Are there actually any elections that are "all manual"?
I don't think so. Certainly the tabulation of results, the transport of results up the chain, the tracking of warehouses full of ballots, the design of ballots, the collection of voter registrations, and the creation and management of poll books, must use computers all along the chain. Is there a single state or county where computers are used for none of these activities? I suspect not.
So, where are the cool videos and PR campaigns illustrating the ways in which an all manual count could be compromised? I've seen magicians do some impossible things while manipulating pieces of paper. And there are a lot of magicians.
And by the way, we also use computers... to control whether and in what direction to launch missiles, to control the brakes in my car (oops, bad example :), to "land a man on the moon", and of course our whole financial system only exists inside of the black boxes that are called computers.
I know as a society we don't like nuance, but as people who are devoted to making things better, techies and non-techies alike, I'd like to see and read fewer statements like: "We will never ever do X", "Y is the absolute only way to do this."
Things are never that black and white. And while we may need to keep it simple to win the argument, it's more than about just winning the argument. It's about discovering real weaknesses (and there are always trade-offs -- I can hear the black-and-white crowd saying: "We should not ever make ANY trade-offs when it comes to our Democracy", which is my point, exactly) and so we should always be seeking honest ways of imagining and testing to discover true improvements.
[Today's guest post is from election technology expert Doug Jones, who is now revealed as also being an encyclopedia of U.S. elections history. Doug's remarks below were in a discussion about how to effectively use post-election ballot-count audits as a means to gain trust in the correct operation of voting machines -- particularly timely, given the news and comment about hacking India's voting machines. Doug pointed out that in the U.S., we've had similar voting-machine trust issues for many years. -- ejs] Lever machines have always (as used in the US) contained one feature intended for auditing: The public and protective counters, used to record the total number of activations of the machine. Thus, they are slightly auditable. They are less auditable than DRE machines built to 1990 standards because they retain nothing comparable to an event log and because they do not explicitly count undervotes -- allowing election officials to claim, post election, that the reason Sam got no votes was because people abstained rather than vote for him. (Where in fact, there might have been a bit of pencil lead jammed in the counters to prevent votes for Sam from registering).
I thought I'd share a comment and response I got about trusting software to count votes. The comment was a very sensible one, though a mis-perception: that TTV is suggesting that software should be trust to count vote correctly. Not so! Here is the true but less simple story.
Many election officials want to conduct elections with paper ballots.
Most of those election officials want to count paper ballots using optical scanning and analysis software.
Most of those election officials conduct statistical audits, in order to mitigate risk that the tabulation software malfunctioned in a way could have effected the election result.
In other words, the latter group of election officials don't trust the software to do the vote counting right, and use selective hand-count audit in addition to software counting.
TTV development of scanning/tabulation software does not depend on the election officials' choices on how to conduct audits as part of an optical scan/tabulation method.
In other words, we don't make any assumptions about whether or how people trust software, and what additional non-technological steps they take to mitigate risk. To repeat what you may have heard me say before, we just make the technology; we don't tell the administrators how to deal with the risks that they manage, but we do listen to them to make sure that we're making technology that they can manage in the way that they want to. If their audit scheme can be improved by new features of the software, then we want to learn enough to provide features that are truly helpful.
In a recent post, I gave my view of a recent German High Court ruling that involved election technology. It seems I may have confused some readers by talking about what was, in some sense, the side effect. So, I should say a bit more about the main point. Throwing out a recent election was the main point of the petition to the court. The petitioners started with a premise -- that the Nedap voting machines were unlawful for use in Germany -- and reached a conclusion that the recent election using those machines was flawed and should be invalidated.
Petitioners lost. The court declined to invalidate the election, although they did agree with the premise that the Nedap machines did not meet the requirements for comprehension by an ordinary person without specialist computing technical knowledge (my paraphrase of the requirement).
I wouldn't be 100% certain until the next German election cycle shows us the Nedap system being completely tossed out, but it sure looks like Nedap and similar systems would under this ruling and opinion, be disallowed going forward.
So, to those who drew the conclusion that because the Court declined to invalidate the election meant that the underlying voting technology used remains "legal" (under German law), ... I (and actual lawyer's I've asked) respond, " not so much."
I also point out that the ruling provided some interesting speculation on what kinds of voting systems could or would meet the constitutional requirement for comprehensibility. With many readers, opinions vary.
I already provided my guesses. Others' range from a ringing validation of e-voting including Internet voting, to a validation of the principle of "software independence" which has been under discussion in the EAC for some years. That's a pretty wide range of opinion!
But I'm not the lawyer in the OSDV Foundation family (nor do I play one on a blog), so I won't effort to opine further on the jurisprudence of the (foreign) court ruling, but I have to note that I really like the German election law's principle that it is every citizen's constitutional right to be able to understand the systems used to cast and count their ballots. It's a great goal for the TrustTheVote Project, as we develop election technology with transparency.
2. Early on in our nearly 3 year old project we recognized that we did not want to build the ideal "Smithsonian solution" (i.e., an elegant solution that no one adopted, but made a perfect example of how it could've and should've been done). Therefore, we realized that amongst all stakeholders in America's elections systems, the States' Elections Directors and local elections jurisdictions officials are the front lines and arguably have the most at stake -- they succeed or fail by their decisions on what technology to choose and deploy to manage elections. So, we created a stakeholder community we affectionately call the "Design Congress," comprised of States' elections directors. Ideally, at full implementation, we will have all 50 states and 5 territories represented. Currently, 18 states have expressed interest at some level, and about 12-15 are committed, on board, and advising us. In many cases, we even have Secretaries of States' themselves involved.
3. The TTV Project's voter registration system is part of a larger elections management system we're designing and building -- under the advice and counsel of those very States' elections directors and other domain experts who are actively "weighing in." We use a process very similar to that of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) called the "RFC" or "Request for Comment."
5. So, you are 110% correct in your observations, and the TrustTheVote Project is already fully on track with you in building a strong stakeholder community to drive the design and specifications of all parts of the voting technology ecosystem we're examining, re-thinking, designing, developing, and offering in an open source manner.
Our goal is simple: create accountable, reliable, transparent, and trustworthy elections and voting systems that are publicly owned "critical democracy infrastructure."
And our work is gaining the attention of folks from the U.S. DoJ, the Obama Administration's OSTP, the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institute, several universities, States' Secretaries, and of course, folks like Rock The Vote, and the Overseas Vote Foundation.
Mitch Trachtenberg pointed out that paper ballots are helpful, but are much more helpful if the paper ballots are available for independent counting "whether by hand of by computer assisted projects like the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project."
Daniel Cannon also pointed out that paper ballots by themselves are not sufficient for trust. Cannon wants measures for trust in the counting technology, including technology transparency (full disclosure from vendors) to address concerns of technical methods for stealing elections.
Henry Finkelstein points out that paper ballots are easily tampered with. Hand counting created tampering concerns that led to voting machines in the first place -- the mechanical "lever machines" that work fine without computers.
John Smith agrees with the need for paper audit trails, but isn't sold on optically scanned paper ballots because of the cost of paper ballots, especially the need to print enough to avoid running out in polling places.
What a range of opinions! And the oddest part is that each of these 5 remarks has merit, despite seeming contradicting one or more of the others -- yet another poignant testament to the inherent squirrelly-ness of U.S. election practices and technology.
And with such poignancy, I will have to save for another day the pleasure of doing a Stevens-vs.-Finkelstein face-off posting, or a posting of counterpoint to Smith explaining why dollars per voter per election for paper ballots isn't so terrible compared to existing alternatives, to say nothing of cheaper near term alternatives.
As you might imagine, it is hard to choose from the manyevents of Election Day 2008 to report and reflect on! But I thought that I'd pick a handful of events that show just how vitally important it is the election equipment be designed carefully – and the consequences of products that aren't, and vendors that don't seem to care. I have to say, it's potentially dire, which is why I've picked as many as 3 events to support my claims.
Just back from an excellent (5th) edition of the Freedom to Connect Conference.
I want to tell you about another event next week our CTO will be speaking at descibed below, but first I owe a quick comment about F2C, as the Producer graciously gave us the podium to speak about the OSDV Project, which led to 3 hours of excellent conversation at an evening reception.


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Asia > South Korea
Pride organizers in South Korea urge police to protect their rights
Richard Ammon | February 27, 2019 | South Korea | GlobalGayz
Seoul's 20th Queer Culture Festival will kick off in May amid rising violence from conservative Christian groups
Organizers of the largest LGBTI pride event in South Korea urged the government not to give in to conservative groups and protect attendees.
The 20th Queer Culture Festival will take place in May, including a parade on June 1, organizers said at a press conference on Tuesday (26 February).
Organizers have applied for government permission to use Seoul Plaza as the starting point of the parade.
Pride events in Korea are increasingly under attack from conservative Christians. The groups pressure authorities to deny permission and violently disrupt activities.
'The government should drop its attitude of walking on eggshells around haters and instead show its willingness to guarantee universal rights for the socially marginalized, including sexual minorities' said organizer Kang Myung-jin.
He called on the Seoul government and police to protect their rights to hold the event and ensure participants safety, according to the Korea Herald.
Organizers tend to keep the pride parade secret until the last minute to deter anti-LGBTI activists.
But, according to the Korea Herald, organizers made the date public early this year to confront the hatred head-on.
Pride under attack
South Korea's fledging LGBTI movement has triggered a conservative backlash, rights groups recently warned.
Homosexuality is legal in South Korea. But, conservative attitudes, especially among Christians, force many LGBTI Koreans to live in the closet.
What's more, there is currently no discrimination legislation to protect LGBTI Koreans. Same-sex marriage is also not legal.
According to activist Minsoo Kim, LGBTI Koreans are 'facing hate and ignorance in every moment of their lives'.
Conservative Christian groups have launched significant attacks against LGBTI pride events in 2018.
More than 200,000 people signed a petition demanding the government acts to prevent the Seoul Queer Festival from taking place.
'We do not want to see their abominable events in a square' the petition read.
Christian protesters, meanwhile, disrupted LGBTI events across the country. Anti-LGBTI protestors also blocked a pride festival in Incheon.
In Busan,thousands of police protected pride attendees.
This year's Seoul Queer Culture Festival takes the theme '20th Fight for Rights'.
It is slated to include performances by bands, LGBTQ artists.
There will be information booths from human rights organizations, global companies, embassies and universities to raise awareness of LGBTI issues.
Organizers have also taken inspiration from Singapore and Hong Kong by including a 'pink dot'.
Attendees will be encouraged to wear pink and gather together to show solidarity with LGBTI people.
by Rik Glauert
Source – Gay Star News
Tags: south korea gay rights

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Un panal es una estructura formada por celdillas de cera que comparten paredes en común construida por las abejas melíferas para contener sus larvas y acopiar miel y polen dentro de la colmena. Esta capacidad se debe a que las obreras cuentan con glándulas cereras que producen este elemento natural tan apreciado. El panal es utilizado para depositar sus alimentos: polen y miel. También la celda es utilizada como habitáculo para la cría de obreras y zánganos. El tamaño de la celda varía según la necesidad de la abeja, siendo de aproximadamente 6 milímetros para obreras y 8 milímetros para zánganos en el caso de Apis

Las diferentes especies del género Apis construyen diferentes tamaños de celdas (sin base de cera estampada), adecuados a sus respectivas castas, lo que es muy útil para distinguir las especies y las razas del género Apis.
En las abejas de nido cerrado, Apis cerana y Apis mellifera los panales son construidos en forma transversal al orificio de entrada de la colmena. De esta manera, los panales anteriores cercanos a la entrada (piquera) hacen de barrera natural a la entrada de aire frío.

La distancia de diez celdas de panal construido por la abeja oriental (Apis cerana) en las Filipinas tiene un promedio de 4,1 centímetros, y en el sur de la India, la distancia es de 4,3 a 4,4 centímetros. Las razas africanas de la abeja occidental (Apis mellifera) construyen panales con medidas de 4,7 a 4,9 centímetros por cada 10 celdas, mientras la distancia de los panales construidos por las razas europeas comunes es 5,2 a 5,6 centímetros cada 10 celdas.
En los panales de cera de la colmena rústica (huecos de árboles) o en las colmenas que no tienen cuadros móviles la construcción no es siempre paralela, ya que las abejas construyen los panales en diferentes radios.

Espacio abeja
El espacio abeja, que es el lugar por el cual las abejas transitan entre los cuadros y en la colmena, es el espacio natural que la abeja separa un panal del adyacente. Este espacio fue descubierto por Lorenzo Langstroth en Apis mellifera siendo diferente del de Apis cerana aunque muy parecido. Las abejas africanizadas de América son más pequeñas y el volumen del nido para una población dada es 10% menor. No respetar el espacio de abeja hace que la abeja rellene el mismo con propóleo o cera. Nunca debe ser menor a 5 milímetros porque lo rellenará con propóleo ni mayor a 9 milímetros porque construirá panal de cera. Hay autores que definen el espacio abeja como 7,5 mm ± 1,5 mm.

Panales de cera en apicultura racional

En la apicultura racional el panal de cera es construido dentro de un marco móvil de madera para que la abeja mantenga una línea de construcción determinada con antelación por los apicultores. Para ello se ha desarrollado una lámina de cera estampada que es adherida a alambres que cruzan el marco en forma horizontal o vertical. Estos panales tienen dimensiones preestablecidas por los tamaños de los cuadros móviles lo mismo que la lámina de cera estampada. Sobre esta base fundacional las abejas estiran sus celdas hexagonales con una leve inclinación superior desde el fondo a la boca con el propósito de que no se derrame la miel que guardan en el interior.

En la apicultura racional la disposición de los panales que se utiliza frecuentemente es longitudinal con respecto a la entrada de la colmena (piquera) esto permite una mejor aireación de los mismos y facilita el secado del néctar evitando el trabajo de ventilación que tiene que desarrollar las obreras. A diferencia de los panales naturales que son construidos transversalmente al orificio de entrada de la colmena, denominado exposición en caliente; la colmena racional utiliza el método llamado exposición en frío para sus panales longitudinales con respecto a la entrada de la misma.
Hay colmenas construidas para ser utilizadas con panales de exposición en caliente, pero son las menos y generalmente se utilizan en climas fríos o templados fríos.

Ángulo de las celdas de los panales

Es interesante ver la geometría de una celda de panal, y la forma en que éstas encastran con el panal opuesto del marco móvil.

Geometría tridimensional de una celda de panal.

Celdas de panal de lados opuestos.

Pero hay toda una discusión desde antiguo sobre los ángulos que éstos tienen.

En 1700 se hicieron cálculos referentes a la medida de los ángulos de los rombos en los fondos piramidales de las celdas del panal. Comenzó en 1712 y continuó por varios años durante los siglos siguientes.

El astrónomo y genio italiano, Maraldi  estudió las celdas de la abeja, midió el largo de las mismas encontrando que son aproximadamente iguales unas a otras. Entonces midió los ángulos de las celdas de un panal, calculando que eran de 109º 28'. Anne D. Betts en un artículo en julio de 1921 relacionó la historia de manera más lejana, Maraldi en una advertencia tremenda a todos nosotros, se expresó claramente para evitar todo el peligro de ser entendido mal.

Refiriéndose al naturalista francés Reaumur atribuyó la idea de que este había encontrado el valor de 109º 28 en los ángulos de las celdas de un panal. Toda una hazaña, que varios escritores han comentado ya que era imposible de realizar con los instrumentos existentes en su época, incluso si las celdas fueran regulares, que no lo son.

Reaumur sospechó que las abejas economizaban cera, consultando a su amigo matemático Koenig, para resolver el problema de la celdas de la abeja calculó el ángulo más grande de los rombos obteniendo 109º 26'. Investigaciones posteriores demostraron que 109º 28' era la respuesta correcta. (Sólo dos minutos fue la diferencia aclarando que Koenig había cometido un error en su aritmética). Kent L. Pellett en un artículo en junio de 1929 agregó más información a la historia; Reaumur maravillado por su economía vio tan cerca la perfección.

Otros científicos que estudiaron en las abejas la posibilidad de encontrar el ángulo perfecto tomaron rápidamente el caso para solucionar el problema por sí mismos, obteniendo el mismo resultado que Koenig. Pero las abejas rechazaron corregir su error, leve como era, y continuaron construyendo los fondos de la celdas con los viejos ángulos de 109º 28'.

Años más tarde, la investigación de un accidente marítimo demostró que el capitán había dirigido mal el curso de su barco, debido a que el cálculo de las tablas de logaritmo existentes era defectuoso. Las tablas fueron corregidas para evitar un error adicional. Entonces se descubrió que éstas eran las mismas tablas logarítmicas con las cuales Koenig había hecho sus cálculos. El problema del ángulo de la celdas fue calculado otra vez, con las tablas corregidas, y los ángulos obtenidos fueron los que las abejas habían utilizado siempre: 109º 28'. La conclusión final fue que las abejas hicieron el cálculo correcto y el matemático lo hizo mal.

Véase también
 Abeja obrera
 Abeja reina
 Abeja zángano
 Apis mellifera
 Cera estampada
 René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
 Madriguera
 Hormiguero y Termitero

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 Asociación PANAL. Defensa del patrimonio de Nalda (La Rioja)

Apicultura
Asociaciones
Bioconstrucciones
Productos de las abejas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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HomeUncategorizedRoadside safety messages increase crashes by distracting drivers
Roadside safety messages increase crashes by distracting drivers
January 9, 2023 The Conversation Uncategorized
Behavioural interventions involve gently suggesting that people reconsider or change specific undesirable behaviours. They are a low-cost, easy-to-implement and increasingly common tool used by policymakers to encourage socially desirable behaviours.
Examples of behavioural interventions include telling people how their electricity usage compares to their neighbours or sending text messages reminding people to pay fines.
Many of these interventions are expressly designed to "seize people's attention" at a time when they can take the desired action. Unfortunately, seizing people's attention can crowd out other, more important considerations, and cause even a simple intervention to backfire with costly individual and social consequences.
One such behavioural intervention struck us as odd: Several U.S. states display year-to-date fatality statistics (number of deaths) on roadside dynamic message signs (DMSs). The hope is that these sobering messages will reduce traffic crashes, a leading cause of death of five- to 29-year-olds worldwide. Perhaps because of its low cost and ease of implementation, at least 28 U.S. states have displayed fatality statistics at least once since 2012. We estimate that approximately 90 million drivers have been exposed to such messages.
Startling results
As academic researchers with backgrounds in information disclosure and transportation policy, we teamed up to investigate and quantify the effects of these messages. What we found startled us.
Contrary to policymakers' expectations (and ours), we found that displaying fatality messages increases the number of crashes.
We studied the use of these fatality messages in Texas. The state provides a useful laboratory to study such messages, as it has 880 DMSs, 17 million drivers and, unfortunately, typically over 3,000 road-related fatalities per year. The most advantageous aspect of this sample, however, is that from August 2012 until the end of our sample in 2017, the Texas Department of Transportation only showed these fatality messages for one week each month — the week before the Texas Transportation Commission's monthly meeting.
This institutional feature allowed us to compare, for instance, the hourly number of crashes occurring around a DMS during the week when fatality messages are being shown, relative to crashes on the same road segment during the other three weeks of the same month. Also, we were able to control for time of day, day of week, weather conditions and holidays.
We found that there were two to three per cent more crashes within one to 10 kilometres downstream of each DMS during the week fatality messages were shown. This suggests that this specific behavioural intervention backfired in Texas.
Warning distractions
We conducted two tests to rule out whether this finding was simply because these weeks happen to be inherently more dangerous. First, we looked upstream of each DMS. In doing so, we limited our sample to those DMSs without another DMS within 10 kilometres upstream. We found no increase in accidents upstream of these DMSs, but still find an effect downstream.
Second, we investigated whether the weeks before the monthly meetings of the Texas Transportation Commission had more crashes in the months before Texas began showing these fatality messages. Looking at data between January 2010 and July 2012, we found no evidence of a change in crashes during the week prior to the Texas Transportation Commission meeting.
Based on our findings, we hypothesized that these fatality messages cause more crashes because they make drivers anxious and distract them. Our research found several pieces of evidence that supported this hypothesis.
First, we found that the larger the displayed number of fatalities (a plausibly more shocking and distracting message), the greater the increase in crashes. Higher fatality counts are associated with significantly more crashes, whereas lower fatality counts are associated with fewer crashes.
Related, fatality messages cause the largest increase in crashes in January, when the display shows the prior year's total in Texas. Conversely, there are marginally fewer crashes in February, when the fatality count resets and is at its lowest.
Second, the increase in crashes is concentrated in more complex road segments, where focusing on the road is likely more important and the cost of a distraction more severe. We also found that crashes increased statewide during the weeks when messages were displayed, inconsistent with improved driving farther away from DMSs; that the days after a campaign end are no safer than other days; and that these messages continue to affect drivers after more than five years of showing fatality statistics.
Counterproductive to safety
Our research shows that displaying fatality messages does not result in safer driving and fewer crashes. Besides the more obvious takeaway that displaying fatality messages may be counterproductive, our findings highlight two broader issues.
First, while behavioural interventions should grab attention, this can be taken too far and have costly consequences. Second, it is vital to evaluate policies and their outcomes over time, as even good intentions may not necessarily lead to the desired outcomes.
By: Jonathan Hall
Assistant Professor, Economics, University of Toronto
By: Joshua Madsen
Assistant Professor, Accounting, University of Minnesota
Jonathan Hall has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the NET Institute, and via an interagency agreement between the US Department of Transportation and the National Science Foundation.
Joshua Madsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
This post was originally published at The Conversation.
What you need to know for your next hybrid or electric vehicle purchase
China moves to regulate deepfake technology


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UAHDX Release!
Finally, its here! The release of Ultra Air Hockey DX for PCs!
Starting in October 2014, EagleSoft Ltd worked on its first Indie Unity3D video game, Ultra Air Hockey DX, not only for fun and for software engineering experience, but also as a university project for a Fundamentals of Software Engineering class programming project. This project was much more difficult than we first imagined, since we had to self-teach ourselves and to learn quickly a new programming language (C#), a game engine (Unity3D), and fundamentals of software engineering, including creating documentation such as an SRS, a Gantt chart, and a plethora of other documents. Nevertheless, through hard work and persistence, we finally finished programming the game in early January of 2015, and are ready to release it as a purchasable download from the shop section of the website! The game is currently available for Windows 7 (x86/x64), Mac OS X (x86/x64/universal), and Linux 10.04 (x86/x64/universal). A demo of the game for all of the previous OS and bit combinations is also available (the demo only has Air Hockey mode available) on the UAHDX Page and at the shop (for free).
Everything is finished with the game (all powerups, all 3 modes, and all game assets), except for online multiplayer. We plan on implementing this complex feature, as well as any other bug fixes, post-mortem as a update patch.
Below is an advertisement for the game, showing off all of the gameplay features.
We hope you enjoy the game as much as we had in creating it!
EagleSoft Ltd and UAHDX Dev Team
Please login with either OpenID or a Google Account, and then post your comment. Please be respectful and courteous. NO SPAM ALLOWED!
UAHDX v1.1 and Android ports in progress!
New website domain!
EagleSoft Store Deployed!


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27 June 2019 / SF News / Joe Kukura
Solano County Teens Accused Of Online Dating Scam Where Victims Were Shot, Robbed
You've heard of online dates going badly, but this scheme entrapped two separate victims who were shot, robbed, and left abandoned in rural Solano County.
A couple of 18-year-old men in northern Solano County may be a little apprehensive to get back into the online dating game, as we have news today of scam "dates" that left both shot and robbed — and in one case, also relieved of two ounces of his marijuana. The Sacramento Bee reports that three Woodland teens have been arrested for luring two male victims to setup dates, shooting and robbing them, and leaving both abandoned and bleeding on Putah Creek Road in unincorporated Solano County.
***PRESS RELEASE*** 2 Arrested on 2 Cases of Attempted Murder & Armed Robbery On April 22, 2019 just after midnight, a...
Posted by Solano County Sheriff's Office on Monday, June 24, 2019
The Solano County Sheriff's Office details the scheme pretty thoroughly in the above Facebook post; two separate incidents happened in April and June, with the suspects using the same M.O. According to the sheriff's department, 18-year-old Amit Chhoker connected with the victims using an online dating service, picked them up in a green Land Rover, and drove them out to a remote road.
"Then they'd get intimate," Solano County Undersheriff Brad Dewall told KPIX.
Except things would take an ugly turn. Suspected accomplices Branden Lerma, 19, and a 17-year-old suspect whose name has not been released, allegedly ambushed the car from nearby bushes and pulled each victim from the vehicle. The suspects allegedly told the victims to curl up in a ball on the ground, at which point they were promptly shot, and in both cases the victim was robbed of his phone, cash, and shoes.
"He walked about a mile for help," Dewall says of one of the victims to the Woodland Daily Democrat.
Stealing the victims' phones may not have been the best move, though, as law enforcement was able to ping one of the phones and track down its location. The three have been arrested and charged with armed robbery and attempted murder. Each of the three is claiming that another one pulled the trigger, though Solano County sheriffs say "Lerma is believed to be the shooter in at least one of the incidents."
Related: SFPD Arrests Suspect In String Of Violent Bayview Robberies That Targeted Women
Saturday Links: A Standoff Ends Peacefully In Pittsburg
Day Around The Bay: Facebook Fined $5 Billion By The FTC
Former Castro Funeral Home Set To Turn Into Large Apartment Complex
John Waters On SF's Homeless: 'Every City Now Is Just Rich People and Very Poor People'
The great John Waters returns to Oakland's Mosswood Park next weekend (July 6-7) for his fifth time hosting Burger Boogaloo. And while The Jesus & Mary Chain is headlining, Waters says he's most looking forward to the band called Amyl & the Sniffers.
New Chronicle Food Critic Unveils A Notably Different Top 100
The Chronicle Top 100 has just gotten a major update in the hands of new critic Soleil Ho, and the omissions include some local sacred cows and Michelin-starred destinations like Saison, Boulevard, Frances, and Octavia.
Joe Kukura


When Australians have used and loved a product for over 30 years you know it has got to be good quality.
Long Life Self Shining Floor Polish is the original unique wax emulsion that's been an Aussie favourite for over 3 decades.
Long Life Self Shining Floor Polish is long lasting and high quality, specially formulated to not only give your floors a protective high gloss finish but to also highlight the beauty of colours on all surfaces. The finish is extremely durable and regular washing and maintenance of the floor won't spoil the shine.
Long Life Self Shining Floor Polish gives fantastic results on vinyl, lino, plastic, rubber, sealed wood and cork flooring, it's perfect for your home as well as schools, hospitals and workplaces. This is the original, the first in a long line of Long Life floor care products that have become legendary.
An exclusive brand, effective in all domestic, commercial and industrial applications and easily recognised in their distinctive yellow bottles.
Long Life Mop & Glo is a wash and polish combination product for regular and routine maintenance of floors.
Long Life Tile Cleaner is specifically designed to cleaning and revitalising your tiles and it's anti-bacterial for greater safety.
Long Life Timber Floor Cleaner will easily remove tough dirt, grease and grime while protecting the surface on all your timber floors.
So to take the best care of your floors with the distinctive yellow bottles of the Long Life range brought to you by Pascoes.
You'll find Long Life Self Shining Floor Polish, Long Life Mop & Glo, Long Life Tile Cleaner and Long Life Timber Floor Cleaner, in sizes from 500 mils to 15 litres, at your local supermarket or hardware store.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Sit behind the steering wheel of a cool Japanese car specializing in drifting! Perform some crazy moves and earn some money in Drift Hunters! Customize your car and make it look cool and drive cooler!
Drift Hunters is an action-packed racing video game that focuses on drifting. The game features many different maps and terrains, as well as upgrade options and components for your cars. Earn money by doing stunning drifts and winning races, and use the money to unlock the 10 cool unlockable cars! The game's beautiful 3D graphics and smooth gameplay will make you want to play for more! Have fun!
The game file size is huge and would take some time to load. Thank you for your patience. If you're getting some error in Chrome, try to play it on FireFox.
There have been 6,201 plays and 70 likes from 82 votes (86%) since 14/02/2017.
You are currently playing Drift Hunters game for free on Arcade Spot. It is a single game out of a variety of games that you can play on Arcade Spot. Play more games like Drift Hunters in the Action, Driving, Racing, Skill, Sports, and Unity gaming categories. This game has a rating of 86 out of 100 based on 82 user ratings. If you enjoyed playing the game, give it a thumbs up. Free Online Games and Arcade Games are added every day. Arcade Spot will bring you the best games without downloading and a fun online gaming experience on the internet.


We are happy to announce we have updated our system to the latest code technology and upgraded our servers for increased performance. In addition, we just launched a new billing system to replace our old system. We are committed to providing our users with the best experience with our software.
We now have the ability to upload photos for each person in your church. This is one of our more requested features and we are happy to release it. Just go to Edit Profile and click to upload a new photo. Once uploaded, you will be able to crop it to the desired shape and size. Then you can enjoy the benefits of photos for everyone in your church.
We now offer attendance tracking to record attendance at all your church services and events quickly and accurately. Add both one-time events and recurring events, and easily manage them all from one page. Even link them to a ministry or small group. View past and future events with just one click on the calendar display.
For our international customers, we now offer date and time formatting options to make using our system easier outside the US. We have also made it possible for your church to enable or disable parts of the software to limit access or hide any unneeded features.
We are happy to announce we have completed upgrading our church podcasting accounts to version 2 of Connect Podcast. We are excited to offer our customers new features and improvements.
We have added a brand new addition to Connect Manage. Now you can send emails to anyone directly through our system. No need to open new email software. Send emails to one person or multiple people, including the ability to email ministries and small groups with one click.
Take a look at the new Email page inside Connect Manage and share your feedback with us. We would love to hear what you think of it!
Connect Manage Mobile has arrived!
We now have a smartphone specific version of Connect Manage. When away from your office or computer, you can easily access Connect Manage Mobile on your smartphone. Search for people in your congregation, view their entire profiles, or record notes. Quickly send emails, make calls, or view addresses on maps on your phone.
Connect Manage Mobile is compatible with any smartphone in use today including iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and more. Just go to your Connect Manage web address on your phone and you will be automatically directed to the mobile version. Bookmark this page for easy access to Connect Manage Mobile in the future.
We have added help buttons across Connect Manage to give you instructions for every feature we offer. Just look for the ? at the top of each page. Click these and a pop-up window will appear with instructions and links to related Helpdesk articles. We believe these will help our churches learn the software quickly, making it even easier to use.
We released a new page called "Important Dates" that shows all of the upcoming birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and student graduation dates. You will find it on the People page. We also made a major update to our backup system so we can roll back any unwanted changes to your system to a point of your choosing. Just get in contact with us if you need any assistance.
Today we upgraded our servers to improve the speed of load times while using our software. We swapped in new SSD hard drives which feature some of the highest performing technology available.
This is our blog with general updates and news about Easy Church Tools. You can Subscribe via RSS or bookmark for future access.


On this page, you will find tips, tricks, and strategies tailored to your Arcane Mage for each boss of the Uldir raid. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5.
This page will be a rough outline of the bosses and mechanics in Uldir. This page will focus primarily on how an Arcane Mage can optimize its performance on the raid bosses in Uldir, and not on an actual raid strategy for the bosses. Initially, this page will focus on Heroic mode and lower, however, as more bosses are being killed on Mythic, the guide will also include optimizations for Mythic bosses.
Arcane Mages are looking to be a very strong pick in Uldir, due to their strong burst DPS, which is amplified on multiple bosses. This is mainly due to the bonus damage phases or strict DPS checks on certain mechanics. Additionally, there are no fights which Arcane truly struggles with, since none of the fights contain Arcane's main weakness, 2-target cleave.
The fight is comprised of two main mechanics, Plasma Discharge and Sanguine Static. Sanguine Static targets a player in the raid and shoots 5 blood orbs towards the target. Be ready to sidestep the projectiles when he finishes the cast. If you are not running Slipstream, make sure you are not channeling Evocation when you are targeted with this spell, as it will knock you back and interrupt you.
A location to drop Plasma Discharge should be marked before the fight begins. You should use Blink (or Shimmer, if you chose the talent) to get out of the group and start dropping the blood. When you are done dropping the blood, you can use Displacement to get back into the group. This mechanic is the main reason for picking Slipstream, as it allows you to still do some damage while dropping these debuffs off, if you get any Clearcasting procs. If Taloc has cast Cudgel of Gore and his weapon remains on the ground, do not stand between the boss and his weapon at any time in Phase One or Phase Three.
In Phase 2, you begin your descent into the raid. Taloc goes immune to all damage and begins to spawn two sets of adds, so make sure that you do not use any big DPS cooldowns right before the boss enters Phase 2. Coalesced Blood is the Phase 2-exclusive add and must be prioritized over all other targets. Volatile Droplet will be soaked or burned down quickly as a secondary target.
4.1. Suggested Talents for Arcane Mage on M.O.T.H.E.R.
Rune of Power is a lot better for DPS on this boss if you can pull it off effectively, so it is advised that you practice with Rune of Power, only changing to Incanter's Flow if you end up having a lot of issues with Rune of Power.
4.2. Arcane Mage Playstyle on M.O.T.H.E.R.
Effectively playing Arcane on M.O.T.H.E.R. is all about how effectively you can deal with the different abilities that force you to move a lot.
M.O.T.H.E.R is another 3-phase fight, split into three rectangular boss rooms. Each room is on a timer, based on when the boss enters. All players must pass through the barrier and reach the end to defeat M.O.T.H.E.R. before they are incinerated.
Wind Tunnel conjures a gust of wind in the room, which pushes you towards zones of fire. On beta, you could stand against the wall where the boss is tanked to avoid getting pushed into the fire. However, the assumption is that this will be changed to no longer work on live. If this indeed does not work on live, you can deal with this effectively by using Shimmer early on when the wind starts pushing you, and then waiting a couple of seconds and using Displacement to get back to where you Shimmered from. This should allow you to keep DPSing for the entire duration of the wind without ending up in the fire. Purifying Flame creates several void zones beneath players that must be moved from. You can use a stack of Shimmer on this, but make sure you check the timer of Wind Tunnel, and hold on to the Shimmer if Wind Tunnel is coming soon.
The main fight mechanic revolves around Defense Grid. Everytime players cross into the next room, the entire raid takes damage and adds spawn, based on how many players crossed the threshold. If many players are crossing over, make sure you preemptively cast Prismatic Barrier, or if a huge number of people are moving over at once, use Greater Invisibility.
These adds are the top priority in this encounter. They must be stunned, interrupted, and knocked back until they are dead. If their cast completes, the raid will wipe. Depending on how many people move over at once, you should either burn them down one after the other, or AoE them down if there are 3 or more close to each other.
Fetid Devourer is a fight that Arcane Mages should excel on. This is due to the vulnerability phase, which Arcane Mage can exploit very well due to its high burst DPS. During the vulnerability phase, the boss will take increased damage from 50% onwards. If the boss is close to 50%, save your cooldowns to burn the boss.
The main boss casts very few abilities. Rotting Regurgitation is a cone ability targeted at a random player, which must be dodged or you will take a large amount of damage and have Malodorous Miasma applied to you. If you are afflicted with Malodorous Miasma, be it random or through the breath, it will evolve into Putrid Paroxysm, which is another debuff which does substantially more damage in a short duration. If you have this debuff, consider casting Greater Invisibility, especially if it lines up with Shockwave Stomp.
Shockwave Stomp (Heroic and up) is a raid-wide knockback, which pushes you backwards a considerable distance. Make sure you watch for this timer before using cooldowns, such as Rune of Power. You can use Shimmer while mid-air from this knockback to return back to your original position.
Two adds will spawn from six waste disposal units at random. You can save a stack of Rune of Power for these adds to quickly burn them down. Make sure you have enough Mana when these adds spawn, so you can focus on priority damage to them.
There are a couple of choices that you can make in terms of talents. It mostly comes down to what your raid needs extra help with. If your group has trouble clearing the phase one Silithid Warriors, you can opt into Reverberate (or Nether Tempest, for a more hybrid approach).
This encounter is split into three phases, with a few basic mechanics that persist through the whole fight. The main mechanic is Surging Darkness. This creates three zones of darkness centering where the boss casted the ability. One zone will be safe for every pulse. Make sure you have Shimmer stacks available for this mechanic.
Phase 1 spawns many Silithid Warriors that fixate a target and can be stunned and burned down effortlessly. Simply use Arcane Explosion on them when they are clumped up until 4 Arcane Charges, and then use Arcane Barrage, repeating until they are dead. If you talented into Nether Tempest or Arcane Orb, you should use them as described on the Rotation page.
During Phase 1, players will be targeted with Eye Beam at random. Players fixated by C'Thun's gaze will have a small indicator below them that will show if they are standing close enough to cleave another player. Always avoid having other players in your circle while being fixated and use a personal coolwdown, such as Prismatic Barrier.
Phase 2 is a priority damage phase. Three adds will spawn and begin casting on players. These casters can be interrupted, stunned, CC'd, but not moved. Counterspell should be used to interrupt them. The boss mechanic during this phase casts Roiling Deceit on a handful of players. These players will take damage and then drop a cloud at their feet upon expiration. Get this cloud out of the raid by using Shimmer right before the debuff expires, and then using Displacement to get back to the group.
Phase 3 is the final phase of the fight. There will be no more adds or previous Old God mechanics during this phase. Instead, the boss will spawn Orb of Corruption around the boss room. These orbs must be soaked by players. Players who soak the orb get a temporary damage increase and once the buff times out, they will be mind controlled until killed. Mind controlled targets must be silenced, stunned, or interrupted while they live. You should soak one of these orbs while all your cooldowns are ready, so you can maximize the DPS bonus from the orbs.
Vectis will begin the fight by casting Omega Vector on a few party members. This debuff does not expire and will bounce from target to target the entire fight. Everytime the debuff bounces, the player contracts one stack of Lingering Infection, which increases all nature damage taken. While Omega Vector deals shadow damage, other fight mechanics deal nature damage.
During the "up phase", the boss will cast two abilities. Contagion is a raid wide nature damage explosion and Gestate stuns the target dealing shadow damage to all players around the target and spawns and add. This add must be burned down immediately or the healing absorb debuff it casts on the raid will be too much for your healers. If you get this debuff, you should Shimmer out of the group, and Displacement back into the group after you have spawned the add.
Vectis submerges and spawns Plague Bombs, which must be soaked by players. During this phase, Vectis will also send out waves of blood that must be sidestepped or the player will take a stack of Lingering Infection. These waves of blood move quite quickly and are hard to dodge if you are close to the submerged boss, so you should remain relatively far away. If a Plague Bomb spawns close to the submerged boss, you can soak this by using Shimmer to get to it, and then casting Ice Block to avoid getting hit by the waves of blood.
If you are very comfortable with the fight, you can run Rune of Power to help burst down adds quicker. However, there are a lot of reasons that make Rune of Power hard to use, especially if you are one of the main soakers for Pool of Darkness, in which case Incanter's Flow is a better option. Additionally, you can run either Resonance or Charged Up, depending on if you need more priority DPS or more AoE DPS. The same choice goes for Touch of the Magi versus Nether Tempest.
The main mechanic that Arcane Mages can handle is Pool of Darkness (Heroic and up). Due to having both Shimmer and Displacement, we have a lot of mobility to get into the pools. You can then use Prismatic Barrier to reduce the damage taken from them, or Greater Invisibility / Ice Block if you are soaking these pools at the same time Dark Revelation or Deathwish is happening.
There are three sets of adds that spawn in Phase 1. Nazmani Bloodhexer spawn in packs of two and must remain separated. Focus these first and kill them quickly. If your group runs a strategy in which you crowd control these adds, you can use Polymorph on them when needed. The second Bloodhexer may possibly cast Congeal Blood; the add that spawns from this cast is the only target that takes priority over the two Bloodhexers. Bloodhexers can be hard CC'd, knocked back, stunned, and silenced, as well as the add that they spawn. These adds are the ones you will most likely want to use your DPS cooldowns on.
Nazmani Crusher is your second priority and Bloodthirsty Crawg are normally just burned down through passive cleave. The Crushers will spawn one at a time and the Crawgs will spawn four at a time. When there are no Nazmani Bloodhexers active, target the Crusher and cleave off of him.
The choice between Rune of Power and Incanter's Flow largely depends on how comfortable you are with the encounter. You will want to go the standard single-target DPS talents on this fight, however, Resonance and Reverberate can be considered if your group has trouble killing the groups of adds. Nether Tempest is a good hybrid option if you want to add a bit more DPS to the groups of adds, without giving up a lot of single-target DPS.
This fight consists of a boss phase and an intermission phase. During the boss phase, just be aware of any Annihilation stacks you have. Clear them if they get too high, or if you are called to clear them using Existence Fragments. You can limit the number of stacks you receive by avoiding casts of Obliteration Blast, which targets a random player and shoots a laser at them, and its intermission counterpart, Obliteration Beam. If you get Imminent Ruin, simply Shimmer when it is about to expire, and then use Displacement to get back.
At 75% Health, the boss moves into the middle of the room and takes 99% less damage, so make sure you do not activate your DPS cooldowns when the boss is close to 75% Health. During the intermission, two large N'raqi Destroyers spawn and must stay separated while being burned down. Additionally, several players will be targeted with Visions of Madness. Try to stay grouped so players can cleave them down easily. Counterspell any adds that are out of the main group.
Damage timings are very telegraphed during this fight. Raid-wide damage is dealt after every mind control break, at the beginning of every intermission, and also when Imminent Ruin expires. If any mechanics line up, or you are afflicted with Imminent Ruin, be sure to use your Greater Invisibility or Ice Block.
You can run Nether Tempest over Touch of the Magi if you need more add DPS during the first phase. Aside from that, a standard single-target talent setup is recommended.
G'huun is the final boss of the raid. The encounter consists of an upstairs minigame portion, as well as three downstairs phases.
Arcane Mages are a decent choice (but by no means the best choice) for the upstairs mini-game, as with the double Shimmer usage, they can get very far along the platform to deliver the Power Matrix. So, if your group is lacking Warriors, Monks and Demon Hunters, it is worth trying as an Arcane Mage.
Phase 1 is the add phase. Your focus in this phase is to cleave down all units, but have at least one target ready to be focused down. The priority is Blightspreader Tendril (Heroic and up), then Cyclopean Terror, and finally Dark Young. Make sure all casts during this phase are interrupted. The Dark Young add will cast an ability called Dark Bargain in a circle around itself. If you take one stack, you deal increased damage and healing but also take increased damage. If you get a second stack, you will be mind controlled. You can coordinate with your healers to get one stack of this for bonus DPS. You should make sure to line up your DPS cooldowns for this buff. During this phase, G'huun will also cast Explosive Corruption on one random player. This player should move to the edges of the room, so they do not infect any other members. This ability will persist through the fight. You can simply Shimmer out right before it expires and use Displacement to get back in.
When G'huun is forced from his lair, he stops stops spawning the adds from the previous phase and brings new mechanics to the fight. Be sure to spread to reduce stacks of Putrid Blood contracted from the Wave of Corruption. A player will be targeted with Blood Feast, rooting them to the ground. Stack up on that player to remove all stacks of Putrid Blood. He will spawn a Gibbering Horror, whose strength is increased by the amount of Putrid Blood stacks that were removed. Focus this down when it is active and avoid being interrupted by Mind-Numbing Chatter.
At 15%, the final phase begins. The upstairs mechanics end and the raid takes a large amount of damage. Only two new mechanics are added to the phase, but you are no longer able to remove Putrid Blood, so spreading is very important. Malignant Growth (Heroic and up) must be moved away from if they spawn nearby. G'huun will also be casting Gaze of G'huun, which will fear you if you face him, so make sure to turn away right before it. If you have a Clearcasting proc, you can start the Arcane Missiles channel before Gaze of G'huun finishes, and turn around already, as your channel will not be interrupted from facing away.
30 Aug. 2018: Added guides and talent recommedations for Heroic and Normal modes.
10 Aug. 2018: Added Arcane Mage Boss by Boss page (empty for now).


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RS Components' support for Young Enterprise expanded after two decades of involvement
22nd March 2019	News 491 Views
RS Components (RS) has expanded its support for the 2019 Young Enterprise initiative. RS, which has been involved with the programme for almost 20 years, hosted a week-long workshop at both its Corby head offices and the RS Local branch in Watford. These workshops provided a great opportunity to inspire local talented students to develop their design and engineering skills.
RS invited students to its offices in Corby from local schools including Northampton High School, Gartree High School, Kingsthorpe College, Northampton School for Boys, Northampton School for Girls, Rawlins Academy and The Duston School and gave them a challenge to repurpose everyday disposable items. Following this, the students will now work on their design projects for one month before sending them to the RS judging panel which includes Lindsley Ruth, Chief Executive of Electrocomponents. Up to ten finalists will be invited to the Group head office in London in June to present their projects back to the panel.
Earlier this month RS helped to curate the Young Enterprise presentation delivered to 130 gifted and talented Year 9 students from across the UK. The programme helps students build skills including marketing, finance and communications to aid employability. RS also provided STEM ambassadors as mentors for the students, available to them on each day of the week-long event.
Laura Giddings, STEM education manager, Northern Europe, commented: "RS has been working with the Young Enterprise programme for almost two decades, and we have extended our support this year to demonstrate our passion for inspiring young entrepreneurs, and our commitment to promote engineering. Young Enterprise's mission statement is 'to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise' – an ambition which is close to our own, which is to enable and inspire tomorrow's engineers to make more possible.
"Over the week, we have delivered valuable information about engineering and technology to the students and shown them how RS supports engineers and technologists. The students really enjoyed their time with RS, taking on board the knowledge and advice that was offered to them. We can't wait to see how the efforts from this week will translate into designed products."
Robin Neighbour, area manager for Young Enterprise in Northamptonshire, said: "We're grateful for the support RS has given to Young Enterprise over the years. This year has been phenomenal with support on the presentation to students – which is a key part of inspiring them to participate in the initiative – and support with hosting and judging. We're thrilled with the calibre of students coming through the programme and it's been great to focus on the important area of technology and engineering."
The deadline for entries is 26th April, with finalists announced on Friday 10th May. The finals will take place on 18th June 2019, when up to 60 students will be visiting the RS London office with their teachers. First, second and third place prizes will be awarded.
Young Enterprise is a not-for-profit business and enterprise charity in England and Wales. For further information about the Young Enterprise programme, visit https://www.young-enterprise.org.uk.
Tags rs components stem
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Q: Is it OK to create 2 instances of C# MongoClient connecting to the same replica set? I used to create an instance of MongoClient from the official driver and register it in the DI as a singleton. But now because of design issues, I have to create another MongoClient instance in the other place to connect to the very same Replica Set.
Are there any potential problems? Do the two instances will use the same connection or create two separate connections?
Project is written in ASP.NET Core 3.1
MongoDB driver's version 2.8
MongoDB server uses 4.2

A: Currently, if all client options are the same, it will work since the underlying mongo client's data is stored on the cluster level. And as it was mentioned in the comments above, mongoClient constructor tries to retrieve this data from the static storage each time when you create a new client.
However, there is a restriction, your MongoClientSettings should not contain the configured ClusterConfigurator option. Otherwise, it will lead to creating two different clusters with all related stuff for example connection pools.
Also, see Re-use section here: https://mongodb.github.io/mongo-csharp-driver/2.10/reference/driver/connecting/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center say they have developed a technique for finding where DNA repair happens throughout all of human DNA. Their study ("Genome-wide analysis of human global and transcription-coupled excision repair of UV damage at single-nucleotide resolution"), published in Genes & Development, offers scientists a potential way to find and target the proteins cancer cells use to circumnavigate therapy, according to the researchers, who add that the benefit of this new method could be more effective and better tolerated classes of cancer therapeutics.
The research, led by Aziz Sancar, M.D., Ph.D., the Sarah Graham Kenan professor of biochemistry and biophysics, reportedly marks the first time scientists have been able to map the repair of DNA damage over the entire human genome.
When DNA is damaged, cells use many enzymes to cut the strand of DNA and excise the damaged fragment. Then, other enzymes repair the original DNA so that the cells can function properly. Previously, Dr. Sancar's lab relied on purified enzymes to discover how this process happens in DNA damaged by UV irradiation and by chemotherapeutic drugs such as cisplatin and oxaliplatin.
In recent years, Michael Kemp, Ph.D., a researcher on Dr. Sancar's team, found that a particular protein called TFIIH bound tightly to the excised damaged DNA fragment in the test tube. But for this information to be truly useful to biomedical researchers, the experiment needed to be replicated in human cells.
Extracting a stable TFIIH-DNA fragment proved difficult. Not until postdoctoral fellow Jinchuan Hu, Ph.D., joined Dr. Sancar's lab could the team accomplish the task.
Through a series of sophisticated experiments with human skin cells, Dr. Hu exposed the cells to UV radiation and used an antibody against the enzyme TFIIH to isolate the enzyme complex with the excised DNA damage. Then he created experimental techniques to pull the enzyme, as well as the excised DNA fragment it was bound to, from the cells.
The fragment was stable enough for Dr. Sancar's lab to sequence it. Then, Sheera Adar, Ph.D., fellow postdoc, and Jason Lieb, Ph.D., co-senior investigator of the study used their expertise in computational biology to analyze where the DNA repair happened throughout the entire genome and thus generate a human genome repair map for the first time.
Because UV radiation and common chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin cause DNA damage in similar ways, Dr. Sancar's team is now using their new DNA excision repair method, known as XR-Seq, to study cells affected by cisplatin. They also hope to use it to study the biochemical reactions in animal models with the goal of finding the specific mechanisms that allow cancer cells to repair DNA damage to survive.
"XR-seq and the resulting repair maps will facilitate studies of the effects of genomic location, chromatin context, transcription, and replication on DNA repair in human cells," wrote the investigators.
The research also revealed that parts of the genome scientists previously thought did very little are actually part of this repair process. On chromosomes, DNA forms genes that create proteins. Between these genes, there are DNA sequences.


I went out adulting today. I bought myself a new lamp for my bedroom and some seriously bright light bulbs.
The story starts about a year ago, when the kids finally convinced me that we needed to move out of the construction zone that was our former apartment. We toured a bunch of apartment communities -- and when I say "a bunch," I mean nine or ten. The list of potential apartments took some serious research and planning, nearly all of it done by Amy. What made it tougher than your typical apartment search was that we were looking for a three-bedroom place -- or at least a two-bedroom with a den -- so each of us could have a real door we could shut. (In the old place, we'd used Japanese screens to make a bedroom for Kitty out of the dining room.) A second bathroom was also on our wish list, as well as access to public transit and a short commute.
After all that work, after touring all those properties and looking at our preferences...we had zero properties that all three of us liked. We reconsidered our criteria and decided to go back to a couple of places that could work if we worked at it. One of them was this place, which was awesome in nearly every way -- except that the den, which someone would have to sleep in, was an interior room with no window. (Which is why they couldn't call it a bedroom, I suspect. Bedrooms have to have two means of ingress and egress in case of fire.) Other than that, it was a great apartment. I mean, the location is stellar and the kitchen is to die for.
So guess who fell on her sword and said she'd take the den?
I didn't think having no natural light in a bedroom would bug me as much as it does. But I recently realized I've been doing a lot of knitting -- way more than I've been writing. And it's partly because the knitting chair is by the big window in the living room, and my desk is in my bedroom. Once I figured that out, I realized Something Needed to Be Done.
The extra lamp made a difference, but the real key was the type of lightbulb I put in it. I picked up a pack of GE's Refresh LED bulbs, which are billed as providing energetic daylight. "Recommended for home offices," the package said.
I expect I would be less thrilled with this "energetic daylight" thing in the lamp next to my bed. But at least now I'm looking forward to sitting at my computer. Who knows? Maybe I'll even get some writing done.
I'll bore y'all with a knitting post next week.
Oh, one piece of housekeeping: Google Plus is being dismantled, and one of the first casualties is the G+ comment plug-in on blogs like mine. So hearth/myth is back to the native Blogger comment system, which has never worked particularly well. Apologies for that.
These moments of well-lit blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.
Every Presidents' Day weekend, my daughters attend Katsucon, a massive anime convention across the Potomac River from us in National Harbor, Maryland. (When I say massive, I mean massive. They have 21,000 attendees this year.) Kitty is the assistant head of Video Operations, so my kids get there a day earlier and stay a day longer than the regular attendees.
Which means I've had the apartment to myself since I got home from work Thursday -- or (checks the time) approximately 76 hours. And counting.
Yesterday, Kitty texted me to ask whether I could run something over to her in a few hours, after she got some sleep. Sure, I said. Then she offered to send me a reminder text.
"I think I'll be okay. There's not much here today to distract me," I said.
She LOL'ed and offered to text me earlier, "if you wanna cut the boredom sooner."
But it's not the same diff. At work, I sit in a doorless cubicle in a hallway. My phone has twelve active lines. There's always background noise -- conversations, phones ringing. Then to get to work, I take public transit, and there's always background noise there, as well -- announcements over the intercom, other commuters' conversations, trains and buses starting and stopping. It's distracting.
And at home, our schedules are different enough that someone is always coming or going, or listening to music, or sleeping, or having a conversation.
It gets to the point where it's hard to find a minute to think.
These moments of laid-back blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.
I hear there's some kind of sportsball thing happening tonight. Which means some of y'all will soon be really happy, some will be angry and/or sad, and some will be too stuffed from the buffet to care.
Then there's the contingent who suffer through the game just to watch the halftime show. From what I'm seeing in my Facebook feed, those folks are already regretting their life choices tonight.
Well, fear not! I have here a thing that everyone can win.
Do you guys like word searches? I loved them as a kid. I was already good at spelling, and it turned out I was also good at spotting letter combinations in word search puzzles. You wouldn't think that would be a useful life skill -- but then I became an editor.
Anyway, below you will find a word search puzzle. The word list consists of the names of some of the deities in the Pipe Woman Chronicles universe, as lifted from the table of contents of A Billion Gods and Goddesses, 2nd Ed.
I used an online word search generator for this puzzle, and I haven't tried it myself yet. The words can go in any direction -- up, down, across, forward and backward, and diagonally. The generator wouldn't take a word that was more than 15 characters, so White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman has been shortened to "goddess," which is what Naomi calls her most of the time anyway.
Also, the graphic is a .png converted from a pdf. I hope it's clear enough. If not, Adobe owes me fifteen bucks.
These moments of bloggy fun and games have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.


After one wound up lodged in the airway of a five-year-old boy.
Angela Henderson shared the post on the Finlee and Me Facebook page, reminding parents to "cut the damn grapes" after one wound up lodged in the airway of a five-year-old boy.
"Attention Parents," the post begins.
The grape became lodged in the boy's airway last week and his mother gave Angela permission to share their story.
"This sweet soul had to be operated on, under general anaesthetic to remove the grape" the post continues.
"He is VERY lucky that part of his airway was open or else this could have ended badly.
Since posting, the X-ray has been shared over 25,000 times with many people warning their friends.
"As a former paramedic - grapes and hot dogs are the worst for lodging in throats, but anything soft and circular can be deadly. I always encourage anyone I see feeding young kids soft, circular items, to cut the food in half."


Bo's daughter succumbed to a rare liver disease in 2003, three years after she graduated from Marquette. So he and his wife, Candy, started the Nicole Ellis Foundation, which is funded mainly through private gifts and the annual Warrior Golf Outing. The foundation also provides an annual scholarship through Marquette's Ethnic Alumni Association and supports the American Liver Foundation.
Kevin is an institution. As senior vice president of public and community relations for the Baltimore Ravens, an organization he has been with for 31 years, he oversees an award-winning staff responsible for the team's website and most of the print publications. He also has provided media relations assistance at 24 Super Bowls and two Pro Bowls and was Marquette's sports information director during the final years of Al McGuire's tenure.
As a season ticket holder for Marquette men's and women's basketball, Craig and his wife, Wendy, don't miss a game. And as a major supporter of Marquette athletics, Craig doesn't miss an opportunity to help the university's student-athletes and proud athletic tradition continue to soar to greater heights.
Playing basketball at Marquette was just the beginning of Tom's athletic connection to the university. He served four terms as M Club president, the longest in history; was a member of the men's basketball alumni reunion committees; is on the Marquette Athletics Board; and, with wife Pat, has committed to establishing endowed scholarships for men's and women's basketball through their estate plans.


text:
The Wood Word • February 24, 2019 • https://www.thewoodword.org/top-stories/2019/02/24/opinion-the-year-without-an-oscars-host/
OPINION: The year without an Oscars host
Photo credit to the American Broadcasting Company.
Ashlynn Gallagher, Opinion Editor
At this year's Oscars, the bold decision has been made to go without a host.
It's no secret the Academy originally planned on Kevin Hart hosting before his controversial drop out. While it is unclear whether or not the Academy asked other celebrities to host it is clear what their answer was.
One of my favorite parts about award shows are the hosts' opening monologues. Call me crazy, but there is something satisfying about watching celebrities make fun of each other for over five minutes. Getting to see Jimmy Kimmel mock Matt Damon and Mel Gibson brings me more joy than I'm proud to admit.
If I'm going to sit down and stare at my television screen for hours on end, I want to be entertained. I want to laugh and cry. I want to feel something. With a lack of human interaction, I just don't see how that's possible. Having celebrity presenters like Michael B. Jordan, Constance Wu and James McAvoy helps, but the presenters are not as memorable as the host.
Over the years, stars like Bob Hope, Billy Crystal and Steve Martin graced the stage, setting the bar high for all future hosts. The host is the life of the party. They are the comedic break we all need while watching endless categories and acceptance speeches.
Who could forget when Jimmy Kimmel brought a group of tourists into the theater mid-ceremony to get autographs, Hugh Jackman's memorable opening number honoring that year's nominated films or when Ellen DeGeneres had pizza delivered to hungry guests while staging the most iconic selfie of all time?
The last time the Oscars didn't have a host was in 1989 which featured an infamous 11-minute musical opening featuring Rob Lowe and Snow White. Let's just hope they learned from their previous mistake because after having record-low views last year, they can't afford another poor ceremony.
I'm not saying that the show can't end well. Who knows, this could be one of the best shows they've had in years, but to say I am skeptical would be an understatement.
When it comes down to it, every great ceremony needs a great emcee. Don't worry Academy, there's always next year… have your people call my people.
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Twitter: @AGallagherTWW


text:
Retired Gary Neville backed to replace Gray at Sky
Gary Neville is now as short as 3/1 to replace Andy Gray at Sky following his retirement from football.
The 35-year-old Manchester United full-back has ended his competitive career and a move into the media could well be on the cards, with Victor Chandler cutting the odds on the former England man becoming a Sky Sports pundit to 3/1.
There is a vacancy to fill following Gray's recent departure from Sky following allegations of sexist behaviour and Neville's retirement could come at the perfect time for him to fill the position. Jamie Redknapp is currently the 8/11 favourite.
Neville, who made 602 appearances for United and 85 for England, said of his retirement: "I have been a Manchester United fan all my life and fulfilled every dream I've ever had. I am disappointed that my playing days are at an end. However, it comes to us all and it's knowing when that time is and for me that time is now."


We are a small AKC Specialty Club located on the NW side of Tucson, Arizona.
Our club works to promote the German Shepherd Dog breed and to provide education opportunities for the public about the breed.
We offer GSD Specialty Shows in March of each year (until 2018 it was April but we were fortunate enough to be able to move back to cooler dates beginning in 2019). We also offer AKC All-Breed (with preference to the GSD) Obedience and Rally trials in conjunction with the Specialty Shows. Please take a look at the pages under the Show Information menu item for more information.
Our club offers dog training classes on the NW side of Tucson, AZ. These classes are open to all breeds. Please see the pages under our Training Classes menu item for more information.
We have also made our newsletter available online. Please check under the Newsletter menu to see what we have been up to!


Florence and the Machine announced their early summer North American tour in support of the band's 2018 LP "High as Hope." The tour starts May 10th at Mayer, Arizona's FORM Arcosanti Fest and concludes June 9th in Miami. Florence Welch and company will also be headlining New York's Governors Ball on June 1st.
On select dates Christine and the Queens, Blood Orange, Perfume Genius and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats will be opening acts.
Tickets for the tour will go on sale to the public on February 8th on Live Nation.


text:
Q: find all permutations of non-overlapping polygons in R (sp or sf objects) I have a spatial object (say a Multipolygon in sf or a SpatialPolygons in sp) and I want to find all the possible permutations of non-overlapping features. Here are some diagrams that illustrate what I am after. Let's say I have the following polygons.
library(sf)

# points
a <- st_as_sf(data.frame(lon = c(1,2,3.5,3,6), lat = c(0,1,0,1.5,-3)), coords = c('lon', 'lat'))

# circles
b <- st_buffer(a, 1)

# colors
cols = c('grey', 'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue')
cols = adjustcolor(cols, alpha.f = .5)

# plot
plot(b, col = cols)

I am after a routine that would create the following 3 objects whose plots would look like:
a.

b.

c.

Ideally, the routine would also allow for a threshold on the intersection of polygons.
I think whatever routine I could write myself would take prohibitively long even for moderate-sized objects (say, 150 polygons, yielding lots of possible combinations). I was hoping that someone have already figured this problem out.

A: M <- st_overlaps(b, sparse = FALSE) * 1
(M <- 1 - M)
#      [,1] [,2] [,3] [,4] [,5]
# [1,]    1    0    1    1    1
# [2,]    0    1    0    0    1
# [3,]    1    0    1    0    1
# [4,]    1    0    0    1    1
# [5,]    1    1    1    1    1
colnames(M) <- c('grey', 'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue')

library(igraph)
A <- graph_from_adjacency_matrix(M)
max_cliques(A)
# [[1]]
# + 2/5 vertices, named, from dae1f9f:
# [1] red  blue
#
# [[2]]
# + 3/5 vertices, named, from dae1f9f:
# [1] grey   blue   yellow
#
# [[3]]
# + 3/5 vertices, named, from dae1f9f:
# [1] grey  blue  green
cliques(A)
# ...
# Omitted, 13 cliques in total

First we use st_overlaps to get a kind of adjacency matrix, M, where two polygons are adjacent in this graph if they overlap in your data. But actually we are going to need 1 - M, where two polygons are adjacent in this new graph if they don't overlap. That's useful because what you are looking for then corresponds to (maximal) cliques in this graph:

cliques find all complete subgraphs in the input graph, obeying the
  size limitations given in the min and max arguments.
max_cliques finds all maximal cliques in the input graph. A clique in
  maximal if it cannot be extended to a larger clique. The largest
  cliques are always maximal, but a maximal clique is not neccessarily
  the largest.

In this case cliques are sets of polygons where none of the polygons overlap with any of the rest.
Also, as to apply this to sp objects, you only need to compute a corresponding M. I believe that over helps with that.
Bonus
As to add the possibility for thresholds, we just need to recompute M.
aux <- function(x) if (length(x) == 1) x else 0
M <- matrix(1, nrow(a), nrow(a))
for(i in 1:nrow(a))
  for(j in 1:nrow(a))
    M[i, j] <- aux(st_area(st_intersection(b[i, 1], b[j, 1])))
diag(M) <- 0

Then, for instance, if we count two polygons as intersecting only if the intersection area is greater than 0.2, we run
M <- 1 * (M > 0.2) # Getting threshold-overlaps
M <- 1 - M # The needed adjacency matrix


Ethan Truong Nguyen, 9, makes an atom at the DCCCD STEM Institute booth during the Pi Day Math Festival presented by talkSTEM at Sammons Park. The event also debuted walkSTEM, which included guided walks aimed to teach children that math is all around.
Brookhaven College Math, Science and Engineering Division hosts an annual STEM Fair. The community-centered fair is open to children ages 6-18 and provides information about careers in science, technology, engineering and math while participating in hands-on activities.


the nervnus sjsteai, on which aliine the; ai't, is susceptible or nthenrise.
although the pleura was extensively diseased, in the form of "grapes,"
depends upon his age, the quality of the sleep, and his idiosyncrasy.
fluctuations that are liable to occur from year to year."
made a perfect recovery. The appendages were perfectly healthy.


text:
1950s >> 1958 >> no-651-november-1958
The Passing Show: 'Ardies' 'At
'Ardies' 'At
At the Labour Party conference the executive only narrowly escaped defeat on a motion which advocated the integration of the public schools in the state system. This would mean the end of public schools as we know them, and the speakers who called for this won the applause of the conference. The executive finally succeeded in getting the motion rejected only because the majority of those old props of the platform, the union block votes, was behind them.
But what difference would it make to our society, which rests on the exploitation of the many by the few, if every public school was closed down tomorrow? Some Labourites seem to come near to believing in this connection that if we all dropped our H's and spoke with provincial accents we should have taken a stride forward towards Socialism. It reminds one of the people who, when asked why the Labour Party claims to be Socialist, recall that Keir Hardie turned up at the House of Commons in a cloth cap, and seem to think that it clinches the argument. But the important thing is not how you dress, but what you do; not how you speak, but what you say.
Miss Bacon's Dislikes
Even the speakers from the platform had to join in the general denunciation. Alice Bacon, M.P., who replied to the debate for the executive, said, "we all detest and dislike the public schools." If by "all" she meant all the people in the Labour Party, the statement is not true. Many leading Labourites not only went to public schools themselves, but send their children there as well. The reason is simple and obvious—they think that children get a better education at public schools than they do at state schools. The equipment and accommodation at the average public school is much better than it is at the average state school, teachers at public schools get more social prestige and higher pay, so teachers with the highest academic qualifications tend to go to them, and most important of all, a teacher at a state secondary or grammar school often has to take a class of thirty-five or forty, while his public school colleague can concentrate on a much smaller number. Naturally those Labour leaders who can afford it send their children to public schools.
Under new management
But the question goes much deeper than this. Even supposing that we had absolute equality of opportunity—which is impossible in a Capitalist society—even supposing that no member of the ruling class could give money or shares or a better education to his children, and that while the Smiths and Browns provided the Capitalists of this generation, the Joneses and the Robinsons provided the Capitalists of the next (again, impossible, but let it pass) even supposing all this, we should have exactly the same society that we have now. So long as we have a Capitalist society—part private and part state, like the Conservatives want, or a little-less-private and a little-more-state like the Labourites want—we will have the exploitation of the mass of people, the working class, by a small minority, the ruling class. To support Capitalism while demanding equality of opportunity is like supporting burglary, provided everyone has an equal chance to become a burglar. Equality of opportunity in our present society simply means that each generation of Capitalists would have different names from the last lot. But who in the world cares what they are called? To alter a familiar line, a sewer by any other name would smell as foul.
The Socialist Answer
Of course, there would be no public schools in a Socialist society. It would be impossible for one child to be huddled with forty others in a badly-vefltilated room opposite a soap factory, with the teacher wondering how he can keep up the instalments, while another is in a class of ten or twelve, in an airy room in pleasant surroundings. In a Socialist society, the members of it would determine what education would best fit children for living, and the children would have equal opportunities to benefit by it. But those Labourites who call for the abolition of public schools in our present society are confusing, as they so often do. the effects with the cause.
The Methods of Colonel Grivas
There are some facts about Cyprus which seem to have been forgotten.
Colonel Grivas, who is the head of Eoka, has a long history of extreme right wing activity, and of willingness to resort to violence to achieve his ends. It would not strain an over-used word to call him a Fascist.
Grivas took the opportunity of the feeling aroused by the announcement by a member of the British Government in the House of Commons that Cyprus could "never" be given its independence to begin a campaign of terrorism in the island, which still continues. This campaign is directed not only against the British, but also against Grivas's political opponents among the Greeks, who make up more than eighty per cent, of the island's population. Grivas has killed more Greeks than he has Britons. This fact has been repeatedly stressed by the British authorities. Some of the Greeks have been killed by shooting, others by being beaten or hacked to death in circumstances of revolting brutality: both men and women have been murdered.
A Death in Famagusta
In early October a British woman, the wife of a soldier, was shot dead in the streets of Famagusta. At the time of writing it is not known who did it. Eoka have issued leaflets denying responsibly, and the authorities say that if it was an Eoka gunman, this is the first British woman killed by Eoka. However, it seems more likely to have been done by Eoka than by anyone else.
This was a most deplorable crime. The woman had five children, the youngest being still in arms. What happens to the children now? Inevitably the crime must have a terrible effect on them. There is a saying that if you educate a woman, you educate a family: and there is a grim sense in which it is true to say, if you kill a woman, you kill a family.
More Deaths in Famagusta
As soon as the crime was known, a body of British troops descended on the district of the town where the murder, as it happened, had taken place. Famagusta is not a large town, and in it numbers of Greeks have been killed by Eoka because Grivas did not like their politics. No doubt in this district there were many Greeks who have had friends or relatives shot or otherwise brutally done to death by Eoka.
The British troops cordoned off the district, and proceeded to arrest every young man they could find. Within hours a thirty-year-old Greek was dead from suffocation, having been thrust into an army lorry with many others who had the misfortune to live in the area; an eighteen-year-old Greek was also dead, in circumstances which have not yet been revealed; a British soldier had been accidentally shot dead by one of his own comrades; ambulances were running shuttle services carrying injured Greeks from the temporary compounds where they were being "questioned" by British troops; no less than two hundred and fifty Greeks had been treated for injuries ("only" sixteen had been retained in hospital, said an official spokesman—"only" is an interesting word to use in this connection); and a twelve-year-old girl, having seen the "questioning" in progress, ran away in terror and died of shock. Apart from this the material damage, such as car-windows and shop-windows smashed in, was considerable.
These figures of casualties are those given by British official sources: unofficial sources put the numbers of dead and injured higher. (At first even an official spokesman said five Greeks had died during the operations, according to The Observer. October 5th, 1958, but subsequently he admitted less.)
Revenge—on whom?
If the dead and wounded Greeks, down to the twelve-year-old girl, had all been proved members or supporters of Eoka, then the British ruling class could claim that their soldiers were taking revenge—assuming that revenge, rather than the usual claim of "justice," is to be the British aim in Cyprus. But the victims of this military brutality were simply those Greeks who happened to live in the area—people who, the British authorities admit, are terrorised by Grivas and have suffered more in the way of Eoka killings than the British themselves.
Broken heads, but no violence
Sir Hugh Foot, the Governor of Cyprus, one of whose duties theoretically is to look after the welfare of the citizens under him, issued a statement after these events saying "Our first obligation is to stand against violence," but made not even the most perfunctory expression of regret for the activities of the British troops. Presumably death and injury do not come within his definition of violence when the sufferers are only Greek Cypriots. The War Minister, Mr. Soames, has denied that the troops concerned were out of control; for which one can only conclude that the things they did were not objected to by their officers and commanders. Mr. Soames said that he was very satisfied with the conduct of our troops in Cyprus (Manchester Guardian, October 7th, 1958). According to a BBC broadcast, Mr. Duncan Sandys, the Defence Minister, claimed that he was proud of the way the British troops had behaved.
Pride—and prejudice
Couldn't you have said, Mr. Soames, that you would have been even more satisfied if the British troops had injured only two hundred, say, of the local inhabitants, instead of two hundred and fifty? Couldn't you have said, Mr. Sandys, that you would have been even more proud if the soldiers during these operations had caused the deaths of only three people, say, instead of four?
How satisfied, how proud, can you get?
Alwyn Edgar


The harvest of the top-quality kiwi for the Sweeki brand has started in Chile. Origine Group plans to sell 2,000 tons of Italian kiwifruit, and intends to sell the same amount from Chile as well.
In Chile, the harvest of green kiwis for Origine Group's "Sweeki" brand has begun. This season, the two Chilean members of Origine Group, David del Curto and Copefrut, will increase the quantity of Hayward kiwi under the brand "Sweeki Green", used to market top-quality Origine Group kiwis. Only kiwifruit of a superior quality, excellent appearance, high sugar content, and high dry matter can become a Sweeki kiwi.
In the orchards of the two Chilean companies, the picking started with high hopes, in terms of both quantity and quality. Chilean-grown Sweeki kiwi will be mostly directed to the Asian market, where they will join the late Italian kiwi, of which shipments are drawing to a close.
Alessandro Zampagna, Managing Director of Origine Group.
The very first shipments of Sweeki from Chile are expected shortly in the coming weeks.
The consortium Origine Group was founded in 2015 by several companies who are leaders in international markets in the production and trading of fresh fruit and vegetables. The consortium – established by Afe, Apofruit, Fruit C2, Gran Frutta Zani, Kiwi Uno, Op Kiwi Sole, Pempa-Corer, Salvi-Unacoa, Spreafico, Minguzzi and the Chilean groups David Del Curto and Copefrut – represents companies already firmly present in domestic and international markets, with a total turnover of over 1,200 million dollars. They have joined forces to provide top-quality products and are working together on innovative new varieties to explore new and emerging markets.
For more information, visit www.sweeki.co and www.origine-group.com.


text:
The bill's sponsor and families dependent on THC oil were scrambling to get it to a vote ahead of Crossover Day.
AJC Deja News: Georgia governor roots out marijuana crops (1984)
Mandi Albright, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A review of the news that made The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's front pages through the decades.
Today's AJC Deja News comes to you from the Thursday, March 22, 1984, edition of The Atlanta Constitution.
HARRIS PLANS TO STOP POT AT SOURCE: TEAMS TO SEEK OUT MARIJUANA FIELDS
Georgia Governor Joe Frank Harris declared all-out war in 1984. On pot.
He even had a cool name for his battalion: The Governor's Special Strike Force on Drug Suppression. Its logo? "A bright green marijuana leaf with a helicopter superimposed on it, the propeller tearing through the plant," Constitution reporter Celia W. Dugger wrote in her article detailing the state's plan to root out pot in the Peach State.
Gov. Joe Frank Harris began an aggressive war on illegal marijuana growing in Georgia back in 1984.
Photo: AJC Newspaper Archives
"More than 200 state employees this spring will be swooping over Georgia in helicopters and planes," Dugger continued, "hiking into remote wooded areas, and harvesting for destruction one of the state's most lucrative cash crops -- marijuana."
The governor had just empowered the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to "enlist and organize the resources of other state departments to combat marijuana growing."
Now, fast-forward 35 years. Georgia legislators are considering bills this session to allow medical marijuana to be grown in the state and sold to patients.
Photo: Mike Snook / Special to AJC
The Georgia Hemp Farm Act, HB 213, would provide for licensing and permit requirements for hemp growers and hemp processors. HB 324 would permit medical marijuana growing, manufacturing, testing and distribution at 60 dispensaries.
» Live: Use the AJC's tracker to follow Georgia bills
The AJC's Mark Niesse writes in a March 5 article that the "dispensaries would serve the state's rising number of physician-approved medical marijuana patients — more than 8,400 so far. Marijuana would remain illegal for recreational use."
Growing legal cannabis wouldn't be cheap.
"Initial licenses would cost $150,000 for large companies, $37,500 for smaller companies and $30,000 for retailers," Niesse writes. "Businesses would also have to pay annual license renewal fees ranging from $10,000 to $50,000."
A member of the Drug Suppression unit of the Governor's Task Force removes marijuana plants found near Southlake Mall in Morrow, Georgia, June 9, 1988.
Photo: BILLY DOWNS / AJC File
In our March 1984 report, GBI Director Phil Peters told the Constitution that in 1983, "state and local officials uprooted more than 660,000 marijuana plants with a street value of more than $291 million, and arrested 140 people in connection with the seizures."
Attitudes towards marijuana and laws regulating it have relaxed in the U.S. since the '80s. Washington D.C. and 10 states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington -- have all legalized recreational marijuana use. Georgia's medical marijuana law, passed in 2015, allows patients to possess and use marijuana with less than 5 percent THC, but it remains illegal to buy, sell or transport it. THC is the main psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.
When the AJC asked Georgians in January 2018 if marijuana should be legalized for any use, 50% of respondents said yes, 46% said no and 3% said they didn't know. According to an October 2018 Gallup poll, 66% of Americans support legalizing pot.
Georgia lawmakers on the House Study Committee on Industrial Hemp Production voted unanimously Dec. 3 to support the start of in-state hemp farming. The proposal will be considered by the Georgia General Assembly next year. From left: state Reps. Carl Gilliard, D-Garden City; Jimmy Pruett, R-Eastman; John Corbett, R-Lake Park; and Robert Dickey, R-Musella. MARK NIESSE / MARK.NIESSE@AJC.COM
As for Governor Harris' anti-drug team, it's still operating -- just under a different name: the Governor's Task Force on Drug Suppression. Gone is the old "Strike Force" designation. Additionally, the Georgia Department of Public Safety now oversees the state's eradication/suppression program instead of the GBI.
While societal norms and marijuana laws have changed in the past 35 years, the GTF's methods for finding and confiscating illegal marijuana crops is much the same as it was in the mid-'80s. Trained pilots look for pot plants from the air while folks on the ground seek it out and yank it up by the roots.
"We're going to do it the old-fashioned way," GBI Director Peters told the AJC in 1984. "By hand."
Staff writer Mark Niesse contributed to this article.
ABOUT DEJA NEWS
In this highly irregular series, we scour the AJC archives for the most interesting news from days gone by, show you the original front page and update the story.
If you have a story you'd like researched and featured in AJC Deja News, send an email with as much information as you know. Email: malbright@ajc.com. Use the subject line "AJC Deja News."
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