked and sat up, putting my bookmark in the book and setting it down on my bedside table.
- And then, almost as if on cue, the doorbell rang, and hastily placed her bookmark in the book and jumped up to answer the door.
- It contains books, journals, little cards and bookmarks.
- I like to choose the right bookmark for the book I'm reading, and I like to laminate the ones I use a lot.
- These contain bookmarks and colouring books and are intended to promote and boost children's love for reading.
- She put a bookmark in her book and shut it.
- The bookmark was an 8 ½ inch leather strip with small lead weights at each end.
- I like making bookmarks, note cards and gift tags.
2Computingmarcador masculinefavoritos masculine
- That means Web page bookmarks, stock lists, and weather settings have to be stored on the PC rather than the player.
- Now a new, free, service aims to provide users with personal website directories enabling them to access their bookmarks from any PC in the world.
- They will cost you time, though, because you access your bookmarks via an Internet connection.
- Same site, same people, new host, new address so update those bookmarks!
- All basic PDF functions are possible, including scrolling, paging, text searches, bookmarks and page rotation.
- Entry pages generally show that the visitor may have bookmarked your site on that page, probably because of its valuable content.
- Perhaps you could try bookmarking the login page in case that stops working again.
- While the new location is better, the previous URL will have been bookmarked by thousands of people.
- But as we've already explored, bookmarking pages within an application is generally discouraged.
- Web pages that users bookmarked did not match the most-popular sites visited as a whole from the group.
English has borrowed many of the following foreign expressions of parting, so you've probably encountered some of these ways to say goodbye in other languages.
Many words formed by the addition of the suffix –ster are now obsolete - which ones are due a resurgence?
As their breed names often attest, dogs are a truly international bunch. Let's take a look at 12 different dog breed names and their backstories.


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Changing or replacing the nozzle
To replace the Olsson Ruby nozzle, follow the instructions on the official 3DVERKSTAN website. Otherwise, you could damage it!
How to change or replace the nozzle
Before you start:
- CAUTION: Heated parts can cause severe burns!
- Make sure no filament is left in the hotend before proceeding
- Preheat the nozzle to 250-270°C (LCD Menu - Settings - Temperature - Nozzle). Heating the nozzle is essential for this process
- Be extra careful around the hotend thermistor leads. You can break them off easily
- Gain better access to the nozzle by moving the extruder axis as high as possible: Go to LCD Menu - Settings - Move Axis - Move Z. Use the Knob to set the height.
- Unscrew the screw on the fan mouthpiece and the two screws on the print fan. Remove both parts (Pict. part 1).
- Remove the two front screws on the nozzle fan (Pict. part 2).
- Unscrew the two screws holding the extruder cover (Pict. part 3). Even though the nozzle itself is accessible directly, we recommend taking the extruder cover off to get better access to the heating block.
- Now the whole nozzle body is accessible (Pict. part 4).
- Hold the heater block with a 17mm spanner (M10) and unscrew the nozzle (Pict. part 5) using supplied pliers, or preferably use a 7mm spanner (M4). Be careful, the nozzle is still hot!
- Make sure that the set temperatures (250-270°C) didn't change. Carefully screw the new nozzle in and tighten it. Don't forget to use a spanner to hold the heater block. Reassemble the extruder, insert the filament and you are ready to print.
Do not hesitate to contact us at _EMAIL_ if you have any questions.


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Just the other day I was chatting with a coworker about riding the train – she lives in Mount Vernon and mentioned occasionally riding the "red line" into the city. I had to chuckle a little bit – it is usually the uninitiated newbies that refer to the Metro-North lines by their colors. The color of each line, however, is deeply ingrained in all of us. From the signage on the platforms to the printed timetables, we all pretty much know that the Hudson Line is green, the Harlem blue, and the New Haven red. But where did these colors come from, and how long have they represented each line?
Most obvious is the New Haven Line. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, of which today's New Haven Line was once a part, long used red for printing and locomotive paint schemes. Although not part of the core Metro-North lines on the east of the Hudson River, I've always thought that the selection of orange to represent the Port Jervis line was a little bit clever – much of the line runs through Orange County. I'm not sure how the Harlem became blue, and the Hudson became green (you'd think it is backwards – blue seems more appropriate for the line that runs along the Hudson River), the two colors have been established long before Metro-North ever came into being. Their first usage on timetables dates back to around 1965.
Blue ink on white paper eventually became the standard for Harlem timetables, though there were a few times over the years where the rules were totally broken. One of the most odd was an early timetable printed by Metro-North in 1983 – in maroon ink. I have no idea why anyone would have thought to print a Harlem Line timetable in maroon – my only assumption is that it was to catch people's attention as it highlighted the electrification project underway north of White Plains.
Most amusingly, you'll note a little mark on the bottom right that reads "Form 112." Form 112 was the number assigned to Upper Harlem timetables since the New York Central days, which at that time meant service from Pawling to Chatham (or in the early 1900′s, North Adams, Massachusetts). It is a little bit odd to see that form number used for service north of White Plains. Calling stations like Valhalla, or Mount Kisco the Upper Harlem seems like blasphemy to me.
Today you won't find form numbers on any of Metro-North's timetables. Their inclusion in the early timetables almost seems like an in-joke amongst the old railroaders working for this new company. You won't see "Upper Harlem" timetables either – the entire line is usually printed in a single timetable, making this particular timetable rare.
Below is the rest of the timetable, which is a bit interesting to see… especially the listing of the fares when Metro-North took over from Conrail in 1983.


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Date: February 13 2013
Stefan Kudelski was the inventor of the first professional-quality portable tape recorder, which revolutionised Hollywood filmmaking and vastly expanded the reach of documentarians, independent directors and eavesdroppers on both sides in the Cold War.
The Polish-born Kudelski was an engineering student at a Swiss university in 1951 when he patented his first portable recording device, the Nagra I, a reel-to-reel tape recorder about the size of a shoe box and weighing five kilograms, which produced sound as good as that of most studio recorders, which were the size of a phone booth. Radio stations in Switzerland were his first customers.
The bigger breakthrough came seven years later, when Kudelski introduced a high-quality tape recorder that could synchronise sound with the frames on a reel of film. Kudelski's 1958 recorder, the Nagra III, weighed about six kilograms and freed filmmakers from the conventions and high cost of studio production.
Along with the newly developed portable 16-millimetre camera, the Nagra recorder became an essential tool for the on-location, often improvisational techniques of French New Wave directors such as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard and American documentarians such as D. A. Pennebaker, who used the Nagra to record the 1965 Bob Dylan tour featured in his film Dont Look Back (1967).
In various interviews, Pennebaker, Godard and Truffaut credited Kudelski with helping to make possible the informality and journalistic realism of their work.
Kudelski received Academy Awards for his technical contributions to filmmaking in 1965, 1977, 1978 and 1990 and Emmy Awards in 1984 and 1986.
In the 1960s, Kudelski's firm began making miniature recorders for what its online catalogue calls ''surveillance and security'' work. The first of these pocket-size machines was the SN ''Serie Noire'', which the company's website boasts was ''originally ordered by President J. F. Kennedy for the American secret services''.
The collection of bugging devices on display at the International Spy Museum in Washington, a privately financed archive run by former CIA employees, includes a Nagra recorder obtained in the 1980s from the Stasi, the East German internal security agency.
Nagras remained dominant until the advent of digital audio recorders in the 1990s. The company now makes digital recorders, as well as some analog tape devices, but does not rule the market as it once did.
Stefan Kudelski was born on February 27, 1929, in Warsaw. He escaped Poland with his family at the start of World War II and settled in Switzerland. After earning a degree in physics and engineering, he began an engineering design firm. It has since become a major Swiss manufacturer of media and security equipment.
In 1991, his son Andre succeeded him as chief executive and chairman of Kudelski Group, the electronics company he founded in 1951.
Stefan Kudelski is survived by his children, Andre, Isabelle, Marguerite, Henri and Irene. His wife, Ewa, died in 2000.
Paul Vittelo, The New York Times
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
[ SMH | Text-only index]


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A high tableland; a plateau on a hill.
A relatively small flat-topped hill or mountain.
An isolated flat-topped hill (Spanish, literally, table, from Latin mensa [1759 ])
A flat-topped, steep-sided upland topped by a resistant formation.
Flattop mountain called ''a table'' in Spanish.
(Qu., from the Spanish "table" or "Mass") -- ceremonial table used in rituals and social events in Cuyo Cuyo, laden with coca, alcohol, or foods to serve to supernatural beings or to the guests.
A large, flat-topped hill (with a surface area of several square km) in an arid region.
A mesa is a flat-topped mountain or hill common throughout the Southwest. Spanish explorers called these geographic features mesas, which means table in Spanish, because they resemble tables with smooth, flat tops, and sides that drop away steeply. Back to
'table-topped' plateau, prevalent throughout northern Mexico and the south-western United States.
table-topped plateau bounded by cliffs
A flat-topped, steep-sided high-land capped with a resistant rock formation. A mesa is smaller than a plateau but larger than a butte.
Small flat topped hill. See also Tableland.
An isolated, relatively flat-topped natural elevation, usually more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau.
A flat-topped mountain or plateau bounded on at least one side by a steep cliff. Spanish for Table.
flat tableland with steep edges; "the tribe was relatively safe on the mesa but they had to descend into the valley for water"
a high, flat-topped natural elevation with steep edges
a land format ion with a flat area on top and steep walls - usually occurring in dry areas
a landform created by fluvial erosion (flowing water, usually rivers)
an elevated area of land with a flat top and surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs
a plateau with quite a flat top
a steep sided hill longer than it is high
Landform. A steep sided, flat-topped hill formed by erosion of the surrounding materials. Mesas are often capped by a resistant rock layer (e.g., basalt) that protects softer underlying rocks. Mesas are wider than tall; compare with butte.
(MAY-suh) Spanish Table; hence a tableland.
(MAY-sah) Spanish Table; hence, a tableland.
Mesa is the Spanish word for "table." It refers to a high, isolated, flat-topped landform with steep sides. The area in which the ancient Pueblo people lived had many mesas separated by deep canyons.
A flat table-like upland, which falls away steeply on all sides (escarpments). It is larger in area than a ""butte"" but smaller than a ""plateau"".
A broad, flat-topped hill or mountain with steep sides.
(landform): A flat-topped hillock, formed by a hard sandstone sheet or dolerite sill capping which protects the underlying softer rock from erosion. Mesas and the smaller buttes (which have eroded to a mere pinnacle) are typical of many Karoo landscapes.
A flat topped mountain with at least one steep side.
Sp. "table"] - a large formation having steep sides and a large flat top.
A mesa is a land formation that has a flat area onthe top and steep walls - mesas usually occur in dry areas.
landform with a flat top and steep sides
A mesa is a land formation with a flat area on top and steep walls - usually occurring in dry areas.
a butte; a flat-topped erosional feature, with diabase caps in the Lakehead region.
A broad, nearly flat-topped, and usually isolated upland mass characterized by summit widths that are greater than the heights of bounding escarpments. As summit area decreases relative to height, mesas are transitional to buttes.
an isolated, extensive, flat-topped elevation on the shelf, with relatively steep sides MESU
a high, flat-topped hill
A tableland; a flat-topped mountain or other elevation bounded on at least one side by a steep cliff; a plateau terminating on one or more sides in a steep cliff. Seen in many areas of the southwest.
An isolated, nearly level land mass standing distinctly above the surrounding country, bounded by abrupt steep-sided slopes on all sides and capped by layers of more-resistant rock.
A broad, flattop, erosional hill or mountain, commonly bounded by steep slopes.
Broad, flat-topped hill rounded by cliffs and capped with a resistant rock layer.
A flat topped hill that rises sharply above the surrounding landscape. The top of this hill is usually capped by a rock formation that is more resistant to weathering and erosion.
an isolated, high plateau with a flat top and steep sides, common in dry regions of the western and southwestern United States. [AHDOS
A mesa (Spanish and Portuguese for "table") is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape.


A Review on the Ways to Set Up Payroll for a Business
If you research to discover more about hiring workers, you will find that it is always an exciting process. A business owner has to know that getting employees can help grow their business, and one can find out from this site how employees can help expand their business. Paying the employees is necessary, and that means you have to know how you will be paying your workers. Setting up payroll has always been necessary for any business since this is what helps employers pay their workers without experiencing some problems. Since setting up payroll is vital to any business, you have to learn how to do it, and here is more information on setting up a payroll. Here is a useful discussion on how to set up payroll for your business.
The other important thing that one needs to do when setting up payroll is getting the necessary documentation from their employees. To set up a payroll, you will need some details from your employees, and that is why it is a must to collect documentation from your employees. It is much easier to pay your employees through their bank accounts, and that is why you need their bank details, including their name. Your employees will need to pay tax, and that is why you need them to fill paperwork from the IRS to know more about their tax.
Setting up payroll is not complete until you calculate payroll. After you collect all the information you need from your employees, you will be required to calculate payroll depending on their hours of working. An individual has to ensure the calculation is done correctly to give their employees pay stubs, including the amount they are supposed to receive. To sum it all up, setting up a payroll will be easy when you follow the provided guides.


What connects 'Naina' and 'KD'? The unique Madras Bashai
Napier's Bridge. Pic: Ravichandar84/Wikipedia CC-BY-SA-3.0
Along with its distinctive icons and landmarks, if there is another unique feature that sets Chennai apart, it is the use of Madras bashai (dialect).
Dai kasmalam, ootla soltu vantiya? Bejar pannama anthanda po!
Familiar sounds, for anyone who has ventured on Chennai roads! Unique to the capital city, the dialect is believed to have evolved over several centuries, as Madras was a port city. Many people from other states travelled to the city, and as they assimilated with the population, the city absorbed many words from their languages into its lexicon.
Historian Nivedita Louis
Part of present-day Arani (about 100 km west of Chennai) was once within Madras, so naturally, the Telugu influence can be found in the dialect. "In the 1900s, when Madras was a developing city, many people from Arcot and Arani came down and settled in the city for their livelihoods. Similarly, during the Medieval period, Urdu-speaking people migrated to the port city," historian Nivedita Louis says.
As people with different mother tongues interacted with each other, many words were borrowed and used in local parlance, and thus was born the Madras bashai. An international example, that could be used to draw a parallel to the dialect is the 'Cockney accent' of Londoners, which was used by the working class in their interactions.
Diversity in Madras bashai
When the British settled in erstwhile Madras, many words were borrowed from their language by the locals.
Writer Indran Rajendran
Giving an example of this, writer Indran Rajendran says, "KD is a popular word used in Chennai which means a petty thief or a smart person. It finds its roots in the abbreviated English term 'Known Dacoit' or 'Known Delinquent'.
It was used by the cops back in the days of colonized Madras to classify criminals, and slowly entered into everyday usage." Similarly the word OC (pronounced oasi) generally means free of cost. The origin of this was that the British marked their official letters 'OCS' – On Company Service. Many enterprising locals sent their personal letters for free, marked with the letter OCS, or just OC.
The word naina originated from Telugu, that translates to father, dabbu from Telugu which means money and kasumalam from Sanskrit that means garbage.
Indran, who also wrote the book, Chennaiyum Athan Tamizhum (Translation: Chennai and its Tamil) gives examples of words in Madras Bashai which were derived from classical Tamil.
In Madras parlance, thunnu is used to refer to 'eat', which came into usage from the age-old proverb Kunthi thindral kundrum maazhum (Translation: Even the hilltop will get exhausted if you sit and eat).
"The proverb does not imply anything philosophical. Thindral was transformed and that is how thundral and thunnu came to be used," Indran adds.
Madras bashai in movies and books
Historians largely credit Tamil movies for taking Madras bashai to the masses. The earliest reference in films was made by actor N S Krishnan in the Katha Kalakshepam scene of Kinthanar Sarithiram movie. Film historian Mohan V Raman also speaks about actor Chandrababu's efforts to popularise the slang. "The actor was a resident of Meesapettai. He used to listen to the dialect and mastered it," Mohan adds.
On the theatre front, actor-journalist Cho Ramaswami extensively incorporated Madras bashai in his stage plays and movies. One of the most notable examples is the song Va Vathiyare Utanda from the movie Bommalattam, written in the Madras dialect.
Film Historian Mohan V Raman
In the present day context, a lot of movies have adopted the slang. Notable songs include Danga maari from Anegan and Aaluma doluma from Vedalam. However, Mohan notes that the dialect has evolved to a greater extent.
"The words used in the Danga maari song are quite new and not the same as what the earlier actors used to speak. The dialect is continuously evolving due to the changing landscape. People casually pick up words from other languages and use it every day in the conversation," Mohan says.
Indran Rajendran, Shalin Maria Lawrence, Tamil Prabha and Karan Karki are some of the modern-day writers who have written about Madras bashai in their novels/works and used the dialect to write poems. However, historians strongly emphasise the need to document the lexicon.
"For instance, every speech of John F Kennedy was documented/recorded; hence it is easy to identify how English has transformed over the years since then. Unfortunately, we do not have such records of Madras bashai for research and analysis," Mohan says.
Nivedita feels that Tamil professors should encourage doctoral students to take up Vattara Vazhakku (Ethnologue) of different geographical locations for research. "Studying the present-day lives and livelihoods of people in the city would help us document the unique dialect. Given how integral the language is to the professions of the local people, their everyday interaction influences the language people speak," she says.
Gaana, a tool to question stigma
There is a general sense of stigma attached to the dialect. Tamil Prabha, the author of Pettai and a Chintadripet resident, feels it is due to the typified characters who speak Madras bashai in movies.
Writer Tamil Prabha
"In many films, the character who speaks Madras bashai would typically belong to the lower rung of society — a thief or a hooligan. Such portrayals should change," Prabha says.
Gaana is a music genre that is generally used to express simple emotions like love, grief and happiness. As people began realising they are being discriminated, artists of the present-day are using Gaana as a tool for questioning the differences.
"Due to the stigma attached, people who speak Madras bashai, are now using Gaana as a means to express their angst on the lack of respect," says Prabha, who is working as a co-scriptwriter with director Pa Ranjith on his upcoming film, Salpetta.
He adds that Casteless Collective, a Chennai based Tamil-Indie band that composes songs on socio-political themes, has given a modern cultural evolution to the dialect. "They talk about North Madras, reservation and identity crisis through music. There is an entirely new flavour to Gaana; it is not limited to use just for conveying simple emotions," Prabha states.
Madras bashai is thriving and spoken by many in the city. For this, Prabha largely credits the importance given to the dialect in movies. Many present-day Kollywood directors and artistes are attempting to normalise the usage of Madras Tamil.
About Bhavani Prabhakar 136 Articles
 1. All said and done, Madras Bashai is crude, coarse and gives a picture of a lumpen character. To get popularity and acceptance, it is sad that script and lyric writers are using it widely, virtually ruining Tamil in the process. Tamil is no more classical it's sophisticated and pleasant quality is ruined by Madras Basha slang.
 - How there are lot of dialects of tamil this is also one and is used as one. There are no written scripts or anything of that sort. We have to enjoy it. Now this chennai bashai is also fading. Dont worry pure tamil will live longer and also chennai tamil which will in no way will destroy the originality both will live parallely
 2. It's so good to hear the classical tamil.its good to research on the Madras bashai…but it has not attained any structure to stand out amidst the dialects
 3. Madras Bashai slang was more fun and can be enjoyed and left at that. Tamil has not been ruined by Madras slang. Tamil has been there for ages and nothing can stop this language's heritage as other influences can only be there for a short time – in fact, the impact of English on spoken Tamil is much larger than this Madras Bashai and if one has to be concerned about the impact, then it is best to focus on the impact by English than other insignificant ones.
 4. It is very sad and highly deplorable to see the beautiful Tamil language got spoilt due to madras bhashai. This should not be encouraged in movies.
Comments are closed.


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In the gloom of the caves and gorges of China, a plant has been discovered thriving in as little as.04 percent of full sunlight.
The three newly described species are nettles (Pilea sp.), in the same family as the stinging nettles, which can be the bane of the unwary hiker. The Gollum-like greenery lives only in a few locations, so one of the species is listed as endangered and two as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.
"When my Chinese colleague Wei Yi-Gang from the Guangxi Institute of Botany first mentioned cave-dwelling plants to me, I thought that he was mistranslating a Chinese word into English," study author Alex Monro of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew said in a press release. "When we stepped into our first cave, Yangzi cave, I was spell-bound. It had an eerie moonscape look to it and all I could see were clumps of plants in the nettle family growing in very dark condition".
The newly discovered nettles grow in the ancient limestone formations of Guangxi province in southwest China. The exposed limestone is some of the oldest in the world and extends south into Burma and Vietnam. The plant life of the caves and deep canyons remains largely unexplored, meaning there may be other cave plants growing in Asia.
The paper describing the new species was published in the journal PhytoKeys.
Flowers of a new species from the nettle family known only from caves, Pilea cavernicola, where it grows in very low light conditions. (CREDIT: Alex Munro)
Botanists Wei Yi-Gang, Guangxi Institute of Botany, and Alex Monro, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, standing within Yangzi cave with clumps of plants from the nettle family nearby. (CREDIT: Alex Munro)


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There are dozens of vines that can perfectly adorn the sides of buildings and fences.
Depending where you plant your vines, they will grow through your shrubs and trees, enhancing them as well. Look for vine varieties that offer something interesting during more than one season. For example: beautiful flowers in spring, full foliage in summer, vibrant color in the fall, and attractive bark or twisting branches in winter.
When it comes time to choose your plants, you will want to consider the different types of vines available. There are 4 main types of vines that grow and secure themselves to fences in various ways. You will want to think about the materials they will attach to (chain link fence, vinyl fencing, a split rail fence, a traditional wood fence, etc.) and choose your plants accordingly.
The 4 types of vine are:
- Clinging vines. These vines have specialized growths, like little suction cups. These grow along the stems and will hook onto any surface they touch. That is why clinging vines like ivy will attach to brick walls. These will hold to most surfaces, but be careful, they can sometimes damage the material beneath the vine.
- Sprawling vines. These vines are often vigorous, spreading plants. In order for them to climb, they need to be tied to a trellis or support built onto the fence. A climbing rose is a good example of a sprawling vine that can be beautiful with some upkeep.
- Twining vines (wrapping). Some, like star jasmine, wrap around anything that falls in their way. The plant will send out branches that twine or wrap completely around a chainlink fence or trellis. These have a sturdy hold and can be harder to remove intact
- Twining vines (tendril). Grapes vines are a good example of twining vines with tendrils. They have small, twining tendrils at the base of their leaves. The tendrils grow and stretch until they find something solid within their reach to grab and wrap around.
Once you have decided on the perfect type of vine for your fence, the sky's the limit. Think about what will make your fence the most beautiful. Is it a combination of colors, or a vine that will transform your fence into a beautiful monochromatic statement? At Clarksville Fencing, we love all types of fences and know that each can be beautiful in their own way. For more information and to get a quote on a new fence for your home, garden, or yard: contact us at Clarksville Fencing today!


Staying Safe With High-Vis
 In Safety
High-visibility Clothing Will Save Your Life
Using high-vis gear at work to stay seen and safe.There is no doubt about it. Poor visibility has causes significant problems.
Accidents happen, especially in relation to road safety, because a driver failed to see the passer-by.
To reduce the occurrence of injuries and work-related accidents, people who are at risk are advised to wear high-visibility (high-vis) clothing and workwear.
This refers to any clothing with highly reflective properties which often involves silver reflective tape. In other cases, this type of clothing involves the use of colours that can easily be discerned from afar in contrast to the surroundings.
In work environments, industrial employees are required to wear high-vis clothing as a part of their personal protective equipment (PPE).
In this article, we discuss statistics, laws in Australia around high-vis, how high-vis gear is made, choosing the right garments, and other considerations around workwear.
Statistics and Other Facts
Numbers do not lie, as they say, and poor visibility-related injuries are not an exception. In relation to road safety, speeding is one of the leading causes of fatal vehicle accidents in Australia. In 2018, about 34% of crashes took place in major cities in the country. At least one out of 10 accidents resulted in deaths.
According to research, poor visibility, along with miscalculation, is a significant reason why collisions happen as drivers reverse their cars. To resolve this issue, many vehicles now come with reverse cameras.
Cyclists are among those who should be wearing high-vis cycling jerseys to increase their safety. However, some refuse to wear fluorescent riding jackets. As a result, the risk of an accident is higher compared to those who choose to wear high-vis while on their bikes.
While there are other reasons for crashes involving cyclists, the number of accidents continues to rise. Every year, over 1,000 individuals are killed due to vehicular accidents and almost 40 people die in Australia while riding their bikes.
Meanwhile, work-related injuries and fatalities are also quite common due to low visibility. Each year, an average of almost 500 workers die, and about 300 lost their lives due to injuries sustained relating to work activities. In 2009, about 100 workers died because of road accidents.
For personnel working along the road, it is vital to be visible during daytime and night-time. Over recent years, requirements relating to wearing fluorescent clothing, as well as reflective materials, have become a part of daily work. Unfortunately, many workers are still neglecting the importance of wearing high-vis garments.
Why High-vis Clothing is Necessary
Motorcyclists, passengers, car and truck drivers are all at risk. Workers and pedestrians are also in danger because accidents can happen at any time, anywhere. It is essential to take precautions while on the road, whether you are at work, driving, or walking.
Work-related fatalities that involved cars resulted in at least 46% of accidents. Apart from that, workers also face threats, such as moving objects hitting them, falling and being injured because of falling objects.
Wearing high-visibility clothing can help lower accidents relating to poor vision. Because of the materials and colours used in these clothing items, drivers can avoid hitting workers while on the road. High visibility clothing is beneficial for everyone, but most notably those in the construction and industrial business.
Each year, there are numerous construction-related deaths. In fact, this industry has one of the highest instances of injuries and fatalities. There are preventative measures that companies implement to increase worker safety, and one of them is wearing high-vis clothing.
Among the greatest threats to worker safety are falls, slips, trips, and the like. These accidents can be mitigated with the garments to some extent. For instance, those who work wearing high-visibility vests can be seen even during rainy or winter season. Also, if there is an emergency, the industrial workers can easily be seen, thanks to their clothing. First responders and rescue personnel can find employees in a crisis.
High-vis Laws in Australia
Australian standards expect and require workers to wear high-vis garments. This way, they will remain visible while on the road or near machinery. Before purchasing and wearing shirts and other apparel, it is significant to understand the requirements under the legislative orders. It will help ensure that business owners know that the gear complies with these standards.
A common misconception is that bright yellow or orange shirt is enough to meet the Australian standards. It is a false belief and should be corrected right away. High-vis gear often looks the same, but it is essential to wear Australian-made clothing that is compliant to the AS/NZS standards.
Australian designed high-vis clothing is created for workers in the country. They are crafted in compliance with certain standards, which are as follows:
1. AS/NZ 4602.1
This standard refers to the garments used for high-risk applications. It states the items that employees can use, so they remain safe from moving equipment and vehicles. In this standard, there are three classes:
 - Class D for daytime use only: Garments in this classification help the wearer be easily seen even under daylight conditions. An example is a navy or yellow polo that does not include a tape. To meet the 4602.1 standards, a Class D compliant garment should be of the approved colour (yellow, red, orange-red, and orange plus yellow), which must enclose the upper torso. The luminous fabric should encircle at least 0.4 square metres of the upper torso. If there is a logo, it should not be more significant than 10cm for both height and width.
 - Class N for night-time use: Garments within this category should be viewable even under retro-reflected light. An example is the headlight of a vehicle. The requirement for Class N is quite lengthy, but the minimum involves having a reflective tape or material that should be at least 50mm wide.
 - Class D/N: This type denotes that the garment can be worn during daytime and night-time. It should meet both standards. An example here is a yellow polo that comes with reflective tape.
2. AS/NZ 1906.4
The second standard involves retro-reflective devices used to control road traffic. It is more in-depth than the other standard since the 1906.4 specifies the physical properties of the materials, along with their photometric and colourimetric qualities. It entails the three different classes below:
 - Class F for fluorescent fabric that can only be used during the day
 - Class R for reflective items that should be used at night
 - Class FR for both day and night-time use
The standard also goes into detail about the impacts of washing, particularly with reflective materials. Businesses and workers should understand that these items can only be washed up to 30 times. Going over means, the item loses its integrity and should no longer be utilised.
How High-vis Gear is Made?
High-visibility clothing is designed using a fluorescent material. It usually comes with reflective tape for extra visibility. In some cases, other shapes are added so the wearer will be more visible to other people around them.
The first fabric paint that was used for high-visibility gear was introduced in the 1930s. It was neon paint that was a mixture of wood varnish and minerals that were illuminating. It became a huge hit and was used in toys and the military sector.
A few decades later, the neon paint was used for clothing for workers. In essence, its purpose was for the sun's ultraviolet rays to hit the fluorescent colours, causing a glowing reaction. Poor light will not hinder the effect, such as during dawn. It is also designed to work at times when the car headlamps hit the clothing.
Many materials are not used to be retro-reflective. The term means that the light returns to its source. For instance, the headlights of the car will bounce back to the driver or the person near the source of light.
It is also possible to find materials made from glass beads. This technology can spread the light, so it scatters from various directions. High-vis clothing can come in different colours, such as blue, green, red, and even pink. For safety purposes, though, the most efficient hues are yellow and orange.
How to Choose the Right High-Vis Gear
High-visibility clothing is not about being fashionable. You can find cheaper versions that can help you save a ton of money. However, they may not help in keeping workers safe. The goal is to prevent accidents, which is why you should not skimp on this type of personal protective equipment (PPE) as with the others.
Always choose a high-vis gear that is made from high-quality materials. Before buying, you should first think about the tasks of the operators who will wear the clothing. Also, it is best to consider the hazards that they will continuously be exposed to.
Hi-vis reflective jacket jackets are not the only option when it comes to reflective clothing. Sometimes, it can be quite warm for a jacket, which is why a vest is a good alternative. Vests that come with insulated lining will help keep the wearers warm without getting hot. At the same time, the gear will maintain their visibility.
Vehicle accidents are a common issue for those who work along the road. However, careless drivers are not the only problem. Remaining visible should not just be a single concern because there are also weather-related threats. Heavy rain and snow, as well as lightning storms, can make the workers' job tricky. Ensure that the workers wear waterproof breathable gear.
It is not necessary, but some companies opt to brand their workwear. It comes with numerous benefits, including ingraining your company's


What to Look for in a Student Laptop
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Posted 02/25/21 7:45am by Prim
With schools and colleges going virtual, more and more parents are looking for laptops for their child. If your child is attending school online this year, having the right equipment will make their learning experience more effective while giving you one less thing to worry about.
If you already have a great laptop for your child, you can sit back and relax. Otherwise, it's time to go shopping for a new laptop. But what do you look for when buying a laptop for a student?
Here are some key factors to consider when looking for a student laptop.
Operating System of the Laptop
The first thing you should do is to check with your child's school to see if they recommend a particular type of laptop or operating system. Depending on the particular school and curriculum, some schools may even offer their own specific type of laptops tailored to their classes.
The three most popular operating systems are Microsoft Windows OS, Apple Mac OS and Google Chrome OS. As there is no one operating system that is perfect for every student, it is important to choose the right one for your student.
Chromebooks are great for younger kids and teen students who can do all their work on a web browser or apps. While a Chrome OS laptop (Chromebook) has some advantages in terms of price, portability, and long battery life, it also has disadvantages. These laptops are primarily intended to be used while connected to the internet and they are unable to run many popular software that Windows or Mac OS laptops can run. You can check out this article on the differences between a Chromebook and a laptop for a more detailed comparison.
For most students, especially those in high school or college, we recommend a Windows or Mac OS laptop. Some of the more advanced classes may require the use of certain specialized software not available on Chromebooks.
Battery Life of the Laptop
It's important for students to have a comfortable and quiet place to study and attend virtual classes. That spot may or may not have an electrical outlet nearby.
When buying a laptop for a high school or college student, long battery life is an absolute must. When shopping for a laptop, take a close look at the battery life rating. Do not take those figures as gospel however. The good news is that due to improvements in technology, you can actually get some good deals on excellent laptops with great battery life.
As mentioned above, Chromebooks typically offer long battery life and are an excellent choice for younger students. For high school or college students who need more versatility, Apple MacBooks are known for their excellent battery endurance and many of the Windows OS laptops also have excellent battery life depending on the particular brand and model.
The battery life a laptop experiences will also depend on a number of factors, including the type of programs are running, type of files being accessed, battery/power settings on the laptop, and more. There are also certain ways to extend the battery life of a laptop while running it, such as turning down the brightness of the screen or turning off certain features not being utilized such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Weight and Portability
If you are buying a laptop for a homebound elementary or high school student, the weight of the laptop may not be much of a factor.
But if you are shopping for a college student who will be lugging the laptop from class to class, weight could be a deciding factor.
Keep in mind that a lighter laptop will probably also be a smaller laptop, with a tinier keyboard and screen. A lighter weight may also mean less battery life unless you are willing to spend more for the higher end laptops that are lightweight but also have great battery life.
Students will need to weigh the pros and cons carefully to strike the right balance between weight, size, features and battery life.
Storage Capacity
Online students will need to save their work, so storage capacity is definitely a factor when buying a new laptop. The new generation of laptops come with a variety of storage configurations, from tiny built-in hard drives augmented by generous cloud storage capacity to larger hard drives with a smaller capacity for online storage.
If you have a stable and fast internet connection, storing documents in the cloud could be the best choice. If your home or outside Wi-Fi or internet is spotty, having the ability to save documents locally will be critical, so look for a generously sized hard drive as you shop.
Durability of the Laptop
The portability that makes laptops so useful also leaves them vulnerable to unexpected drops and other damage. Students can be especially hard on the equipment they use, so durability is a must no matter what kind of laptop you plan to buy.
Many consumer organizations perform drop tests on popular laptops, so you can use the results of those tests as a guide. You can also read online reviews that mention durability or drops to get an idea of how much pressure various models will be able to withstand.
You can increase the protection of your new laptop with a sturdy case. Backpacks designed for use with laptops are perfect for students – just make sure the laptop compartment is secure and properly sized.
As online and virtual classes become more common and prevalent, having a great laptop will be more important than ever for a student. If you know where to look, you can find many cheap deals on laptops with excellent features. Now that you know what to look for, you can shop for the perfect laptop that your student can use for years to come.
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noun (plural Negroes)
mid 16th century: via Spanish and Portuguese from Latin niger, nigr- 'black'
The word Negro was adopted from Spanish and Portuguese and first recorded from the mid 16th century. It remained the standard term throughout the 17th-19th centuries and was used by prominent black American campaigners such as W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington in the early 20th century. Since the Black Power movement of the 1960s, however, when the term black was favoured as the term to express racial pride, Negro (together with related words such as Negress) has dropped out of favour and now seems out of date or even offensive in both British and US English.


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ED-MEDIA 2008 paper: The Alternate Reality Game: Learning Situated in the Realities of the 21st Century.
Abstract: Even though the literature has long recognized the potentials of gaming for learning and implementations of games do exist in education, there appears to be a paucity of theorizing on the potentials of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) as effective learning tools for the 21st century. Looking through a constructivist lens, this paper is an introductory exploration of the needs of the current participatory society and how the educational utility presented by this genre can address them. As ARGs blur the lines between real and alternate realities, we come to a place at the edge of constructivism where the need for a more nuanced theorizing incorporating the 'reality' aspect of learning becomes apparent. As a point of departure for future research and contributions, Reality Situated Learning (RSL) is introduced as a new theoretical framework.
Current ARG: The Lost Ring.
Authors: Magda Dominik, University of British Columbia, Canada


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Klystron show / hide
Electron tube in which high-frequency electromagnetic waves are generated and increased through the energy exchange between an electron beam and standing electric fields.
KTA Standard 1202show / hide
Safety related standard of the Nuclear Safety Standards Commission (KTA) on requirements on the handbook. This standard must be applied to content, structure, design, and development of the inspection list and the inspection instructions listed therein, jointly summarised in the handbook, of a stationary nuclear power plant. It applies to all periodic inspections of the systems specified in the nuclear licensing procedure that are important with regard to safety, and to their components and equipments.


Using Galapagos with Zombie Solver
Hi all,
I'm working on a project that involves optimizing a NURBS curve 'barrier' that prevents particles generated using kangaroo from passing through. However, when connecting the sphere collide, load and curvepointcollide components to zombie solver, the solver becomes unresponsive and freezes the grasshopper application.
I have also attempted to recreate this setup using Flexhopper, but the plugin doesn't seem to have a solver similar that only outputs the results after every iteration, and can not be integrated with Galapagos.
I have two specific questions:
 1. Can the zombie solver be used in conjunction with Galapagos to optimize the NURBS curve in response to every iteration of particles generated by kangaroo?
 2. Could there by any other methods, such as using other plugins such as Flexhopper to simulate fluids, alongside an evolutionary solver such as Galapagos?
Many Thanks!
kangaroo 2d mesh (1).gh (23.1 KB) Kangaroo 2D Wave sim test (1).3dm (48.4 KB)
Hi Fergalt, I am recently having the same issue of using Kangaroo with Galapagos together, I wonder if there is any working example of it…
Hi _USER_
The file 'Catenary_Galapagos' here shows how to combine Kangaroo and Galapagos:


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Seismic Waves and Rays in Elastic MediaBy
- M.A. Slawinski, Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, Canada
This book seeks to explore seismic phenomena in elastic media and emphasizes the interdependence of mathematical formulation and physical meaning. The purpose of this title - which is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students as well as scientists interested in quantitative seismology - is to use aspects of continuum mechanics, wave theory and ray theory to describe phenomena resulting from the propagation of waves.
The book is divided into three parts: Elastic continua, Waves and rays, and Variational formulation of rays. In Part I, continuum mechanics are used to describe the material through which seismic waves propagate, and to formulate a system of equations to study the behaviour of such material. In Part II, these equations are used to identify the types of body waves propagating in elastic continua as well as to express their velocities and displacements in terms of the properties of these continua. To solve the equations of motion in anisotropic inhomogeneous continua, the high-frequency approximation is used and establishes the concept of a ray. In Part III, it is shown that in elastic continua a ray is tantamount to a trajectory along which a seismic signal propagates in accordance with the variational principle of stationary travel time.
Handbook of Geophysical Exploration: Seismic Exploration
Published: August 2003
"The purpose of this title...is to use aspects of continuum mechanics, wave theory, and ray theory to describe phenomena resulting from the propagation of waves." -M.A. Slawinski, FIRST BREAK, Volume 23
- I. Elastic continua. Introduction to Part I. 1. Deformations. 2. Forces and balance principles. 3. Stress-strain equations. 4. Strain energy. 5. Material symmetry. II. Waves and rays. Introduction to Part II. 6. Equations of motion: Isotopic homogeneous continua. 7. Equations of motion: Anisotropic inhomogeneous continua. 8. Hamilton's ray equations. 9. Lagrange's ray equations. 10. Christoffel's equations. 11. Reflection and transmission. III. Variational formulation of rays. Introduction to Part III. 12. Euler's equations. 13. Fermat's principle. 14. Ray parameters. IV. Appendices. Introduction to Part IV. A. Euler's homogenous-function theorem. B. Legendre's transformation. C. List of symbols. Bibliography. Index. About the author.


Velziran Salome (/ˈvelziran ˈsaʔlomɛ/) is a Mage belonging to House Salome, the last prominent magical family based in Wrytoll. While her official purpose in entering the Storynth is to oversee Elloria's pilgrimage to the Tomb of Cerulos, she seems to have other goals at both the academic and personal level. She is a playable character who uses a variety of magical techniques, especially those related to fire.
Velziran is a young adult human with dark brown skin, black hair, and purple eyes. She wears the deep blue robes that are commonly associated with House Salome. Velziran's hair is short and spiky in the back, with her long bangs parted slightly to the right. Her left eye is partially obscured by her bangs.
Velziran is resourceful, eager to learn, and confident in her abilities. She is not easily angered, except by injustice and wanton destruction of magical and educational resources. Velziran prefers to solve problems and resolve conflict through the use of logic rather than emotion.
Velziran's thirst for knowledge and concern for the well-being of others and the world led her to restore various forbidden House Salome texts through the use of temporal magic. While this allowed her to gain proficiency in Sraharl and understand the general layout of the Storynth even before entering, it also led to severe repercussions with the leadership of her House. Much of Velziran's mana and magical power remains sealed during the events of the game due to the Atriarch's binding spells—a punishment for breaking House Salome's codes.
Final Weapon
This section contains story spoilers.
Velziran receives the Fieli Greatstaff, an heirloom of Master Scholar Talrendis' family, after Zorvus' visit to the Bloodfort. Talrendis believed that her ancestor's volume on translating between Humoni and Fieli languages had been lost, so she was stunned to learn that a Mage from the World Above had learned Sraharl through a copy of the book.
The staff's appearance, menu icon, and attack animation are purple in color.
 - Velziran's surname was originally Clearwater. Additionally, this surname was temporarily given to Elloria after it was determined that Velziran's would be changed. In the end, it wound up being Velziran's (non-magical) father's surname.
 - Velziran's blue fire—a trait she shares with her mother Fyreldin—is a result of both Mages' mana potency, stemming from their direct ties to both House Salome and House Leoric.
 - The Fieli Greatstaff was originally intended to be given to Velziran by a Fiend named Olmaran, but this scene was changed to reduce cutscene density in the Bloodfort.
 - Velziran's event objects are often titled "Velzi," though she's never referred to as such in-game.