text:
About FV
The StoryVerse™
Fiction Vortex Authors
Horror 2014 4th Place: Collection
October 14, 2014 /1 Comment/in Fiction /by Fiction Vortex
When does the strange become commonplace, horror the norm? In Collection, Rebecca Ann Jordan takes us to another world of dark seasons and demons where community is everything and a mistimed union damns them all. — Johnny Worthen
By Rebecca Ann Jordan
I wish that death were more final.
One year ago, Evangeline's mother, Maya, was beheaded. They sent her body back to be dropped in a river, buried, worshipped, melted, or eaten in the respective traditions of the five villages. As is right and good.
I oversaw the feast preparations myself — Maya was my only daughter, after all, and a man has certain obligations when it comes to selecting just the right spice. Maya had always been a devoutly contrary woman. Cayenne would go well with her.
Jacobi, Evangeline's father, clutched his little girl in his fat cacao arms. He dwarfed her; at six, she was a frail, spindly thing, with a head that was too big for her body, and eyes that were like the pits our hunters dug to catch tigers — yawning. Sharp-edged. Consuming everything that dared to step near. That was the reason I had never really held my granddaughter's gaze. I was afraid of being swallowed.
As I was saying, Jacobi carried his child with him and stood beside me as a pair of men — one of them, my silent brother Marius — pried open the box the Queen's soldiers had dropped at our doorsteps before fleeing. The lid scraped off and thudded onto the humid ground. It was as I had expected: the body of my daughter, and the severed head just above it, cushioned by Maya's thick black hair, like it was being swallowed into the night. I reached down to close the staring eyes, but Maya blinked, and her thick lips rippled to form words.
"Where is my baby?" she said.
You're wondering what Maya did to deserve a beheading.
In this region, there is the winter, spring, summer, fall, and the season between. It is the breath that lasts before death but after dying. Shut off the candles. Huddle together, and continue counting heads to be sure no one has gone missing in between times, that the between season hasn't snatched them into the nothing-darkness that weighs down our jungle like sweat and a woolen blanket. Sometimes the season is just a few hours long. Sometimes, in bad years, it lasts a month, and there is utter silence, then, for if you speak in the between you will lose your voice. My brother Marius, before he died, once laughed, thinking the between had turned to winter. He didn't speak again while he lived. It is dangerous to wander in the between. Tense and cautious to eat. Idiocy to speak.
And, as you may have guessed, illegal to conceive a child during the between.
"Where is my baby?" Maya said, and puckered her lips to kiss her darling girl.
Evangeline laughed with chilling glee to see her mother's head looking around for her.
Marius lifted Maya's body out of the box and laid her on the feasting table, allowing three women to prepare her.
"Are you going to ignore me?" Maya demanded, still in the box.
My wife grinned, most of her teeth gone, and cackled, but then, my wife never had been sane. I reached to tuck a stray wisp of soft white hair behind her ear. It seemed the only reasonable thing to do.
Maya glared as Marius picked up her head by the scalp, holding it aloft for the rest of the village to see. "Well? No need to wait on my account. Are you going to feast?" The village continued to stare. "Oh, I'll do it myself." She glanced down at her body, but her hands didn't twitch for the spices and her legs didn't move toward the cauldron.
"Don't strain yourself," Jacobi said, though his voice was a bare whisper. He moved forward to take the head from Marius and tuck it neatly under his free arm. "If it's a feast you want, it's a feast you'll get."
While the rest of my people shuddered into motion, Evangeline clapped her hands and squealed with delight.
"It's alright, baby," Maya said. "Everything will be alright."
Some small part of me thought that we had displeased the Three Goddesses, and that maybe, when we had finished roasting her body, spicing her flesh, and burying the bones, she would be at peace and Maya's eyes would close. But they didn't.
Afterward, as a warm night crept in around us, Jacobi carried his daughter in one arm and his wife's head into the other, Maya cooing to Evangeline all the way to their tent. I don't know what happened in the very late hours of the dark — I imagined Evangeline's nothingness-stare — but I heard, close by, Maya singing a lullaby my wife had sung to her when she'd been young:
Szerelem, szerelem
átkozott gyötrelem
Love, love. Wretched suffering.
Behind the tent wall, Evangeline applauded.
We had known her father would be next — the crime second only to the woman's seduction in the between was the willingness of the man to give in to that seduction — but Jacobi refused to flee and leave his daughter. "Don't be a fool," Maya snarled at him that morning as her skull swung from the pendulum of hair. "They'll cut off your head, and then where will our daughter be?"
Jacobi set Maya's jaws to nestle in Evangeline's lap, gave his whisper: "We don't know that they'll kill me. And Evie needs me." The little girl looked up at him where she sat cross-legged on the ground, running a comb through Maya's hair.
"Ow," Maya gasped. "Honey, could you go a bit more gently with that?"
The spindly, big-headed creature that was my granddaughter smiled and whispered something into Maya's ear.
"Am I good enough for your daughter yet, sir?" Jacobi asked me.
Wait. You're wondering what happened to him. If you're smart, you only wondered in one direction.
They came the next morning for Jacobi. He wrapped his enormous cacao arms around Evangeline so tightly I thought I heard the crack of a frail bone. The Queen's soldiers kicked at his knees until he went down, and then prodded his arms with knives until he had to release Evangeline. I think I was the only one who noticed that the soldiers avoided touching the little girl. For copulating in the between, they said, Jacobi would be sentenced to die. One of them began to wonder that wasn't it odd that the criminals' daughter was so old? No, said his commander. It was some demon's work of the between that had obscured the parents from justice for so long.
I held my daughter's head aloft. While the rest of the village watched in solemn quietude, Maya screamed, "Don't take him! It was all my doing! Oh, by all Three Goddesses, take me! Crush my skull! Just don't hurt him!"
Demon work, muttered the soldiers, and they tugged their helmets down over the place between their brows, the house of the inner eye.
They took Jacobi anyway. I found myself surprisingly content with this. He had never been good enough for my daughter.
As is right and good, the box was sent back to us with Jacobi's body inside. We knew it was coming. We had been cooking side dishes and preparing the seasonings all day. Jacobi had been softer-hearted than my shrewish daughter — fresh rosemary would suit his body well. And yet nobody moved forward to open the casket. I finally gave Evangeline a wide berth, crowbar in my hand, and pried the nailed lid off. Jacobi's massive body was cramped in the box.
But his eyes rolled up to stare at me. His lips worked for a moment before Jacobi said, "Am I good enough for your daughter yet, sir?"
I would have said no, except it is disrespectful to speak ill of the dead. Even if you're speaking to the dead in the first place.
Maya and Jacobi were placed at the head of the table while servings were doled out. There was an air of celebration this time — friends of the village, still alive! Would the rest of the villagers live on when they were dead, too? They toasted to Jacobi, especially those who had hunted with him, and made lewd jokes about his lips, and even passed him a bite of meat from Jacobi's own hip. This Maya took eagerly between her teeth. At that moment, Jacobi and Maya looked at each other with such longing that I was glad they no longer had hands to touch with.
I would not bring my child's head with me to my tent, nor the head of the man who had deflowered her, but Evangeline was still whole, and I supposed my wife and I were the only family she had left. When I opened the flap of Evangeline's tent to collect her for the night, having made a small pile of blankets for her to sleep on in my tent, I found her with her parents' heads. She had grasped one in each hand, yanking by the hair, and was pressing their lips together. Maya and Jacobi moaned with soft contentment.
It should have been my first inkling, but my horror drowned out the fact that a spindly young thing like her should not have been able to lift a ten-pound head in her fist, let alone two.
When everyone was dead, it was much louder around camp.
Wait. I'm forgetting some essential part of the narrative. Be patient with me. I'm old and my mind isn't once what it was.
It took longer than I would have thought for the rumors to spread. Perhaps no one in the rest of the five villages believed the soldiers who had first come to take Jacobi away. Perhaps they were afraid to see that it was true. But come people did, eventually. They came to stare at my daughter and her lover, who attempted to engage the strangers in lively conversation. Unsurprisingly, no guests opted to stay overnight.
Then the soldiers came. Demon work, they said. The whole place was cursed, they said, but maybe more of us than just Maya and Jacobi had committed illegal things in the between. More likely culprits — the cooks, who silently made our food in that breath before winter, those who had grown bigger, those who had coughed or had a fitful dream in the between — all of these were questioned. My people pointed fingers at each other, terrified of being the next to fall under the axe. The next person they took was Marius, my brother. I will not say that I did not shed tears when they took him, and he looked over his shoulder, lips parted with words that the between had stolen forever from him.
That is, until he was sent back.
"Oh!" he cried, once I pried open the lid. "Brother! How long I've waited to have a real conversation with you." I'd almost forgotten what his voice was like — rich and full-bodied. Honey and whiskey would go well with his roast.
Evangeline rushed to take his head, and cradle it lovingly in her arms. He laughed. "Where are we going, my dear?"
"With the others," she said simply.
This went on until early fall of that year. The bodies in our village dwindled, while Evangeline's collection of heads only grew. Eventually they even took my wife, who cackled until they'd dragged her out of my earshot. This was the first time I remember Evangeline ever embracing me. Her skin was cool to the touch, and yet had an intangible quality, like trying to grasp hold of a snake.
And still they sent the bodies back, heads and all. As is right and good.
Eventually they came for me, the last of the villagers. I was resigned to it. After all, I couldn't leave Evangeline alone. But as it happened, I had retreated into the forest — taking care of natural functions that none of my people had to fulfill any longer — when the soldiers arrived. Evangeline told me this, later. "They don't believe in killing children," she said with a little pout. "But I think they don't know I can take care of myself. They think I'll starve without help. But there are still bodies left, aren't there, Grandfather? Might we eat, now?"
When everyone was dead, it was much louder around camp. At first, I considered this a blessing. I still had my daughter. I still had all my friends, chattering far more frequently to each other than they ever had before. Is it odd to say that their lack of bodies knit our community more tightly together? Evened everyone out. Nobody was taller than the other, and everyone only weighed about ten pounds.
Evangeline took to carrying around Maya's head. "Why are you still on two feet?" Maya said to me one day, the warning scowl coming over her face. "When the rest of us can't move around at all. Do you have any idea how privileged you are, picking us up and putting us down?" I didn't mention that actually, Evangeline did most of that, arranging the heads like settings at a death-feast to create the highest possible output of harmony among the guests. "To have two hands again. I'd give anything."
"Honey," said Jacob, "It isn't his fault that we had the misfortune to have our heads severed. This is our doing, anyway." I respected him a little bit more for that. It had been their doing, but young lust was hardly to blame, no matter how foolish.
"Don't defend him," Maya snarled, curling her lip even farther than she'd been able to in life — a result of the cayenne, I suspected. "What gives him the right to walk all arrogant while the rest of us are at the mercy of my baby girl? No offense, darling."
"Mama," Evangeline said, dragging her by the hair up so their eyes were level. "You said yourself someone had to take care of me. Grandpa's doing a good job."
I was smart enough, by then, not to feel warmed by the compliment. I had begun to feel a persistent headache coming on beneath my forehead.
There was no place to put them — their own tents were out of the question, as they couldn't get in or out themselves and if they had a problem they would simply scream until I came to pick them up. That was when Evangeline said, "We should build a shelf. A big shelf, with squares, and we can put each head in a square, and even write their names on labels, so we'll never forget who was who."
Though I was inwardly horrified at the thought, it was a good solution. I'm not bitter. I recognize talent when I see it, and Evangeline certainly had it. So the two of us left in the village began to collect and polish the wood. Evangeline herself had a large hand in the specifications, furrowing her brow in such concentrated childhood that she looked years older. And still not quite human. Her body was growing, but long and spindly, hardly able to manage itself, like a newborn deer.
As I was hammering the boards into place, Evangeline picked up Marius' head to place it experimentally on his shelf. He was bald, and so she had made a hat out of his own clothes to sit lopsidedly atop his scalp. "What is this?" he asked with good-natured curiosity.
"A shelf," Maya said with a roll of her eyes, a shelf below his. "What does it look like, Uncle?"
"No matter, no matter. Just curious. Are we going to make tea together again, Evie?"
The little girl grinned. "That would be just lovely in every way."
On the shelf above Marius, my wife winked at me and flashed a mouth of missing teeth and howled with laughter. Her placement reminded me of some kind of twisted family tree bearing odd fruit.
The shelf was done just before the end of fall. Evangeline arranged the heads and began to mark labels near each one. I helped her reach the higher rows. Everyone chatted eagerly, settling into their preferred spots. Some arguments about ideal shelf-space were quickly remedied by exchanging cubbies. By the time it was done, the shelf was completely full. I was impressed with Evangeline's perfect forecasting in that regard.
No, that isn't right. I remembered there was one unoccupied cubby near the top.
I'm still not sure where Evangeline got the axe from.
Wait. Let me start over.
When the between came that year, I bundled Evangeline into my arms and we retreated to my tent. I told her to keep quiet. If she was hungry, she must reach as slowly as possible for the food and eat without smacking her lips against her gums. If she was restless, she must breathe in and out, slowly, and not make any sudden movements, and not jump up and run out to see how our shelf of villagers was faring. If she heard screams, she must not be afraid, but must stay put.
The twilight came.
It bleached all the color from the open tent and the land around us. The trees were gray. The sky was some shade of white. My skin was black. I would say that Evangeline's skin was black, too, but that does not even come close to the color. It was a purple so deep it wasn't purple. It swallowed all light.
Very slowly, I pressed my finger to my lips. I had survived many betweens before. This one was no different. An unseen beast howled outside, a hurricane tore at the trees, and yet nothing touched our skins, not even, it seemed, the air. We remained in that nothing-place, surrounded by the thrashing death throes of the season. Presently I became aware of Evangeline staring at me intently.
For perhaps the first time in her young life, I met her gaze. I felt nothing in that time. All of my fears, my trepidations for the future, my sweet and bitter memories—everything fell away, left with an emptiness so refreshing that I thought, for half a moment, I would very willingly do whatever Evangeline told me to do, like a prodded cow pushed to more fertile land. There is comfort in having your fate decided by another.
I'm still not sure where Evangeline got the axe from. It was in her hand before I remember her reaching for it. She must have moved quickly to grab it, yet I thought I would have noticed and chastised her if she had.
"What are you doing?" I said, alarmed, before I could stop myself.
Her teeth flashed with glee. "Mama was right," she said, and her voice rang clearly through the noise. No, it was the noise. There were monsoons in her throat and hail in her fists and tornadoes in her hair. "It isn't fair." She moved too quickly for me to see. Her cool nothing-skin traced the folds of my deep wrinkles. Hairs rose all over my body. Her fingers trailed down to the age-waddle of my throat. "My collection is almost done."
I don't remember pain. Isn't that odd? I remember suddenly being sideways on the ground, unable to move, blinking as my granddaughter used my thin shirt to clean my blood from her axe. "There we go," she said, and picked my head up, and kissed my forehead, just above my persistent headache. "You are my revered grandfather. Your place is at the head of our village."
She tucked me gently under her arm, climbed up the shelf I had built and placed me lovingly into the empty cubby in the top row. The between ended abruptly as it had begun, leaving the world perhaps a little rumpled but no less bright than it had been before the silent storm. As is right and good. "My girl," Maya cooed. "My brilliant baby girl." Evangeline began to sing: Szerelem, szerelem, and stroked a comb lovingly through her mother's hair.
Rebecca Ann Jordan is a speculative fiction author and artist. She has published poetry and fiction in Infinite Science Fiction One, Fiction Vortex, FLAPPERHOUSE, Strangelet, Swamp Biscuits & Tea, Yemassee Journal and more. Becca regularly columns for DIYMFA.com, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing from California Institute of the Arts. See more of her work at rebeccaannjordan.com.
Tags: fantasy, horror, horror contest, Johnny Worthen, Rebecca Ann Jordan
https://i0.wp.com/www.fictionvortex.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/FV-ebook-October-20141.jpg?fit=999%2C1600&ssl=1 1600 999 Fiction Vortex https://www.fictionvortex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/VortexW-1-293x300.png Fiction Vortex2014-10-14 07:00:432016-06-13 16:03:46Horror 2014 4th Place: Collection
The Green Ones, Ep1
010) CD Review #3: "Forever Angels" & "Citizen Flame"
009) Haunted Houses
014) CD Review #5: "How We Got Out of the Furnace" & "Matter"
007) CD Review #2: "A Breathe of Fresh Air" & "Down There"
015) CD Review #6: "Snapshot, 1988"
Horror 2014 5th Place: Dormant
006) CD Review #1: "Body Perfect" & "A Devil Inside"
Outside the Flapperhouse – 11.12.2014 | FLAPPERHOUSE says:
[…] Rebecca Ann Jordan spooked readers with her horror story "Collection" at Fiction Vortex. […]
© Copyright - Fiction Vortex - All Rights Reserved. - powered by Enfold WordPress Theme
Plot Factory
Pirate Publishing
The Horror 2014 Issue is Alive! Book Review: Eleanor by Johnny Worthen


text:
Imperial Portrait of Consort Chunhui Wearing Natural Pearls up for Auction
Natural Pearls on Imperial Portrait
Imperial Portrait of Consort Chunhui up for Auction
(I'm including this as a news item because of the significant natural pearls that Consort Chunhui is wearing in her portrait.)
An Imperial portrait of Consort Chunhui is the highlight of the Bonhams Hong Kong Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale to be held on 27 May at the Island Ballroom of the Island Shangri-La Hotel.
Attributed to the Italian missionary-artist Giuseppe Castiglione, who served at the Qing Court under the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors, the half-length portrait of Consort Chunhui in court dress is executed in oil on gaoli paper and measures 54.5cm by 41.5cm.
Vividly painted in brilliant colors depicting the sitter in front profile from the waist up, her serene expression delicately rendered with full naturalistic attention, her face bright as if from natural sunlight, revealing a young yet dignified woman opulently adorned with feather hat, pearl earrings and a sumptuous orange-ground embroidered dragon robe, all against a mottled pale gray ground.
Consort Chunhui, whose birth date was unknown, was the daughter of Su Zhaonan, under the family name Su Jiashi of Manchu descent. She entered the Forbidden Palace during the Yongzheng Emperor's reign and became a concubine of the then Prince Hong Li, giving birth to his third son. When the prince ascended the throne as the Qianlong Emperor, she was granted the title of Imperial Concubine Chun. She was raised by rank to consort in the second year of Qianlong's reign (1737), also bearing a prince and a princess, then to noble consort in the tenth year (1745). In the twenty-fifth year of his reign (1760), she was conferred the title of Imperial Noble Consort Chun, making her second only to the Empress in the Imperial harem. After her death later that year, she was posthumously honored as Imperial Noble Consort Chunhui, and interred in the Yuling Mausoleum for concubines of the Qing emperors.
More about Imperial Portrait of Consort Chunhui up for Auction
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Pearl News.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Trigger For Autoimmune Disease Identified
FeaturedGeneticsNeurologyOpen Neuroscience Articles
Summary: Researchers have discovered a possible trigger for autoimmune diseases such as lupus, Crohn's disease and MS. Findings may explain how women are more susceptible to autoimmune disorders than men.
Source: National Jewish Health.
Newly identified cells help explain why women suffer autoimmune disease more often.
Researchers at National Jewish Health have identified a trigger for autoimmune diseases such as lupus, Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis. The findings, published in the April 2017 issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation, help explain why women suffer autoimmune disease more frequently than men, and suggest a therapeutic target to prevent autoimmune disease in humans.
"Our findings confirm that Age-associated B Cells (ABCs) drive autoimmune disease," said Kira Rubtsova, PhD, an instructor in biomedical science at National Jewish Health. "We demonstrated that the transcription factor T-bet inside B cells causes ABCs to develop. When we deleted T-bet inside B cells, mice prone to develop autoimmune disease remained healthy. We believe the same process occurs in humans with autoimmune disease, more often in elderly women."
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system attacks and destroys the organs and tissue of its own host. Dozens of autoimmune diseases afflict millions of people in the United States. Several autoimmune diseases, including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis strike women two to 10 times as often as men. Overall, about 80 percent of autoimmune patients are women. There is no cure for autoimmune disease.
B cells are important players in autoimmune disease. The National Jewish Health research team, led by Chair of Biomedical Science Philippa Marrack, PhD, previously identified a subset of B cells that accumulate in autoimmune patients, autoimmune and elderly female mice. They named the cells Age-associated B cells, or ABCs. Subsequent research showed that the transcription factor T-bet plays a crucial role in the appearance of ABC.
Transcription factors bind to DNA inside cells and drive the expression of one or several genes. Researchers believe that T-bet appears inside cells when a combination of receptors on B-cell surfaces — TLR7, Interferon-gamma and the B-cell receptor — are stimulated. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.
Transcription factors bind to DNA inside cells and drive the expression of one or several genes. Researchers believe that T-bet appears inside cells when a combination of receptors on B-cell surfaces — TLR7, Interferon-gamma and the B-cell receptor — are stimulated.
Through breeding and genetic techniques the research team eliminated the ability of autoimmune-prone mice to express T-bet inside their B cells. As a result, ABCs did not appear and the mice remained healthy. Kidney damage appeared in 80 percent of mice with T-bet in the B cells and in only 20 percent of T-bet-deficient mice. Seventy-five percent of mice with T-bet in their B cells died by 12 months, while 90 percent of T-bet-deficient mice survived 12 months.
"Our findings for the first time show that ABCs are not only associated with autoimmune disease, but actually drive it," said Dr. Rubtsova.
ABCs have attracted increasing interests since their discovery in 2011. Dr. Rubtsova and her colleagues at National Jewish Health have expanded their study of ABCs beyond autoimmune disease and are looking at their involvement in sarcoidosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and chronic beryllium disease.
About this neuroscience research article
Funding: Funding provided by US Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health.
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology
Placebo Reduces Feelings of Guilt
Source: William Allstetter – National Jewish Health
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Full open access research for "B cells expressing the transcription factor T-bet drive lupus-like autoimmunity" by Kira Rubtsova, Anatoly V. Rubtsov, Joshua M. Thurman, Johanna M. Mennona, John W. Kappler, and Philippa Marrack in Journal of Clinical Investigation. Published online February 27 2017 doi:10.1172/JCI91250
Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article
[cbtabs][cbtab title="MLA"]National Jewish Health "Trigger For Autoimmune Disease Identified." NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 10 May 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/autoimmune-disease-triggers-6641/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title="APA"]National Jewish Health (2017, May 10). Trigger For Autoimmune Disease Identified. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved May 10, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/autoimmune-disease-triggers-6641/[/cbtab][cbtab title="Chicago"]National Jewish Health "Trigger For Autoimmune Disease Identified." https://neurosciencenews.com/autoimmune-disease-triggers-6641/ (accessed May 10, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]
B cells expressing the transcription factor T-bet drive lupus-like autoimmunity
B cells contribute to multiple aspects of autoimmune disorders and may play a role in triggering disease. Thus, targeting B cells may be a promising strategy for treating autoimmune disorders. Better understanding of the B cell subsets that are responsible for the development of autoimmunity will be critical for developing efficient therapies. Here we have reported that B cells expressing the transcription factor T-bet promote the rapid appearance of autoantibodies and germinal centers in spontaneous murine models of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Conditional deletion of T-bet from B cells impaired the formation of germinal centers and mitigated the development of kidney damage and rapid mortality in SLE mice. B cell–specific deletion of T-bet was also associated with lower activation of both B cells and T cells. Taken together, our results suggest that targeting T-bet–expressing B cells may be a potential target for therapy for autoimmune diseases.
"B cells expressing the transcription factor T-bet drive lupus-like autoimmunity" by Kira Rubtsova, Anatoly V. Rubtsov, Joshua M. Thurman, Johanna M. Mennona, John W. Kappler, and Philippa Marrack in Journal of Clinical Investigation. Published online February 27 2017 doi:10.1172/JCI91250
Feel free to share this Neuroscience News.
ABCsage associated b cellsautoimmune diseasesB cellsCrohn's diseaseGeneticsHealthLupusMultiple SclerosisNational Jewish HealthneurobiologyNeurologyNeuroscienceOpen Accessopen scienceSLET cellsTLR7
Julie Hunt says:
Really grateful that someone is looking into AI diseases. It's long overdue. Please keep up the fantastic work.
Betsy RIley says:
Very promising news. Good to see attention given to this class of diseases.
Jeannette says:
I have enjoyed and learned so much from your research findings. As I and a family members have autoimmune diseases, your findings are so helpful. Thank you so much …


text:
Life / Work Balance with Jacob Turner
Jacob Turner, Founder/CEO of Xebra Consulting, has some advice for achieving work and life balance.
"Man, those were some of the happiest days of my life. And I was making little to nothing; I wasn't able to actually afford my student loan debt. I wasn't able to, you know, save at all.
"But I was in such a zone of like, feeling peace, that it didn't even matter. I didn't I didn't even care about my debt or my income or any of that, because it was just like, I felt alive every day that work."
When is the last time you felt alive at work? If this question has your mind hopping in a time machine, Jacob Turner, Founder/CEO of Xebra Consulting, has some advice for achieving work and life balance.
And no, it doesn't include finding a job that pays little to nothing.
From becoming the second employee, who was pivotal in helping Outreach become the company it is today, to government work and then starting his own business, Turner shares the experiences he's gained in his life with RevOps Therapist and Founder/CEO of Greaser Consulting, Jordan Greaser.
Hi all, this is Jordan, the owner and CEO of Greaser Consulting. In this episode, we talk to Jacob Turner who's from Xebra Consulting. He was Outreach's second employee, just a fantastic resource on all things Outreach systems, ecosystem. Real really, I don't think there's anybody on the planet, at this point, that has seen more, like, various implementations, ways that Outreach comes together, all of that. But the sort of focus of this conversation was just how do you put balance in your life? The two of us were really early in what is now a unicorn startup. And, you know, he sort of became this expert. But what did he have to give along the way? And then how did he establish boundaries to have some more work/life balance? And then even into today: how is some of the things that he's learned about, like life and work and culture and balance, how has that sort of spurred him into starting his own consulting company all around this Outreach ecosystem? Just a fascinating call today with a really great guy; he's really mindful of people, conversations, relationships. So I encourage you to just lean in and enjoy listening today.
Hi, everyone, this is Jordan. I got with me today, Jacob. Jacob, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself?
Jacob 01:47
Yeah, hey everyone, Jacob Turner here, owner, operator of Xebra Consulting, second employee of Outreach.io. And what we do at Xebra is help companies implement, optimize, train, and enable their teams using Outreach. That's what we do.
Yeah, I think every, you know, every company talks about, right, the OGs, like, the people that were there at the beginning. And the thing that's just kind of funny about this is I was employee 36 at Outreach. Like, two weeks before I was there, there was, like, 15 people at Outreach. Like they just got a funding round; they hired a bunch of people. And there's not too often that I can say, "Oh no, like, that person's the OG, not me." And when I talked to Jacob, every time, like, he's literally the second person ever hired at what is essentially a unicorn today on the path to going public. And I mean, at those times, were you hired as like, you know, I always remember you as the Solutions Consultant, but were you a CSM at that time? Or like, what was the actual title that you came in with?
Yeah, the title was CSM. Yep. And from what, at that point in time in 2015, I don't know how… I didn't even know what a CSM was, other than the job description at Outreach. But now I realize that job was not a CSM at all. If I was a CSM, I probably would be in a totally different place right now. But I'm excited. I'm happy where it turned out.
Yeah, so walk us through, walk us through just some of those early days of like, you know, you're early in a startup that doesn't know its path. And you're a CSM, like, what were you doing every day? Because again, I just remember, like, there was no greater library of information on what Outreach was than like, go talk to Jacob. So like, what did you do?
I mean, I think you just nailed it; I talked to people all day long about their problems without reach. I was like an Outreach therapist, doctor, construction worker, whatever service you can think of, that's what I did. But no, I mean, we would, we bring in customers, and myself and David Lewis as well, who was, who was another CSM at the time; he was the first employee. We would basically handhold them through the implementation, training, deployment, growth, all of it. We basically were the post sales, you know, everything. We also did a lot of webinars and started to… once we started to realize we couldn't do one-to-one training for all the new customers we were bringing on we, me and David actually developed a way to do one-to-many trainings. So that ended up being a big part of our lives. But I would say most of my days in the first few months was spent in Zendesk answering tickets, planning and jumping on calls, fixing people's issues, and making sure they didn't run up millions of API calls because of some glitch in the system.
So I remember your, like, your one-to-many system because I actually, anybody that got onboarded at a certain point, we watched like the Outreach University videos. And like Andrew Kinzer was recording some of them; you were recording some of them. And I distinctly remember, and this was like public-facing for everybody, like on some of the videos, like, you'd hear someone just closed a deal. And in the background, you can hear like clapping and people going AHHHH, you know, screaming; it was like right in the middle of like, "click your initials to go to your…" AHHH. That was about as bootstrap as bootstrap could come. But I mean, over time, and I know we're going to talk about like starting companies and this whole thing, but like over time, you morph from this like churn and burn CSM role to like a really sophisticated Solutions Consultant, solving really difficult problems. And so, you know, as I think about like, that evolution, like is there any part along the way, when you like first started and you're doing CSM work to like, now you're doing like the huge, like massive scopes of how we're going to implement this thing into this system and get reporting that like, at some point, like, when was the point where you realize like you are that library of information? Like, did you know that one month after you started in the gig? Or is that like two years into the role? You're like, "Okay, I know this better than anybody else," right? Like, what was that moment when you realize, "I'm kind of I'm kind of the guy that knows this stuff." And I'm not trying to be weird about this. It's just, it's the reality, right?
Yeah, I would say it was a much shorter timeframe for me to realize that. I'd say probably like, six months into the role is when I realized, like, I was actually the go-to person. And it wasn't even like a desirable place to be for me at that point, because I was, it was a lot of pressure; you know, if everyone knew that I was the go-to person and was willing to offer my time to support them, like, people just took me up on that. And I tell this to new folks who are getting into the industry nowadays, and I'm like, set good boundaries up front with your job, because I did not; I was working 12-13 hour days; I didn't really have much of a life outside of Outreach. And that was because of my own doing. I didn't set those boundaries. But yeah, I'd say six months in, is when I really started to feel my expertise and that was, you know, all of the lessons learned and sitting in a Massage Studio with the founders right next to, you know, Andrew Kinzer, who basically taught me everything about the platform that I needed to know until I become, you know, until the student became the teacher.
Right. What are you doing sitting in a massage parlor? Like, what? What is this? You're sitting in a massage parlor? I gotta know, like, you can't just glance over that like that's no big deal. Like what's going on?
Oh, yeah. I mean, there was there was no massages happening in the studio. We just rented… that was our first office that I worked in Outreach was a Massage Studio. It was very distinct green walls if you ask anyone. And yeah, that was the first place that we had an office. And I remember when we moved from that office, I was sitting on the floor with a box, my laptop sitting on a box, taking an implementation call with zero furniture. All we had was a router and a box for me to actually take calls. After I got off that call, I took the router and the box to the new office down the street. That's how small, small we were.
Yeah. That's just that's like, that's just a crazy, this makes me think about you know what Google's starting out of their garage or something ridiculous. Like, I was, I was there with the router and the box. But you, you bring up a good point, though, about those boundaries early on. And like you became the guy, and it's also served you well. But you also, you know, you're giving like a huge part of your life to this thing that probably wasn't healthy. So like, how long did it take you, in your journey here, to like, get to that place where you're like, "look like I got to slow down"? Because I mean, I feel like I was in that place for for like 18 months or two years where like, I just I couldn't turn it off. I was on Saturdays, on Sunday night, and I just like… it's the path to burnout, but you don't really see it, and you feel like you can't say no. Right? Because you kind of are that guy. Like what, like what was the moment for you and like, how did you navigate through that?
Yeah, well, it didn't really shift until I left, honestly. I was emotionally involved with Outreach; it was like a long-term relationship. You know, I compare it to a relationship with like a partner. And that, like, you know, there's dynamics that don't work; there's dynamics that do work. But by the end of our relationship, I had already set a precedent of not having those boundaries. And so it was really, really hard for me to reintroduce myself, and not have it impact the way I was seen internally and externally. And that made me feel really uncomfortable, because I'm like, "Okay, I'm setting these boundaries, and they're not being accepted. They're not being welcomed." And now, you know, doing more work on myself and understanding what those boundaries mean, in the long run is like, yeah, boundaries aren't meant to be comfortable for anybody, you know. So, I probably didn't need to leave, necessarily, but it felt like I did at that time. And that's when I actually left and went to DocuSign. And had like, what I would call a regular job. Because I wasn't, I wasn't…
yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.
You come in, you clock in, you clock out, you do good work. And that's it. And I set the expectation upfront, like this is, I'm in this role. And this is how much I'm going to show up; everything was already established. It wasn't me creating things; it was me following and adhering to a process. And that was me stepping back and being thrust into a boundary space, which was way more comfortable than me having to set new boundaries. You know, which, in hindsight, I'm like, it probably would have been more healthy for me to stay and set boundaries and then leave than to just cut ties and be and never have set those boundaries internally. Because I had to learn the hard way, even beyond my job at DocuSign, where and how to set boundaries in an appropriate way.
So it's just so interesting you talk about this, because for me, I was on, I was on the SDR side, and that was kind of like my vein. And then actually, you were part of the interview process. Do you remember this of like me transitioning to the training team? Do you remember this? Like, I came into the interview with you. And it's like, like, I know, you you're like what? Yeah, so like, what are we talking about here? But for me, you talked about you had to leave the company, whether you did or you didn't, you know, you're saying you're not sure, my sort of reestablishment of boundaries was when I went to the training team. And it was like, "Oh, I almost got this, like second lease on life." And so that's where I sort of set some of those boundaries. Now at the time, what was interesting about it is, is I felt kind of guilty, though, of like, "Oh, I'm just not as busy as I used to be, or should I be doing more?" Like, man, it took me months to like, kind of work through this, but the only thing that got me through it was my was literally my wife and my two kids. It's like, my wife's like, like, "I don't care if you feel like you should be doing more like you need to spend more time at the house." And I'm like, "okay, like, like, I'm gonna listen to you before I listen over here, like, I'm with you." But it was still hard for me. And I and I also remember, I had a lot of good support over here. So I don't want to like just bash on the place because I had some great support. But I remember, one of the like, leaders at the time I was talking to said, "you know, you could be great in this role, but you're not giving yourself to it. Like you're you're you're you're not really like pressed in like you used to be," and I remember thinking like, "you're right, I'm not… that like I can't do that long term." So anyway, I'm just interested to get your take here. Like you're saying, like, maybe it would have been smarter to stay, but you didn't, you know, all these different things. Like, like, when you come to the job site now or you come to work, right, you're a couple companies removed; like, do you feel like you're still able to give that like high value impact, even though that those boundaries are set up? Is it better? Is it worse, like, because that's one thing I've thought about over the years: like how do I not go all into this? Like how do I still keep a boundary but also do good work? And, you know, sort of mesh this all?
Yeah. Honestly, now that I understand, or at least, you know, have a better understanding. I wouldn't say I understand boundaries completely. That seems like a lifelong journey. But now that I have a better understanding about boundaries, I feel like I'm more able to show up for people, companies, projects than I was before. I was a chronic procrastinator, and then the overwhelm made me do things in the last minute and even though I would be available to people to answer questions, I wasn't actually fully available with all that I could offer. You know, even giving 75% of myself to any of those moments, any of those interactions was valuable to people because they were getting me whenever they needed me. But they weren't getting 100%. And nobody was. My partner wasn't; my family wasn't; I wasn't giving myself 100% of myself. So I was just like a fragment, I was just walking through the world as a fragmented version of myself everywhere. And when I started to set boundaries, I realized like, I was able to be 100% in less spaces, but I was able to have bigger impact, because all of me was there. So all my relationships changed; the projects changed, people started to do, expect things more clearly, because I was more… I had more clarity around what my boundaries were. And so they were like, "hey, Jacob's not working on Fridays anymore." So we're not going to book meetings on Fridays; that made me way more available on Monday. And I was, you know, anyway, that's, that's kind of that my journey of of setting those boundaries was realizing that I actually wasn't doing my best work, even though I was working my ass off.
Just makes me think about, I was like, four or five months into the training thing. And I was actually feeling kind of bad about it. Because we would travel all week and just be home on the weekends. I thought, "Man, this is worse, like, like, I wanted to be around my family more, and now I'm gone more," but I, I can still remember is one of the Saturdays I was home. And I was hanging out with my wife and kids. And she's like, "you know, the weirdest thing about this." This is after setting some of those boundaries and whatever. She said, "You're, you're not here more, like you're, you're here less than you were before. But you're more present now than you've ever been." And so she was talking about like, like, when you're home, you're actually home. And I think there's a lot of value in what you're saying here of like, you have this temptation just to pour everything you have into something. But then it starts to take from other areas, like there's only so much you can give before other things start to suffer. And, you know, that was like a, it was just like a profound moment in my life of like, "I don't ever want to be in a situation again, where my wife's telling me like you haven't been present for a long time." You know?
I mean, fast forward, after I left Doc, I left DocuSign to move to Hawaii to actually be more present. And, like, I tried to keep my job, you know, just for the record. I tried to keep my job at DocuSign and work remote. This is pre-pandemic. But we decided to move for that exact reason. Like we wanted to be more present with each other, and living in Seattle didn't feel like it gave us the space to actually sink into our brand new marriage, sink into our relationship, sink into what it meant to be authentic living authentically ourselves. So yeah, moving to Hawaii was was like I don't know… what do you what do you? What's the word that people use? Just like a not a midlife crisis, but something to that nature, which is like, all right, what do you do? Yeah, I ended up getting a non-tech job. I started working for the county of Hawaii in the, in the County Clerk's Office.
Yeah, but don't… shoot, don't you remember, this was years later? Well, this was like years later, right? When I called you up, like, "hey, I need you to do Outreach implementations." Like "I work at the county." Like what, like, "What are you talking about work at the county?" You know? Oh my goodness.
I mean, I loved that job, too. And it was, it was very structured, you know, if, if anyone out there listening is working a government job or has worked a government job, you know, like, once you leave, you leave. There's no, unless you're like a politician, you know, which I would not claim myself to be, like, I left my job at the office. Which now in our world, everyone working from home, that is a very seldom experience for folks. So it was like, I go to where I go, this is my routine, and I'm gonna gonna share some personal information about my life right now. My routine was to wake up at six o'clock in the morning. This is all also pre-kids, right? This is not how my life is now now that I have a child. But when I didn't have a job yeah, I get ready pretty quick. Go drive into town. Go to the yoga studio, do yoga for an hour. Then I would go into the office and they had a shower there, so I'd shower at the office and then be in my chair every morning. 8:30 every morning. Like I didn't, I didn't miss a beat because it was really easy for me to be in that routine. After, on Tuesdays: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays after work, I would go to paddling. I was going to outrigger canoe racing club called Kamehameha canoe clubs in Big Island, Hawaii. And I would go practice in the canoe, and then I would shower at the beach and then go home. And then every now and then I'd stop at the store and get groceries for dinner. But then go home, prepare dinner, cook, eat, you know, enjoy some downtime with my partner, and go to sleep. And that was like, Monday through Friday, what I did. And it was so nice to have that routine. It was weird.
Yeah, it just had to be so different. Like, right, like all the sudden you're just just off, right? I dealt with that. Like, we just had our fourth child. And what I found for me is like, it took me like a week to get work off my mind. And then all of a sudden, it was like, just super fun to play with the kids and hang out and be around the house that first week. Like transitioning to get my mind to turn off just wasn't happening. Right? But you know what happens? I just want to ask you like, during that season of life, where like, you were just unplugged in a lot of ways. Like I still I laugh at this, I still remember calling you the one day you're like, "Listen, I'll call you back. I have to go plugin, like somebody's router for them in this office because they can't figure out how to get their internet to work." Right? Like I just I remember laughing about that. But like, that had to be so good for you. Right? Like just having this whole season of time where like, like, almost like life hit pause. But then life also turned on, if that makes any sense, right?
Yeah, I mean, honestly, it felt like a return to a feeling I felt in the past. Before I even worked at Outreach, I was working at a Parks and Rec Department in Somerton, Arizona which is right on the border of Mexico. And like that was that was probably the funnest job I've ever had working for a government entity. Just planning play, basically planning playdates for kids: soccer tournaments, baseball, Tee-ball basketball, swimming events, outdoor, just anything, really was our job in that department. And you know, same same scenario, I had a very structured routine, because it was a government job. And man, those were some of the happiest days of my life. And I was making little to nothing; I wasn't able to actually afford my student loan debt. I wasn't able to, you know, save at all. But I was in such a zone of like, feeling peace, that it didn't even matter. I didn't I didn't even care about my debt or my income or any of that, because it was just like, I felt alive every day that work.
Well, that kind of brings us to today, right? Like you're, you're starting, or you have started your own consulting company: Xebra, which, you know, I always joke about this when I talk to Jacob like, I'm not sure if we're competitors, frenemies or what we are, but you know, he's, he's a fantastic guy, does fantastic work. If you need Outreach help, like, by all means, get a hold of them. But you're at this place now, where you're, you're starting your own company. And I suppose the first question is like, is that coming from a place of you have this, and it could be all, it could be something totally different. But like, you have this huge passion to do this work? Is it from a place of like, I want to find a way to to do really good work, but then just be able to unplug and work on my terms like what's, like, what's the underlying impetus for you to say, like, here's why I feel really excited about starting this thing?
I did… a few different reasons. One is I realized that I am not going to find well, I don't know if I can say I'm not going to, but I felt like I was not going to find a company that I could work for that was aligned perfectly for me, culturally, you know, time-wise, structurally, like I wanted to, I wanted to be the culture of my company. And everywhere that I've gone, so…
There's the quote of the day.
Yeah, so I need to create the culture. Yeah, I wanted to be the culture. And I've had influence on the culture of Outreach and on the culture of Sapper and Docusign. But, you know, for the most part, you know, I often felt like it was just missing something. And I realized, like, the only way I'm actually going to get that is by doing my own thing, because the energy of any company is going to be the precedent of who started that company or the founders of that company, right? And I was just sick of, sick of waiting to find that culture of sick of waiting to find the belonging in a company. I was like, I realized, like I belong; I can create my own belong. I belong to myself, you know? And that was, that was one of the main…
So what are those? What are those values? What are those values? Like, what's the culture you're trying to build?
I am trying to… I am building a culture of balance, being the first one, a culture of rest. Meaning that I want to build in for whoever ends up working for this company, months of time off every year. And I was thinking about this the other day; I was like, anybody who works here is going to have a sabbatical at least once every two years at the very least, paid sabbaticals. You know, six months, you don't work here, you come back fresh, and it's a new job, a new day for you, right? I want to build a culture of generative conflict, where people can really be honest about how they feel, and it can be handled and not feel like a risk to their future, financial security, or a risk to their employment. I feel like there's always a place for conflict as long as that can be generative. And not, you know, something that is dangerous or harmful. I want to create an environment where people feel like they can communicate with each other around their personal lives and be friends. And if not families. It makes me think of my my, my godfather; he worked at Sears for, I want to say he worked there for maybe 40 years. He retired from Sears 40 years, right and the same company with the same people for 40 years, and I'm sure they had attrition, just like any other company. But, you know, they had pensions, you know, they had retirements, and now he doesn't work; he travels the world, and comes and visits Hawaii every now and then. And like, lives this life that just seems so outside of the norm of today. But he worked there for 40 years. And he felt like all those people he used to work with are his friends and family. He goes to barbecues with them, and he, you know, enjoys traveling with them. And, you know, now I feel like it's kind of like the, I mean, for any sports fans out there. It's hard for me to even be, you know, a fan of any one team because players just move so often it's like, I don't even know, like, is this the same? It's not even the same team season by season. It's a whole new team. So who am I? Who is my loyalty to, the brand? You know, like the Sonics don't even exist anymore, but I'll use the Lakers like, Is my loyalty to Shaquille O'Neal? Like, you know, is my loyalty to Lebron James? If that's the case that I have no, I have no care for the team itself or the brand. I have a care for the players, right? And it kind of resembles, to me, the tech industry. Now. It's like, if you've worked at a company for two years, you're like old at that company.
Yeah, we always used to joke about, right? Like, you're the dinosaur.
Yeah, exactly, exactly. But I think that companies can be built in a way where there are no dinosaurs, like, your goal is to be there for 40 years. And these companies just aren't making it sustainable. I think for people to be long-term employees. They're not offering you know, six months off every two years; they're not offering the things that people need, in order to feel like they can stay, right? They're offering more money to new people instead of promoting the people within. I mean, there's just a lot of little things that I think companies can do to retain the people who have been loyal to them throughout the, the, the creation of that company, or since they've been a part of it.
Yeah, well, hey, man, I appreciate you hopping on today and talking through like a little bit of company vision, a little bit of, you know, just walking through the process of, you know, like you… and I mean, this, like you were the guy for so many years, and just processing through boundaries. And you know, you said maybe you didn't have to leave Outreach, but you maybe you could have did a different like we all have warts and things that we look back on, and we say, or maybe it could have been this, maybe it could have been that, but at the end of the day, you know, highly regarded individual, lots of respect from a lot of people. So I don't think you have much to be concerned about there. And, you know, it sounds like, you know, this is all part of that process and journey, right, that we all walk, that we might look back on some things that were like, I'm not sure. I'm not sure I handled that one right. But like, you know, next time that comes up, like, here's how I'm going to do it. And again, that's not even to say how things were handled wasn't right. You know, it's, we live our lives, we learn, and we kind of move to the next thing, right? And we, we hope along the way, that is we give grace to others, grace is given to us, right? So I know like we before we started this, like we were gonna talk about sales engagement, and we were gonna go down this whole road of, of starting a company and what that looks like, but, you know, I appreciate just some of the ways you were candid today of processing through just change in boundaries and whatever else. So is there anything, Jacob, here before we round out that you want to, you want to say? Any final thoughts as we as we close this thing up today?
I think the main thing that I want to impart on folks listening is to be very intentional with the decisions that you make. Discernment has been something that I've been learning is, has a bigger impact than any amount of money, any amount of time. Making the right decision in a proper amount of time, I feel like, has a much bigger impact than any other resource that you can throw at something that you're looking to solve or something that you're looking to, to embark on. So yeah, discernment is the, is the word for me today.
Alright, Jacob, thanks for coming today. And thank you, everybody, for listening. I hope you go ahead and join the next time. See you, Jacob. See you, crew.


Goal: Move the cards to the eight foundations.
8 Foundations: First card decides starting rank for all foundations. Built up by rank and by suit.
11 Tableau: Built down by rank and by alternating color.
Stock: One card at a time. No re-deal.


continue on to further improve, to make sure product top quality in line with market and consumer standard requirements. Our firm has a excellent assurance program have already been established for Lapel Pin Display Box , lapel pin display box , Paper Package Display Box , All merchandise are manufactured with advanced equipment and strict QC procedures in purchase to assure high-quality. Welcome prospects new and old to get hold of us for enterprise cooperation.
"We can easily usually fulfill our respected customers with our very good top quality, very good price tag and excellent support due to we have been more expert and much more hard-working and do it in cost-effective way for Lapel Pin Display Box , lapel pin display box , Paper Package Display Box , Now we have been making our goods for more than 20 years. Mainly do wholesale so now we have the most competitive price, but highest quality. For the past years we got very good feedbacks, not only because we supply good merchandise, but also because of our good after-sale service. We have been here waiting for you for your inquiry.


Let's look at some examples in order to get a better understanding of time complexity of an algorithm. Later we will also look at memory complexity as this is another limited resource that we have to deal with.
First of all, time complexity will be measured in terms of the input size. As you saw in the example above, N was the number of latin letters to use for building palindromes. We said that all permutations of these N letters are N!. So to generate them we would perform a number of steps that is proportional to N!. Of course, it is also important how many steps it takes to generate each separate permutation. It is possible to do that with a constant amount of steps. We will not go into details how this can be done but trust us.
This means that the number of steps to generate each next permutation does not depend on the size of the input. For each generated permutation we would need to check if it is a palindrome. One way to do it is to compare the first and last letters, then the second and the last but one and so on. This will require a number of steps that is proportional to the number of letters - N. So, for each permutation we will perform that many steps.
With all that in mind we will have to perform a number of steps that is proportional to N * N! in order to execute our brute force solution. This number will be multiplied by some constant but usually when this constant is not too high we don't take it into account. Now that we have quickly analysed the number of steps required, we can clearly see that the number of steps will grow very quickly with increasing values of N. If your interviewer tells you that N can be as high as 100, then there is no use in even considering such a solution. And being able to describe to the interviewer why such a solution is not feasible is also a useful skill.
// An array `arr` with `len` integers in it is sorted.
This algorithm has two nested loops. The outer one goes through the numbers from left to right and finds the number that must be in each position. For the number at position 0 it finds the minimum of all numbers. Then, for the number at position 1 it finds the minimum of all remaining numbers and so on. The question we will answer here is: what is the time complexity of this algorithm?
The outer loop will perform N-1 iterations where N is the number of the numbers to sort. This is our parameter indicating the size of the input. For each iteration of the outer loop the inner loop will perform a different number of steps. In the first interation it will perform N-1 steps, next it will perform N-2 steps and so on.
Inside the loops there is a comparison and in some cases there will be three operations used for swapping two values. These operations inside the loops take constant time regardless of N. That is why we will be more interested in computing the total number of interations that the two loops will perform. To compute that we just need to sum up the number of iterations of the inner loop: (N-1) + (N-2) + ... + 2 + 1 = N * (N-1) / 2. This is a number proportional to N^2 because if we expand it we will get N^2 / 2 - N / 2. We are always interested in the term with the highest degree and here this is N^2. It is multiplied by a constant - 1/2 - but this does not change the fact that the total number of steps will be proportional to N^2 and as N grows linearly our algorithm's speed will slow down quadratically.
Another important thing to mention is that you are usually interested in finding out the slowest part of your algorithm. Maybe for some task you have a solution that does some preprocessing first taking roughly N*M steps, with N and M being some values identifying the size of your input. But then if your core algorithm performs N*M^2 steps to run, then you can say that this is your actual time complexity becuase it's of higher order than N*M.
There are several formal definitions for how we define computational complexity and they can be used depending on the case. For most tech interviews and real-time examples you will need to use the so called big-O notation. Below we have included links to a few useful resources that will tell you more about big-O and other notations using more or less formal language.
TopCoder's 2-part tutorial on computational complexity is a good place to start, it also covers several notations. From the first part the whole article is useful. You can perhaps skip the section "Finally, formal definitions" if you wish. From the second part, everything up to the section "The substitution method" is worth covering for the purpose of interviews. The rest is more or less optional.


The Nokia 1 will be HMD's most low-end device, and there's word that it may come under the umbrella of Google's new Android Go Program.
HMD's line of Nokia's smartphones takes an interesting naming pattern. The Nokia 9, expected to be released in the coming months, will be the company's top of the line offering. It stands to reason that the device on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Nokia 1, will be the most basic of devices. Reports coming in claim that the device will be a part of Google's new Android Go program.
While Google already has an Android One program, it's geared towards handling decently-specced devices in developing markets. The Android Go program looks to that take that to the extreme, as it targets entry-level devices with the barest of specifications, a demographic the Nokia 1 fits into.
Considering the fact that the Nokia 2 ran on the entry-level Snapdragon 212, we're a bit curious what the Nokia 1 will run on. The Nokia 2 already features 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, and a 720p display, so we wouldn't be surprised to see the Nokia 1 go even lower than that. A price tag in the $50-$70 range would be entirely feasible, too.


Musixmatch Premium APK is the world's biggest accumulation of melody versus utilized by a huge number of individuals to get moment synchronized verses for Youtube, Spotify, Pandora and then some.
You can likewise now utilize it to get tune interpretations in a hurry.
Easily learn new dialects by showing the interpretation of the verses, in time with the music.
Fetch melody data and cover craftsmanship for your tunes.
For audience members in a hurry, you can start up a melody from your most loved music application and consequently get the verses on the Lock Screen.
Attempt the Musixmatch Lock Screen with Spotify, Play Music or some other music application.
By empowering it, you can even control the music and have the distinguishing verses catch only one tap away.
Disconnected verses – appreciate every one of the verses you have seen without an association.
No advertisements – get every one of the verses without any promotions.
Make sure to have empowered the FloatingLyrics and let Musixmatch discover verses for your melodies on Spotify, Pandora, Play music, Youtube, SoundCloud and then some.
We cherish accepting your input, they assist us with improving Musixmatch.
The best Music Player concerning AndroidPolice, Android Authority and The Next Web.
"Best Apps 2014 and 2015" determination on Google Play Store.
Musixmatch Premium APK is the world's largest collection of song lyrics used by millions of people to get instantly synchronized lyrics for Youtube, Spotify and more. You can also now use it to get song translations on the go.


Pylons leading to New Zealand Aluminium Smelters' Tiwai Point smelter, near Bluff. Photo by Allison Beckham.
A consortium of Otago and Southland organisations is urging the Electricity Authority to adopt a new transmission pricing method which would collectively save businesses and householders in the South $64million annually.
The authority is reviewing the way it charges for maintaining and upgrading transmission lines and in June released its three preferred options for comment.
Based on the authority's own figures, adopting the proposed ''base option'' for assets built since 2004 would immediately reduce transmission charges in Otago and Southland by $64million, which includes an estimated $56.3million annually for the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, Venture Southland business and strategic projects group manager Steve Canny said.
The remaining savings would directly benefit businesses and householders, as electricity lines companies had indicated any reduction in charges would be passed on to consumers.
Lower electricity prices would boost economic activity in the South, he said.
Venture Southland looks after economic development, community development and tourism operations for the Invercargill City Council and the Gore and Southland district councils.
Staff have compiled a submission supporting the base option on behalf of those councils, as well as the Southland Chamber of Commerce and the Otago Southland Employers Association.
Mr Canny said adopting the base option would ''right an historic wrong'' which had resulted in Otago-Southland being significantly overcharged for the past eight years.
Currently, transmission costs were spread across all electricity users, with an ''effective bias'' against the South Island, he said. While 80% of electricity users were in the North Island, South Island users paid 34% of grid charges.
In addition, South Island generators paid the whole cost of the HVDC cable carrying electricity to the North Island.
Since 2004, more than $1.3billion had been invested in upper North Island transmission assets, driving a $220million increase in Transpower's annual revenue requirements. But only 39% of the upgrade was being paid by upper North Island users.
The balance was coming from users elsewhere, he said.
Tiwai Point smelter operators New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) would be the biggest southern winner by far if the base option was adopted.
Electricity Authority figures show it would save an estimated $56.39million annually, with its share of transmission costs reducing from $63.22million annually to $6.86million.
Pacific Aluminium, which manages four Rio Tinto-owned smelters in Australia and New Zealand including Tiwai Point, fully supported the combined Otago-Southland submission and had also put in a submission of its own last week, a spokeswoman said yesterday.
In its submission, Pacific Aluminium said while the smelter used 8% of all the electricity generated in New Zealand - 10 times more than any other single user - 80-90% of the power it used was generated at the nearby Manapouri power station.
However, the smelter still paid 8% of the total cost of transmission lines throughout the country.
Transmission costs were the difference between profit and loss for NZAS in 2013 and last year and lower charges were ''fundamental to the future international competitiveness of the smelter'', the submission said.
''[We] believe the current way transmission is charged has to change because it is economically inefficient. Essentially we believe that people should pay for the infrastructure built for their benefit in their region and not expect a large portion of the costs to be met by others who get little or no benefit from it,'' the spokeswoman said.
Both Mr Canny and Pacific Aluminium said the Electricity Authority had recognised the current system was inequitable and unsustainable.
Mr Canny said the signatories to the combined submission believed the authority's proposed base option ''had it pretty right'' and hoped that optionwould be adopted.


There are many reasons why people should recycle. Most of them are simple common sense, but for those who need a bit more prodding, this article will focus on the 7 most important reasons why you should start.
Did you know that recycling helps to reduce carbon emissions, otherwise known as greenhouse gasses? Whatever your stance is on the issue of global warming,î most people agree that we all need to do our part to lessen the impact of pollution and carbon emissions. Companies that use recycled aluminum save 95% energy in the production of new aluminum products compared to companies that use raw materials. For every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 whole trees are saved. This doesn't just save energy, it helps to combat carbon gas emissions because each tree can remove as much as 250 pounds of CO2 from the air each year.
Our landfills are overflowing at an alarming rate and we are quickly running out of space. Cities that are near the ocean have been dumping trash into the water for decades, but our oceans can no longer support this dangerous practice. As much as 60-75% of the garbage that is in our country's landfills could actually be recycled. What that means is that if everyone took the time to recycle, we would need 60-75% less land space for garbage in the future.
Did you know that the garbage that is in landfills can affect the local groundwater? Most landfills do not treat the garbage in anyway, they just throw it into a big hole and bury it underground. Much of the trash that is thrown in the landfill is not biodegradable or environmentally-friendly, and the contaminants that are found in this material can get into our water supply. This happens when rain or other runoff water from landfills makes its way into ponds, rivers, lakes or streams. It not only damages our already fragile ecosystems, but it makes this once fresh water supply dangerous to drink or use. It is no longer safe to drink from these waterways today when you are out camping or hiking – even in remote areas.
When companies choose to use recycled materials that come from paper products, plastics and metals instead of using raw materials, they reduce the amount of toxins that are released in the air. When these materials are processed in their raw form, they add a significant amount of carbon emissions into the air. Individuals who recycle these materials make it easier for companies to purchase quality recycled products to use in their factories.
Did you know that it takes twice as much energy to burn plastic as it does to recycle it? It also takes 64% more energy to make paper than it does to recycle and reuse it. Scientists have shown that by just recycling one pound of steel enough energy can be saved to run a 60-watt bulb for a whole day. It might not sound like a lot, but it all adds up.
One of the best way to increase your property value is to recycle. Communities that recycle reduce the need for landfills. Landfills lower property values because nobody wants to live near a smelly garbage dump. The more you and your neighbors recycle, the fewer number of landfills your city will need. The little bit of effort it takes to separate and recycle your trash each week will eventually pay off for everyone in the community.
Homeowners aren't the only ones that benefit from recycling. Processing plants and industrial factories can save a lot of money on energy and material costs by using recycled materials instead of raw, natural resources. Recycling can also help to reduce solid waste costs and can become a regular stream of added revenue when scrap metals, plastics and other materials are recycled on a regular basis.
A lot of people think that one person can't make a difference, but in the case of recycling, one person can make all the difference. On average, each American produces approximately 1600 pounds of waste each year. As much as 1100 pounds of waste could be recycled each year per person – that's over half a ton just for one person! A family of four could reduce waste by over two tons in a year – just by the simple act of recycling.
You don't need to be a "tree-hugger" or environmental activist to recycle. Recycling is for everyone and it's so easy, a kid could do it. It's more than just common sense, it's a simple way to preserve our natural resources and protect our clean air and water.
For more information on recycling programs and resources available in the Southern New England area, visit Mid-City Scrap Iron & Salvage at www.midcityscrap.com for details. With services available for local residents, municipalities, independent contractors and large businesses, Mid-City Scrap makes it possible for everyone to do their part.


3 foot artificial christmas trees attractive marvellous ideas ft with lights tree lit brilliant slim best.
3 foot artificial christmas trees small compact tree is perfect for spaces indoors only walmart.
3 foot artificial christmas trees pine cones silk tree with lights feet 4 ft.
3 foot artificial christmas trees awesome should you turn your tree upside down unlit.
3 foot artificial christmas trees beautiful tree decorations ideas of ft fiber optic.
3 foot artificial christmas trees fiber optic tree ft crystal white lit unlit.
3 foot artificial christmas trees black fir slim tree with orange led lights pre lit.
3 foot artificial christmas trees red tree with lights pre lit.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft battery operated lit led tree 3ft asda.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft tree with blue silver bells and clear lights in pot.
3 foot artificial christmas trees tree below 4.
3 foot artificial christmas trees 4 tree unique tittle ft slim best choice products christma.
3 foot artificial christmas trees 6 basics silver tree clear concept of ft asda.
3 foot artificial christmas trees natural alpine unlit tree 3ft asda.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft tree for your house the slim ideas of in pot.
3 foot artificial christmas trees bloom green and synthetic feet tree 4 ft.
3 foot artificial christmas trees buy tree feet cm natural color green.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft mini plastic fir tree snow cm a uk.
3 foot artificial christmas trees tree lit marvelous ft clearance.
3 foot artificial christmas trees 9 ft feel real fir slim hinged tree with clear lights 3ft.
3 foot artificial christmas trees frosted green pole pine unlit tree fiber optic.
3 foot artificial christmas trees top best most realistic tree concept of ft 3ft with lights.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft fir wrapped pencil tree with clear lights in pot.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft lit natural two tone pine tree clear led lights 4.
3 foot artificial christmas trees unlit tree hallmark flocked classics ft t 4.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft interesting design ideas white tree with clear lights clearance.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft spruce tree with battery operated warm white led lights clearance.
3 foot artificial christmas trees ft tree for your house the slim inspiration of 4.
3 foot artificial christmas trees unlit tree ft white iridescent tinsel slim pine in po.


text:
Village Gamer
YTA Technology Leadership Award Winners Announced
Mendella
Rock For A Cause
Anomaly 2009
Siggraph YVR
Canary Derby 2009
GDC Canada 2010
2010 CDN Videogame Awards
GDC Canada
WigEH Party
2012 Canadian Videogame Awards
CGC Videos
SIGGRAPH Hotseat
posted in Associations, Awards, Events, National News By: Tami | Print This Post
With many incredible tech company success stories in the GTA it can be difficult to start and grow a company that stands out among its peers, but last Friday evening in a gala event held at the BMO Institute For Learning, the York Technology Alliance (YTA) recognized five companies that are leading the way in the GTA tech hub.
"We are very pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 YTA Technology Leadership Awards" said Patrick Shaw, YTA Executive Director. "These are exciting, innovative companies that are creating outstanding successes in one of the most enterprising technology regions of the world".
The Winners:
Most Promising Startup – Markham based BrainFX develops digital clinical assessment tools for neurofunction. Via secure web profiles, individuals report their medical history, symptoms (physical, mood, behavioural, social), daily activities, and quality of life. The system incorporates feedback from the individual's family and peers to create a comprehensive profile of their health and quality of life. Through tablet-based game-like activities, BrainFX discerns subtle impairments by measuring more complex skills.
Momentum Company of the Year – Myplanet Digital is a rapidly growing design and technology company specializing in the process and practice of envisioning, designing and building digital products. Their expertise rests of three key pillars: lean user experience design, agile product development, and open source software. Based in Toronto, their team now numbering 80 staff represents a full complement of designers, user researchers, developers, QA specialists, and business analysts. Myplanet doesn't do campaigns; instead they focus on products and platforms that have a real impact on their clients' users and businesses – a key driver of their phenomenal growth. Last year they were finalists for the Startup Award!
Market Expansion Leader – GuestLogix is a leading global provider of onboard retail and payment technology, brings over a decade of expertise as a trusted onboard transaction processing partner to airlines, rail operators and the passenger travel industry. The company is partnered with global leaders in catering, duty-free and in-flight entertainment, offering complete onboard retailing services to airlines and rail operators worldwide.
Technology Enabler of the Year – As the fastest-growing accounting, consulting and tax advisory firm in Canada, MNP genuinely understands the experiences and challenges that come with growth. Their entrepreneurial approach allows them to build stronger connections with clients and provide the solutions and services they need. MNP's strong connection to the technology industry goes beyond their clients. They keep a pulse on industry trends and collaborate with associations within the GTA that are focused on the growth and development of tech companies.
Technology Company of the Year – Illumiti is a systems integration and management consulting company with offices in Canada, the U.S. and Switzerland, serving customers globally. Its team enables customers to realize their vision by leveraging technology, people and leading business practices. Illumiti helps its clients achieve optimized operations in the key areas at the core of their business, by implementing custom-fit solutions from SAP and other vendors faster, at a lower cost, and at a lower risk than other alternatives. Illumiti is an SAP gold channel partner and has received the SAP Business All-in-One Partner of the Year, Canada award the past three years in a row. Illumiti is also one of the fastest-growing SAP channel partners in the U.S.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Presented to Robert Lane of Toronto, a regular participant in YTA Peer2Peer exchanges sharing his lifetime of leading and learning in technology and related industry. Bob has worked with and advised some of the top business leaders in North America and around the globe and he serves as a Board Member or Advisor to various companies and organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Notable career achievements include executive roles at Commodore International (Commodore 64), Nortel, General Electric, and International Paper.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 3rd, 2013 at 9:35 am and is filed under Associations, Awards, Events, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tami Quiring (@VillageGamer)
2:37 am on June 3rd, 2013
.@yorktechCA Technology Leadership Award Winners Announced http://t.co/prD5E1zMAb
up to content »
Dev Diaries
CGFX
RPG - MMORPG
Archives Select Month July 2015 (4) June 2015 (10) May 2015 (18) April 2015 (29) March 2015 (30) February 2015 (18) January 2015 (24) December 2014 (14) November 2014 (37) October 2014 (42) September 2014 (38) August 2014 (30) July 2014 (45) June 2014 (35) May 2014 (37) April 2014 (62) March 2014 (64) February 2014 (78) January 2014 (27) December 2013 (72) November 2013 (101) October 2013 (143) September 2013 (101) August 2013 (107) July 2013 (170) June 2013 (169) May 2013 (191) April 2013 (254) March 2013 (237) February 2013 (186) January 2013 (109) December 2012 (82) November 2012 (164) October 2012 (131) September 2012 (121) August 2012 (180) July 2012 (177) June 2012 (221) May 2012 (337) April 2012 (374) March 2012 (406) February 2012 (427) January 2012 (443) December 2011 (313) November 2011 (293) October 2011 (256) September 2011 (238) August 2011 (196) July 2011 (241) June 2011 (301) May 2011 (241) April 2011 (131) March 2011 (79) February 2011 (68) January 2011 (48) December 2010 (61) November 2010 (85) October 2010 (127) September 2010 (96) August 2010 (30) July 2010 (23) June 2010 (27) May 2010 (27) April 2010 (25) March 2010 (33) February 2010 (41) January 2010 (51) December 2009 (45) November 2009 (61) October 2009 (60) September 2009 (60) August 2009 (63) July 2009 (81) June 2009 (106) May 2009 (158) April 2009 (81) March 2009 (118) February 2009 (85) January 2009 (71) December 2008 (63) November 2008 (82) October 2008 (64) September 2008 (15) August 2008 (23) July 2008 (22) June 2008 (22) May 2008 (26) February 2008 (1)
LanParty Eh
Women In Games Vancouver
Select a list:
Instant Notifications
Submission Guidelines · Terms Of Service · Privacy Policy · Sitemap ·
© 2021 Village Gamer. All Rights Reserved.
» 2013 » 06 » 03 » YTA Technology Leadership Award Winners Announced


I hope you enjoyed Part 1 earlier today featuring Robbie Honey's floristry demonstration at the Guildford Cathedral Flower Gala.
In this second blog post, you'll see how Robbie created another floral arrangement to complement the urn design.
Robbie made the arrangement in a mirrored box at the base of a perspex construction with columns, which you can see below.
The idea behind using perspex as part of a tablecentre design is that it's see-through, so guests can look at and talk to each other over the wedding reception table.
Soaked floral foam had been placed in the mirrored box and Robbie started by greening up it up with mint.
He then added two different types of sweet pea…a white Dutch variety (which was shorter and frillier) and an English pale cream variety (which was taller and tends to last a little bit longer).
Next he added more scented blooms in the form of David Austin 'Patience' roses, which are buttermilk in colour.
Double white freesias were then inserted into the foam.
He said that they don't have the traditional freesia fragrance and are generally more delicately scented…even likening it to the aroma of rain and pepper!
Now, remember the urn arrangement?
Well, the final step, which provoked a few gasps from the audience, involved Robbie and Jamie lifting the urn on to an upside-down square mirror, which was on top of the perspex construction and above the mirrored box.
Then Robbie added a finishing touch with tea lights around the base.
Next week, I'll be featuring Part 3 where Robbie creates another beautiful floral design.
Today at 1pm at the Guildford Cathedral Flower Gala, there will be a floristry demonstration by Shane Connolly.
And tomorrow, at the same time of 1pm, Joe Massie will demonstrating.
Tickets can be purchased on the door at the cathedral.


text:
Miles Davis - Before the Cool 1945-48 (2CD)
Trumpeter Miles Davis was without doubt one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-war era, not only as a pioneer of the bebop movement but through being at the forefront of many stylistic and musical innovations over the years. His landmark debut album for Capitol "The Birth Of The Cool", recorded during 1949 and 1950, became regarded as seminal in the history of cool jazz, exploring unusual harmonies and textures. This excellent-value 49-track 2-CD set comprises his studio recordings in small ensembles, in which he is the only trumpeter, from his studio debut in 1945 through to the end of 1948, just weeks before the first of the "Birth Of The Cool" sessions in January 1949. As a bonus, it concludes with a 'live' recording with Charlie Parker's All Stars in December 1948. It features performances with Charlie Parker's Reeboppers, the Charlie Parker Septet, Charlie Parker All Stars, Coleman Hawkins All Stars, Miles Davis All Stars, Charlie Parker Quintet & Charlie Parker Sextet from eleven different recording sessions during these years. Charlie Parker was his primary collaborator on these sessions, but among the musicians featured in the various line-ups were Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Kai Winding, Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Thompson, Hank Jones, John Lewis, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, Al Haig, Curly Russell and others. It's a fascinating insight into the development of his music during these key formative years.
Now's The Time
Thriving From A Riff [Anthropology]
Moose The Mooche
Chasin' The Bird
Bean-A-Re-Bop
Isn't It Romantic ?
Phantomesque
Little Willie Leaps
Half Nelson
Sippin' At Bell's
Bongo Bop
Dewey Square [Prezology]
The Hymn
Bird Feathers [Schnourphology]
Klactoveesedstene
Drifting On A Reed
Charlie's Wig
Bird Feathers [Bongo Beep]
Crazeology
Another Hair-Do
Klaunstance
Bird Gets The Worm
Ah-Leu-Cha
Groovin' High
Release date 12.11.20
The Miles Davis Story DVD
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue CD
Miles Davis - Miles In Paris DVD
Miles Davis - Live At The Fillmore East - March 7, 1970 (2 CDs)


Just like previous versions, iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, too, come with new wallpapers. Here's how you can download them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or computer.
Although none of these versions are available to the public, you can still download their amazing backgrounds to your Apple device.
DeviantArt user "specialized666" ripped all the image files from the macOS firmware asset images. The ZIP package below contains files of all resolutions from 1920×1080 up to 5120×2880.
You can download the wallpapers using the links given below.
There are four macOS wallpapers in all, namely, Day, Dusk, Dusk 2, and Night. macOS 10.14 automatically dynamically cycles between these images depending on the time of the day.
iOS, on the other hand, comes only with a single stock wallpaper.
For more iOS and macOS downloads, give us a like on Twitter and Facebook.


Jerry Harwin, a centenarian who parlayed a successful business into active support of parks and recreation in Santa Barbara, died Sunday night, July 1, 2012, at Serenity House. He was hale and hearty when he celebrated his 100th birthday last October 22, but he came down with pneumonia in January and never fully recovered, according to his son Joel Harwin.
Born in Fargo, North Dakota, Jerry Harwin migrated west and attended the University of Southern California, but could not afford to stay because of the Great Depression, and entered his family's jewelry business. He came to Santa Barbara in 1944 and opened Harwin's Jewelry, a local institution for 63 years.
One of his major legacies is Elings Park, the former landfill that was transformed into a recreational site under his leadership (the access road is named "Jerry Harwin Parkway"); and the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table, an organization that he co-founded to support local sports teams and athletes. An avid dancer, he lived out his last years at the Maravilla Senior Living Community in Goleta.


text:
Q: Selenium radiobutton selection I have an HTML code as follows:

<input id="id_gender2" type="radio" value="2" name="id_gender">

Mrs.

The radio button is getting selected after mouse hover.
I have tried with all possible attributes for selection but I am getting element not found exception.Please let me know how to write java script in webdriver.

A: Try following code and let me know the result:
Actions action = new Actions(driver);
WebElement hover = driver.findElement(By.xpath("//*[@class='radio hover']"));
action.moveToElement(hover).moveToElement(driver.findElement(By.xpath("//input[@id='id_gender2']"))).click().build().perform();

UPDATE
Actually there is no need in mouse hover. Target radio seem to be initially non-clickable, so you just need extra time to wait for page complete rendering:
WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 15);
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.elementToBeClickable(By.cssSelector("input#id_gender2")));
driver.findElement(By.cssSelector("input#id_gender2")).click();

A: Try javascript executor as follow:
WebElement element = driver.findElement(By.id("id_gender2"));
((JavascriptExecutor) driver).executeScript("arguments[0].click();", element);

A: Your element is probably not loaded properly while getting error. You'd better use explicit wait in your script. Wait until your specific element loaded to be visible/clickable. I think, this may help you.
Code snippet:
    By yourElementToSelect = By.id("id_gender2");
    WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, 20);
    wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(yourElementToSelect));
    driver.findElement(yourElementToSelect).click();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Das Erzbistum Ciudad Bolívar (, ) ist eine in Kolumbien gelegene römisch-katholische Diözese mit Sitz in Ciudad Bolívar. Es umfasst einen Teil des venezolanischen Bundesstaates Bolívar.

Geschichte
Papst Pius VII. gründete das Bistum Santo Tomás de Guayana am 20. Mai 1790 aus Gebietsabtretungen des Bistums Puerto Rico. Es wurde dem Erzbistum Santo Domingo als Suffragandiözese unterstellt. Mit der Bulle In universalis Ecclesiae regimine wurde es am 24. November 1803 Teil der Kirchenprovinz des Erzbistums Caracas.

Am 2. Januar 1953 nahm es den Namen "Bistum Ciudad Bolívar" an. Mit der Apostolischen Konstitution Magna quidem wurde es am 21. Juni 1958 in den Rang eines Metropolitanerzbistums erhoben.

Teile seines Territoriums verlor es zugunsten der Errichtung folgender Gebiete:
 am 23. Februar 1818 an das Apostolische Vikariat Trinidad
 am 4. März 1922 an das Apostolisches Vikariat Caroní
 am 5. Februar 1932 an das Apostolisches Vikariat Puerto Ayacucho
 am 7. Juni 1954 an das Bistum Barcelona
 am 24. Mai 1958 an das Bistum Maturín
 am 20. August 1979 an das Bistum Ciudad Guayana

Ordinarien

Bischöfe von Santo Tomás de Guayana
 Francisco de Ibarra y Herrera (19. Dezember 1791 – 14. Dezember 1798, dann Bischof von Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela)
 José Antonio García Mohedano (11. August 1800 – 17. Oktober 1804; gestorben)
 José Cabello Bentura (1809–1817; gestorben)
 Mariano Talavera y Garcés (15. Dezember 1828 – 1842; zurückgetreten)
 Mariano Fernández Fortique (12. Juli 1841 – 6. Februar 1854; zurückgetreten)
 José Manuel Arroyo Niño (19. Juni 1856 – 30. November 1884; gestorben)
 Manuel Felipe Rodríguez Delgado (30. Juli 1885 – 13. Dezember 1887; gestorben)
 Antonio María Durán (25. September 1891 – 18. Juli 1917; gestorben)
 Sixto Sosa Díaz (5. Dezember 1918 – 16. Juni 1923, dann Bischof von Cumaná)
 Miguel Antonio Mejía (19. Juni 1923 – 8. Oktober 1947; gestorben)
 Juan José Bernal Ortiz (21. Oktober 1949 – 2. Januar 1953)

Bischof von Ciudad Bolívar
 Juan José Bernal Ortiz (2. Januar 1953 – 21. Juni 1958)

Erzbischöfe von Ciudad Bolívar
 Juan José Bernal Ortiz (21. Juni 1958 – 25. Juli 1965, dann Erzbischof ad personam von Los Teques)
 Crisanto Darío Mata Cova (30. April 1966 – 26. Mai 1986; emeritiert)
 Medardo Luis Luzardo Romero (26. Mai 1986 – 27. August 2011)
 Ulises Antonio Gutiérrez Reyes OdeM (seit 27. August 2011)

Statistik

Siehe auch
 Römisch-katholische Kirche in Kolumbien
 Liste der römisch-katholischen Diözesen

Weblinks

Ciudad Bolivar
Bolívar (Bundesstaat)
Ciudad Bolívar
Gegründet 1790

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia