text:
package com.armadialogcreator.util;

import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

/**
 @author Kayler
 @since 03/22/2017 */
public class TextRange {
	private int start;
	private int end;

	private TextRange(int start, int end) {
		this.start = start;
		this.end = end;
	}

	public int getStart() {
		return start;
	}

	public int getEnd() {
		return end;
	}

	public int length() {
		return end - start;
	}

	@NotNull
	public static TextRange fromRange(int start, int end) {
		testBounds(start, end);
		return new TextRange(start, end);
	}

	@NotNull
	public static TextRange fromLength(int start, int length) {
		int end = start + length;
		testBounds(start, end);
		return new TextRange(start, end);
	}

	@NotNull
	public static TextRange forString(@NotNull String s) {
		int end = s.length();
		return new TextRange(0, end);
	}

	private static void testBounds(int start, int end) {
		if (start < 0) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("start < 0");
		}
		if (end < 0) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("end < 0");
		}
		if (end < start) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("end < start");
		}
	}

}


The San Nicolò Church is an important piece of the Italian cultural heritage and was heavily damaged in 2012. The church dates from 16th century and has been subject to many earthquakes during its long life. The first task was the detailed structural assessment performed in 2012, when the structural deficiencies and vulnerabilities were individuated and addressed in a preliminary study for retrofitting the monument.
In May 2012, the church was affected by the M-6.0 Emilia earthquake and Miyamoto was involved in designing the post-disaster interventions to restore the safety of the building.
The last phase was the seismic strengthening project. Several high-performance earthquake engineering solutions were developed, such as isolation of the dome, shape-memory alloy devices in the tie-rods and carbon fibers for dome strengthening. The final design resulted in a mix of traditional and innovative techniques, which gave renewed strength to this large monumental complex.


text:
Research Pioneers 2: Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallchoir
Posted on November 4, 2019 by Dr Deirdre Flynn
2018 saw the landmark publication of Heather Ingman and Clíona Ó Gallchoir's A History of Modern Irish Women's Literature. Featuring 22 chapters that address women's writing from the early modern period to the present, the volume makes a rich intervention not only in Irish Studies but in women's literary history. The volume, the editors note, 'complicates and enriches our understanding of the Irish canon by retrieving forgotten writers, placing well-known authors in new contexts and allowing readers to trace patterns and developments in women's writing across periods and languages.' (Irish Times) We are delighted that Ó Gallchoir and Ingman agreed to answer a few questions about the project.
This is the second interview in the Research Pioneer Series. Our first interview with John Wilson Foster is available here.
Q: What initially drew you to the study of Irish women's writing?
l-r: Heather Ingman, Máirín Nic Eoin, CÓG, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Deirdre Madden, Aileen Douglas, Margaret Kelleher, Eve Patten.
Photo Credit: The Long Room Hub.
CÓG: I first encountered Maria Edgeworth when I was an MA student, and I was really struck by her work, how unexpected and interesting it was, so it seemed very strange on one level that I had never heard about her up to that point. But I was also an MA student at the time of the first Field Day controversy, so the issue of the exclusion of women from the canon of Irish writing was something that I was becoming aware of. Reading Edgeworth made it very apparent that a lot of great work was not being taught and was also being treated with a lot of critical condescension – so from that point on I was drawn to researching and working on women's writing.
HI: I came to Irish women's writing in a very roundabout way. I first lived in Ireland in the 1980s. I was lecturing in French Renaissance literature at Trinity College, but I also followed closely the discussions going on at that time in Ireland about women's status and I became very conscious that I had lectured for ten years and could go on lecturing for another ten years without once referring to an author as she. A move to Hull gave me the opportunity to research and teach interwar women's writing, which I loved. When we moved back to Ireland in 2000 I felt that in comparison with writers like Woolf and Mansfield, Irish women's writing had a much lower profile. I became particularly outraged by the way the media continued to treat, and dismiss, Edna O'Brien as a romantic novelist. I had taught O'Brien's work in Hull and I felt her work had changed radically in the 1990s. In the context of Irish women's writing, I published my first article on political elements in her work and at the same time I was delighted to be offered by Nicholas Grene the chance to teach Irish women's writing at Trinity, as well as teaching women's writing in the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies then run by Maryann Valiulis.
Q: Can you tell us what prompted the idea for the volume?
CÓG: The volume was commissioned by Cambridge University Press, and it is important to acknowledge that this was a project that was championed by CUP and by Ray Ryan from the start.
HI: Yes, the project owes its inception to Ray Ryan who was supportive all along the line. I was pleased to be part of it since by then I was deep into Irish women's writing and was aware that there were significant numbers of researchers in the field and an increasing number of students interested in the subject. The time seemed right for a comprehensive overview of Irish women's writing from the early modern period to the present day and I was delighted that Clíona came on board because she has the expertise in the many areas where I lack knowledge, so I feel we complemented each other well, and indeed we had a very happy working relationship.
Q: How did you approach the conceptualisation of the volume as editors?
CÓG: There were some very important earlier works that fed into this volume. The Cambridge History of Irish Literature and volumes 4 and 5 of the Field Day Anthology were for me very important reference points. Our volume however had to have its own specific shape and design. So although it is broadly chronological, we deliberately included chapters that cut across the chronology, and in fact in which there was at times some overlap – this was because some categories, notably the Revival, can obscure women's contribution to literature as much as reveal or document it. So the chapter on New Woman Writing, for instance, overlaps with some of the time period covered in the Revival chapter – that's one way of showing that some traditions in women's writing don't always follow the mainstream narrative of 'national' literary history. We also wanted to highlight some specific fields, such as children's literature and the short story, where women's achievements have been particularly important.
HI: Clíona has explained this so well that I don't think I have much to add, except to endorse her argument that it was important to depart at times from standard chronologies for histories of Irish writing since the accent can fall differently for women writers, the New Woman chapter being a case in point. Even within a specific context, such as fiction from Northern Ireland, women's writing may have quite different concerns. Over a longer period, for example fiction published between 1922 and 1960, retrieval of neglected women writers can challenge and complicate our understanding of the literary history of these years.
Q: The volume is ambitious in its scope, covering the genres of prose, poetry and drama as well as addressing hitherto often neglected genres such as children's literature. Alongside survey chapters for longer time periods or particular genre, there are also three chapters dedicated to individual women writers – Elizabeth Bowen, Kate O'Brien, and Edna O'Brien. They firmly anchor the volume in the twentieth century. What was the rationale for the case studies?
CÓG: These three writers have all had exceptional careers, but they have all, for different reasons, had a problematic relation to the Irish literary canon as it has taken shape in post-independence, twentieth-century period. When we decided to allot author-specific chapters to these writers, it wasn't so much about anchoring the volume in the twentieth century, as highlighting the continuing discourse around the literary careers of even the most acclaimed and celebrated women writers. The focus on individual authors allowed the contributors in the case of these three chapters to look at the whole career, and at the reception of the writers by critics and audiences – we felt that a work of feminist literary history required those perspectives as well.
HI: The chapters allowed us to situate these particular three writers, all of whom had lengthy careers often in several different genres, in specific cultural contexts highlighting the way in which their careers progressed or were stalled by the circumstances in which they wrote. So these chapters were an opportunity to take a closer look at how and why women writers may become marginalised or fall out of fashion. If we had had more room I would like to have included a separate chapter on Maria Edgeworth and perhaps another on a late nineteenth-century writer, such as Charlotte Riddell, setting her career in the publishing context of the time.
Q: To what extent does the final volume meet your initial vision for the volume?
CÓG: It has surpassed my expectations, because of the quality of the contributions. I worked on the Index, and although that was a really difficult task, it also brought home to me the extent of what had been achieved.
HI: Yes, Clíona did sterling work on the index. In editing a volume like this, a lot of work goes into the planning stage since you have to be very aware of the danger of overlap and repetition between chapters. After that the success of the volume is largely down to the quality of the contributions and each of our contributors worked hard to shape their chapters to fit the overall volume. In some cases they had to go to tremendous efforts to compress a huge amount of material into 7000 words and we very much appreciated the way they accomplished this task. If it wasn't for the strict word count imposed by the publishers I am sure the volume could have been twice as long, but I am very happy with the way it turned out.
Q: It is notable that among your contributors there are 19 women and 4 men. What, in your view, does that tell us about the state of scholarship on women writers? And how does that impact the development of metanarratives or survey projects that are often written by male academics?
CÓG: That's a very good question. There is of course a problem if women's writing is still seen as 'women's work', because we all know how women's work is valued, traditionally. That said, there are some indications that the gender divide in criticism is being challenged. What I'd like to see is an increasing awareness that you can't write about a period, or a genre, or a theme, and just ignore what women were writing at the time. That is still happening. But the History does at least offer a starting point for researchers working on specific periods, and there are fewer excuses to ignore women's literary production.
HI: Well I am very pleased that we were able to include male academics. I felt that it was crucial that the volume was not authored solely by women for the reasons Clíona has mentioned. Irish women's writing continues to struggle to get coverage in some academic journals and, as your question indicates, can always drop out again in general surveys of Irish writing. However our book is out there now and I hope it will make it that little bit more difficult to overlook Irish women's writing in the future.
Q: Where do you see the scholarship on Irish women writers developing over the next decade?
CÓG: There's a huge energy around the independence period at the moment, with research on women's writing playing a vital role in reshaping narratives of that foundational moment. At the same time, there is also great work being done on transnational writing and writers – the awareness that Irish women's writing is not confined to the island, or the state as it exists now or did in that past.
HI: Irish women's writing from the 1880s through the first decades of the twentieth century is tremendously exciting, partly because the women were often adventurous, outspoken and politically engaged. Their careers were often transnational and encompassed several different genres. They built up strong networks and supported one another professionally. A lot of good archival-based work is being done at the moment on this period.
Q: If you could have included three more chapters, what would they have been on?
CÓG: There would have been space in that case for an author-specific chapter in the earlier periods – Heather has mentioned Edgeworth and obviously I would agree with that. And we could also have given more than one chapter to Irish-language writing. Even though the volume is barely a year old, it was planned a few years ago; if I were planning it now, a chapter devoted to work by immigrant and New Irish writers would be essential.
HI: Yes, I wish we had been able to include a separate chapter on Edgeworth. I agree with Cliona that the field has already moved on and today we would want to include work by immigrant and New Irish writers, and perhaps writing for young adults. In some ways I would like to have cut across the historical chronology and included some thematic chapters, for example tracing the use of fable and folklore through women's writing of all periods, or the treatment of nature and the environment, but that would have blurred the historical focus.
Q: What, in your view, are the most important issues and most promising avenues for future research in Irish women's writing?
CÓG: Speaking personally, there's a lot more work to be done on earlier periods. Irish literary history doesn't begin in 1891, and women are very much part of the story of those earlier periods. I also think there's a lot of scope for scholars of both Irish and English to work together, though it is of course important to be aware of the danger of English as a discipline 'colonizing' Irish-language scholarship. One of the unique features of Irish culture is its dual language tradition, and women in those different language communities obviously had very different experiences, while at the same time sharing a great deal because of their gender. The issue of making texts available is one that has been raised since the volume has been published, and I think there has to be some work there. Teaching work by women is essential in developing the next generation of researchers, and it's hard to that if accessing the texts is difficult or even impossible.
HI: Now that our volume has been published I think attention has switched to work on individual authors who have had lengthy careers but whose work has got lost. I have in mind writers like Norah Hoult, for instance, one of whose novels was reissued by Persephone, but whose entire career is worth looking at. The topic of ageing is a new one in the context of Irish writing but will, I think, become increasingly important as the population ages. It is already possible to see that contemporary Irish writers are tackling subjects like dementia, for instance. A start has been made with the recent issue of Nordic Irish Studies on the topic of Women and Ageing in Irish Writing, Drama and Film edited by Margaret O'Neill and Michaele Schrage-Früh. Ageing is not of course a gender specific topic … Ecology and the environment are also topics that are attracting attention at the moment for obvious reasons and sometimes specifically in the context of Irish women's writing, of all periods. Transnationalism has always been important in connection with Irish women's writing and interest in this is likely to increase in the future. So a lot of interesting avenues to explore.
Category: Network Blog, Research PioneersTags: Irish Studies, publishing, Research, Research Pioneers
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


IT executives today find themselves faced with an unreasonable, logic-defying challenge: satisfy ever-escalating, complex demands for technology improvements and solutions … and oh yeah, get it done fast … and do it without the people and budget you really need to get the job done right.
If this sounds a bit like a no-win proposition – an IT version of "Groundhog Day" – that's often just the way it feels to many of the talented IT leaders who must contend with it all as a fact of everyday work. Yet for those who succeed, we've observed that it doesn't seem to stop them. It spurs them on.
Fortunately, for them the bad news is not the whole story, but rather the ticket in. They have learned to begin with an unvarnished, clear-eyed view of the mission – with all its warts, pitfalls and predictable crises. The entire minefield is taken as a "given." From that perspective they're actually able see beyond the limitations towards a more compelling, productive future for themselves and the businesses they serve.
To realize the promise of that future however, they've also discovered they need to exhibit new strengths to empower themselves and mobilize their people at every level. Technological knowledge and expertise are necessary but insufficient. The good news is that courageous IT professionals have shown us they're able to consistently demonstrate the kind of toughness, creativity, and resilience required to succeed in a business environment that seems to conspire against them at every turn. So how do they do it?
You've got to start somewhere. And what better place to start than by asking the question: What's predictable for IT on our current trajectory? Answers from all perspectives and constituents are essential. However daunting it may seem, confronting where today's path will lead you, is the first step.
Owning all of it – the good, the bad, and the ugly – gives you authority to "tell it like it is." When your voice has this kind of power, negative gossip and opinions have less sway. By recognizing the predictable future for IT, you're free to embark on the next step – fashioning a future beyond what's predictable.
There is no more potent expression of your leadership than a bold stand for IT. Give yourself permission to "tell it like it will be" … the measureable impact your organization is committed to make for the business. That's what your team wants. That's what the IT organization needs. That's what you're all up to together. But it begins with you.
You must step up now, when it's not predictable or realistic. Before others are ready. Before others can see it. Before others believe it. Before the pathway to realize the vision is clear. Don't wait for courage and confidence before taking this leap. These attributes will emerge as a function of taking bold action.
What extraordinary possibilities is IT committed to realize?
What can the business count on from you?
Most often others see IT as unreliable. You've likely inherited a history of unmet expectations. Only by taking ownership of the past will you truly gain permission for a new beginning.
Credibility is gained in small increments. You can build trust by making and meeting commitments. Simple as it might seem, this requires more than meets the eye. Effective implementation demands far greater discipline, along with new terminology and rigorous practices for negotiating agreements and holding oneself and others to account.
Find out what "working" would look like for those with the most at stake.
Promise an outcome, a date, and do whatever it takes to make it happen.
The prospect of keeping up with technology is often daunting, even to the best of us. At the same time, encouraging new insights attest to the difference only individuals can make.
In his recent book "Humans Are Underrated," Geoff Colvin identifies specific human capacities (for things like leading, brainstorming, collaborating, and building relationships) that will continue to remain critical to the everyday functioning of a high-performing workplace.
Leveraging human capabilities can transform performance. Such assets are underappreciated and well worth the time and investment to maximize. To ignore them is one risk you can't afford to take.


text:
Burr Ridge church seeks donations to help recover from septic system backup
By Kimberly Fornek
May 03, 2019 | 12:20 PM
Parishioner and handyman Keith Plikuhn shows how far the water from a backed up septic system reached. (Kimberly Fornek/Pioneer Press)
Clean up continues at St. Helena's Episcopal Church in Burr Ridge, where a problem in the septic system caused the church to flood and cancel Sunday services.
Church members worry about how they will pay to repair the damage, which was discovered April 29.
"We thought it was a clogged toilet or something," said the Rev. Ethan Jewett. "As we got the plumber in, we discovered it was a much bigger problem."
Blockages in the septic system caused groundwater to back up in a toilet which overflowed. The water spread not only through the foyer, an office and into the sanctuary, but leaked through the floor to the rooms in the basement.
Contaminated water came into places the church uses most for gathering and worship, Jewett said.
"It ruined the new floors we put in in the fall of 2017," he said.
Vinyl floors, carpeting and baseboard all were soaked and had to be pulled out.
"There never was more than an inch of water, but that is enough," said parishioner and handyman Keith Plikuhn. "Fortunately, it didn't get into the organ. That would have been really terrible."
The days of rain that followed the discovery added to the urgency the church members felt to find and fix the problem.
"We have been working really fast to get everything done," Jewett said.
Water reached the pulpit, but not the altar. (Keith Plikuhn)
A plumbing service examined the septic system with a camera to diagnose the problem, Plikuhn said. Excavation, repairs and improvements were expected to begin Saturday. Work on the outside septic system alone will cost $14,000, Plikuhn said.
Numerous fans placed throughout the church have been drying the interior. But ceiling tiles and light fixtures in the basement ceiling still had to be removed as of Friday morning.
"We are taking this one catastrophe at a time," Jewett said. "Obviously, everything has to be professionally cleaned."
Jewett hopes the church's insurance will reimburse the congregation for the cleanup and repairs, but in the meantime the work, which will cost at least $20,000, cannot wait for the insurance company's evaluation.
"We crawl from one month to the next financially," Plikuhn said.
The church has started a gofundme account at www.gofundme.com and search for St. Helena Church flooding relief. As of May 3 $2,250 had been donated.
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Other churches in the area offered to host a worship service May 5 for the congregation, but Jewett said he suggested his parishioners individually choose another church for their Sunday service.
St. Helena's typically has two services on Sunday, one in English and one in Spanish. About 120 people total regularly attend the services, said Plikuhn, who with his wife, Leeann, have been parishioners for seven years.
The couple lives in Indian Head Park, about a half-mile from St. Helena's.
"We thought we would check it out," Plikuhn said. "Everyone was so nice and inviting. It was like family right away."
Water from a backed up septic system damaged the floors on both the main floor and in the basement. (Keith Plikuhn)


text:
Lizabeth Cohen is the current Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies in the History Department at Harvard University, as well as a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. From 2011-2018 she served as the Dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.  Currently, she teaches courses in 20th-century America, with a focus on urbanism, the built environment, and public history. She has also served as the Chair of the History Department at Harvard, director of the undergraduate program in history, and director of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, among other administrative duties.

Life and academic career
Born in 1952 in Paramus, New Jersey, Cohen grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, and in Westchester County, New York. She earned her A.B. degree from Princeton University, and both her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Cohen rose from the position of assistant to associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University between 1986 and 1992 and served as associate professor and full professor at New York University between 1992 and 1997, before joining the faculty at Harvard. She was appointed the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University for the 2007-08 academic year, and is an honorary fellow of Oxford's Rothermere American Institute.

Cohen authored Making a New Deal, a book about the social history of 20th-century American politics. In that book, a case study of Chicago, Cohen argues that working-class urban residents found a common identity as Americans and as New Dealers as the result of their incorporation into a burgeoning mass culture and especially as the result of the devastating effects of the Depression on urban ethnic stores, businesses, and institutions. Cohen also offers a provocative argument about the rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations during the 1930s. She contends that a working-class "culture of unity" broke down ethnic divisions and animosities and made possible widescale industrial unionization.

Cohen's analysis of working-class popular culture (shopping, movie-going, and radio) during the 1920s was a pioneering effort in the study of vernacular consumerism, a theme that she developed with more of a political focus in her next book, A Consumers' Republic. Through a deeply documented history of urban and suburban New Jersey, embedded in a larger analysis about the transformation of post-New Deal liberalism, Cohen explores the ways that people's identities as consumers shaped their politics after World War II. Building on her interests on architecture, planning, and the built environment, the book is particularly noteworthy for its engagement with earlier work on the politics of suburbanization by scholars like Kenneth T. Jackson. Cohen explores such topics as the rise of shopping malls, the emergence of a consumers' rights movement, and the relationship of consumerism to civil rights activism in the mid-twentieth century. A Consumer's Republic begins with her recollections of growing up in suburban New Jersey and draws from extensive research in archives in the Garden State.

Her most recent book is Saving America's Cities, which revisits federal urban renewal by following the career of Edward J. Logue, whose shifting approach to the post-World War II urban crisis tracked the changing balance between government-funded public programs and private-sector initiatives. A Yale-trained lawyer and sometime critic of both Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, Logue saw urban renewal as an extension of the liberal New Deal. He worked to revive a declining New Haven in the 1950s, became the architect of the "New Boston" of the 1960s, and later led the New York State Urban Development Corporation (1968-1975) and the South Bronx Development Organization (1978-1985). Cohen probes the destructiveness of federally funded urban renewal, but also its successes and progressive goals.

Awards and memberships
Cohen has been a Guggenheim Fellow, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellow, a National Endowment for the Humanities grant recipient, a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and is a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
 She has also served as President of the Urban History Association.

Her 1990 article, "Encountering Mass Culture at the Grassroots: The Experience of Chicago Workers in the 1920s," won the American Studies Association's Constance Rourke Prize for the best article published in the journal American Quarterly. Her 1990 book, Making a New Deal, won the Bancroft Prize in 1991 for the best book published in American history and the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. In March 2020, she was again awarded the Bancroft Prize for the book Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age.

Cohen's 1996 American Historical Review article, "From Town Center to Shopping Center: The Reconfiguration of Community Marketplaces in Postwar America," won the Urban History Association's Prize for Best Journal Article in Urban History and the Organization of American Historian's ABC-CLIO, America: History and Life Award for an article that most advances new perspectives on accepted interpretations or previously unconsidered topics.

Cohen is a member of the Board of Directors of the Payomet Performing Arts Center in Truro, Massachusetts, and the Board of Advisors for the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Published works
Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.
A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. New York: Vintage Books, 2003.
Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Canto Classics, 2014.

References

External links
Personal Website
Lizabeth Cohen faculty page, Department of History, Harvard University
Philip Taft Labor History Book Award
Payomet Performing Arts Center

People from Paramus, New Jersey
Princeton University alumni
University of California, Berkeley alumni
21st-century American historians
Historians of the United States
Harvard University faculty
Labor historians
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Scarsdale, New York
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American women historians
Scarsdale High School alumni
Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History
Historians from New York (state)
21st-century American women writers
Bancroft Prize winners
Historians from New Jersey

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Tag: Teresa Lisbon
Happily ever after for Patrick and Teresa!
On February 21, 2015 June 24, 2015 By EstherIn TV & media1 Comment
I am so very pleased with how The Mentalist ended! I'm still on a high, days later, thinking about it! I'm walking on sunshine, just as they must be (even though they are fictional characters…)
So sad the show has ended but it's always best to end on a high, I guess. Still, makes me wonder how their lives will take form from now. So, I guess I'm off to read fanfiction now. 😉
The Mentalist going out with a (romantic) bang!
On February 12, 2015 June 24, 2015 By EstherIn TV & media2 Comments
(Beware of spoilers) On The Mentalist, the Patrick Jane – Teresa Lisbon relationship has been a little angsty of late…
Jane is so afraid of losing Lisbon to the dangers of her job as an FBI law officer that he had to take leave of her for a little bit and figure out how to deal with that.
On last night's episode after some time to figure things out he came to Lisbon on a case and said, "I'm back…"
So, he's back, but how he plans to make it work, we don't yet… it was straight back to work to try and catch a serial killer…
Next week the show's finale will be aired in a double-episode. Last ever The Mentalist episodes… 😦 But these spoiler pictures turned up today and it looks like The Mentalist is going out with a (romantic) bang… a wedding!!
And Teresa Lisbon gets to be in a Patrick Jane – Kimball Cho sandwich! Lucky woman!
I know not everyone is pro-Jisbon, but I for one am very pleased they will get their happy ending. They soooo deserve it after all they've been through… These pictures exude joyous love and I adore them!
I may have to take the first two hours off work next week Thursday morning in order to watch these episodes as quickly as I possibly can…
Lisbon says "I love you"… awww….
On January 18, 2015 June 24, 2015 By EstherIn TV & mediaLeave a comment
I loved this little scene between Teresa Lisbon and Patrick Jane at the end of last week's The Mentalist episode "Little Yellow House". I just adore how delicately this whole love story is treated. No over the top rushing into it passion, just a slow buring fire and such true feeling!! With all their history together, this is just the sweetest culmination so far… In this episode he is there for her, never judging, just observing, listening, helping her and her brothers, reassuring her in his Airstream that her brothers really do love her and he gives her space. And then at the end she so beautifully opens up to him and finally tells him she loves him… oh, the beauty of it all!
True love's gift
Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon on The Mentalist are so adorable. Professional when working a case and then after work they have a relationship to build. Last week's episode ("Green Light", episode 6 of final season 7) was about celebrating Jane's birthday, the first one as a couple, and Lisbon got him the most wonderful, symbolic and perfect gift!
A very low key celebration outside Jane's Airstream camper with party lights and a single cupcake as a birthday cake. So sweet:
Then we see his touched reaction to what he finds in the little gift box as Lisbon looks on in anticipation…
It is his teacup from where they formerly worked (at the CBI), the cup that was his favorite and mattered so much to him!
Back then Jane was shattered as it looked like he would never catch his nemesis Red John. Serial killer Red John remained elusive, only just out of reach, and it looked like he never would be caught. The shattering of the cup at that point was the last straw, symbolic of everything else that was going wrong. Patrick Jane's favorite cup broke and he hit rock bottom.
Now, more than 2 years later, Lisbon has put the cup back together again. It's a metaphor, really, of how Patrick Jane is back in one piece again as well and he knows it. And it happened with the help of the woman he has finally admitted to loving. He is whole again and their relationsip is whole, they have overcome bad times, only she knows the depths of how bad, and they have come back out the other end…. Patrick Jane so touched and speechless is such a beautiful sight to see.
That deserves a kiss…
And a toast…
And another kiss…
These two know each other so well and therefore know how to give each other something with real meaning. Their love is rooted in a deep friendship and that is the best basis for being partners for life. I am loving this relationship – a true meeting of hearts and minds, so gently portrayed.
Another thing I love… The Mentalist!
On December 30, 2014 June 24, 2015 By EstherIn TV & media1 Comment
Five years or so ago someone told me I should watch the tv crime show "The Mentalist". So, I finally got around to watching the pilot and bam! I was hooked. I think I caught up on all episodes until the end of season two within a week and started following all new episodes religiously as they came out!
I fell in love with the character of ex-fake psychic Patrick Jane, his humour and zest for life but also his tragedy and deep grief over losing his wife and daughter to a serial killer and tirelessly seeking revenge and justice. His interaction as consultant with agent Teresa Lisbon who is the only one who can even penetrate a bit of his outer shell is beautiful. She gives him hell but she has heart and plays along with his methods even if they aren't always kosher. Never a dull moment with Patrick Jane around and although they don't always agree, they strive for the same thing: justice and they enjoy achieving it.
Halfway through last season (season 6) Patrick Jane finally was able to unmask the serial killer Red John who had killed his wife and daughter and was able to get his revenge… and the series changed. Normally finding your nemesis means the end of a series but The Mentalist creators thought differently. They explored a different angle: what happens after you accomplish your sole mission in life? Jane had to figure out what next… And it turns out that what is next is that he wants to be with Lisbon, that he needs to allow himself some happiness after 12 years of misery and that he is finally free to admit that his feelings for Lisbon have grown deeper than just friendship. At the end of season 6 it wasn't known yet whether there would be a season 7 so the season ended with Jane and Lisbon finally admitting they loved each other and there was a very sweet romantic kiss.
Now season 7 has started… it's only half a season, really, and the final one. Jane and Lisbon have to try to figure out what next together… What we see now is their old friendship with that little bit extra: looks and touches and when they're alone together trying to figure what they will do in a future together. They are still negotiating and taking baby steps in their relationship. No endless kissing scenes and hanky panky but many small looks and touches and I love how the relationship is slowly unfolding like that.
With each episode it feels like they let more of their cover slip (at work 'no one knows' they are a couple now). Last week's epsiode showed us Jane and Lisbon lying next to each other on a bed (fully dressed) talking about the future. While sweet and intimate, I love even more what I saw today when I caught up with the latest episode (The Silver Briefcase, season 7, episode 5), where there were secret looks and there was handholding while still focusing on solving the Columbo-like murder. We know who did it, it just needs to be proved. I very much enjoyed the murder case but also all the 'Jisbon' moments. I think I loved three moments best:
Moment 1: When trying to reconstruct the murder in the victim's house they work so well together and exchange these beautiful smiles and long glances… aww… Just a side note: Simon Baker as Patrick Jane has one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen.
Actually, the moment leading up to them going into the house was sweet too, with Jane talking about wanting to view a house with his girlfriend. The smiles there in the car were shy and so sweet…
Moment 2: Jane and Lisbon meet up in a warehouse and for just a few seconds he takes her hand before letting go again and getting ready for business.
Moment 3: At the end of the epsiode they bicker about their future and walk off into the night with Jane putting his arm around Lisbon's shoulder. The whole thing, the bickering, the smiles, the ease between them… it all feels so very real.
I think what I love about all this is that they both remain their old selves with differences of opinion and yet they are open to each other. Their friendship has been tested a lot over the years, they know each other well, and yet there is this new element of a relationship that needs to be negotiated. And they do that in a very Jane and Lisbon way – no sappiness but real feeling and let's get down to business. And from the bickering at the end of this episode it looks like Jane is the more scared of the two!
I can't wait to see what's in store for these two… and only 8 more episodes to go until the series ends forever…. 😦 I will so miss The Mentalist.
My latest binge-watch frenzy: Suits!


10-µA current leakage max. between open output terminals.
2,500-VAC dielectric strength ensured between input and output terminals.
With or without input resistor incorporated models available.
Incorporated with overvoltage absorption circuit.
Full-wave rectified and half-wave rectified AC current switchable.
Note: Refer to "Photo Microsensor Selection Guide" for overseas standards approved models.
12 VDC 9.6 to 14.4 VDC 2KΩ±20% 9.6 VDC max.
24 VDC 19.2 to 28.8 VDC 4KΩ±20% 19.2 VDC max.
2.4Ω max. 3.0Ω max. 0.15Ω max.
Note: For G3DZ-2R6PL/-1R5PL/-DZ02P, the values are under the measurement conditions whereby rated voltages are applied to the input For G3DZ-1R5PLG/-DZ02PG, the values are measured with 6.25 mA current applied to the input.
·If any reversed surge voltage is imposed on the input terminals, insert a diode in parallel to the input terminals. Do not impose a reversed voltage value of 3 V or more.
·Since terminals are made of materials with high heat conduction, complete soldering (automatic or manual) with 10 seconds at a temperature of 260°C. When fitting with a Socket, match properly and push straight down vertically.


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aerofiles.openair
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.. autoclass:: aerofiles.openair.Reader
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.. autoclass:: aerofiles.openair.LowLevelReader
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


What is the maximum distance she travelled carrying a flag ?
What will happen if sugar is heated ?
Identify the correct statement about a biosphere reserve.
Organisms of a trophic level that feed on several types of organisms in the lower trophic level constitute the ____. Such interconnected ones are called the _____.
A basket of vegetable contains carrot, potato, radish and tomato. Which one of the following represents correct homologus structures?


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Home Nasugbu Town History World War II Nasugbu in World War II: A Historical Narrative
Nasugbu in World War II: A Historical Narrative
Filipino guerrillas in Nasugbu, February 1945. Image source: United States National Archives.
From the 1953 document entitled "Historical Data of the Municipality of Nasugbu1," Batangas History presents this historical narrative on the town's experiences during World War II. The narrative was well-written and will be provided in its entirety below, albeit some paragraphs have been broken up by Batangas History for the reader's convenience, minor grammatical corrections made and annotations provided in brackets [ x ] to help the reader better understand the story.
All these so-called "historical data" were written by teachers, most of the time transcribing interviews with local town inhabitants with knowledge of their towns' "historical" events. Therefore, it is understandable that few of the narratives supplied citations.
In the case of this narrative, however, the events and conditions in the town of Nasugbu that were being described were still fresh in the minds of the townspeople, the Second World War having ended just eight years before. The absence of citations, therefore, should not detract from the historical accuracy of the narrative.
World War II [In Nasugbu]On December 8, 1941, the news of war spread like wildfire in Nasugbu. [The date makes it seem like the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor; and this was because of the international dateline. In fact, the Philippines were also attacked just hours after Hawaii.] All classes in the high school and elementary grades were closed and the people prepared to evacuate to the barrios.
The next day, soldiers of the 42nd Regiment, 41st Division, Philippine Army under General Lim arrived. [The Philippine Army was first organized in 1935 as directed by the National Defense Act. By 1941, some of its components were placed under the command of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East or USAFFE2.] They established their headquarters in the ruins of the old church in "Lumang Bayan."
Elements of the 45th Philippine Scouts in Fort Stotsenburg [a base of the United States Army in Sapang Bato, Angeles3] also arrived and established their headquarters in the town plaza. The Philippine Scouts recruited some able bodied men in the town. Two of them were Primitivo Sobreviñas and Oyen Cudiamat.
Every day, Japanese Zero fighters and bombers passed but made no bombing (runs) on the town. [Probably on their way to attack Batangas Airfield where the Philippine Army Air Corps maintained warplanes.] At night, total blackout [wartime blackouts were enforced so that enemy "spotter" planes would not be able to identify targets4.] was enforced with members of the Bolo Battalion patrolling the town. [Bolo Battalions were volunteer groups that maintained peace and order in towns during the war5.]
At this time, the Japanese retailer, Yamaoka, the Izumita family and Japanese sympathizers were already rounded up and detained. No untoward incident happened except the looting of the Japanese store.
Christmas of 1941 came and the soldiers were preparing for a midnight Mass in the old church when the order to retreat to Bataan came. [General Douglas McArthur's order to withdraw to Bataan was to consolidate all Luzon forces in the peninsula against the Japanese offensive6.] All the soldiers of the 41st Infantry Division and the Philippine Scouts left that Christmas Even hurriedly. When the soldiers had left, more people were evacuated to the barrios.
Meanwhile, Manila residents, who were employees of Roxas y Cia [a company founded in 1840 by Don Domingo Roxas7] evacuated to this town. Houses of nipa and bamboo were constructed in the hacienda compound.
New Year, 1942 was ushered in uneventfully here in Nasugbu except for the news that the Japanese had landed in different places and would eventually come. On the first week of January, 1942, the Japanese came. [Japan had actually started landing forces in Luzon the previous month8.]
A sugar central train being prepared to carry ammunition in 1945. Image source: United States National Archives.
At first, it was only a platoon that also left; but after a week, a horde of Japanese soldiers arrived. The school and the municipal building were made into garrisons and general headquarters. They also established their own government with Mr. Florencio Oliva as Mayor, Mr. Felipe Oliva as Secretary and Mr. Emilio Limjoco as Treasurer, the incumbent Treasurer Mr. Francisco Alix Sr. having refused to serve the Japanese government.
For almost two months, Nasugbu was used as a stepping stone of Japanese soldiers in their attacks on Corregidor and Bataan. Later on, they moved to Lumbangan, a barrio of Nasugbu, where they stayed until liberation.
At the beginning of Japanese rule, neighborhood organizations were formed. The people of the poblacion were censused [i.e. counted] with a leader in every block (assigned). The people never suffered acute shortage of food as the rice harvest of Nasugbu was enough for all the people.
Rations of rice, soap, lard, cigarettes, matches and other commodities were given. Locally made cigarettes flooded the market. To remedy the hoarding of rice, the BIBA (Bigasang Bayan) was organized with Atty. Pedro Gallardo as Manager. A group of Japanese agriculturists also arrived and converted the sugarcane fields into cotton fields. Hundreds of people, men and women, were employed in the cotton fields.
After the surrender of Bataan on April 9, 1942, guerrilla organizations were secretly organized. The first to start such movements was Sisenando (Dade) Deztreza, a local and youthful man. His organization was a unit of an organization in Cavite. Some of his men were Teodulo Botones, Miguel Cochingco and Lucas Rodriguez. This organization did a remarkable job liquidating spies and Japanese sympathizers up to 1943.
Some veterans from the Hunters/ROTC Guerrilla group. Image credit: Expatch.org.
However, the organizers (of the guerrilla group) met tragic deaths due to intra-mural [probably used figuratively; the word internecine would have been more appropriate] fight with other guerrilla organizations. One night, they were all murdered except Teodolo Botones and Mike Cochingco, who were able to escape. The persons responsible for these murders are still alive [and the time of the document's writing] and should not, therefore, be mentioned.
Other guerrillas organized themselves like the Fil-American Irregular [a.k.a. FAIT or the Fil-American Irregular Troops or Straughn's Regiment9], their founder was [Calixto?] Casilao on December 2, 1942 [probably in reference to the formation of the Nasugbu chapter of FAIT] and the ROTC [the guerrilla group's full name was Hunters/ROTC] under Colonel Terry Magtanggol, with its headquarters in Kutad, (barrio) Looc.
These organizations did remarkable jobs, too. They were able to harbor escaped American soldiers and sent valuable information by radio to Australia. The ROTC unit here often had to rendezvous with U.S. submarines in Kutad cove, a place not far from the poblacion. They were given guns, ammunition, food and cigarettes marked "I Shall Return."
Due to information sent by these organizations, the poblacion was spared during the landing of the American forces [on 31 January 1945, on the beaches of Nasugbu]. Another guerrilla organization worthy of mention was the Golden Regiment organized in September 1944 by Col. Eduardo Alabastro, the overall commander of Southern Luzon. The local organization [i.e. in Nasugbu] was under Eduardo Villadolid, an ex-USAFFE officer. The Blue Eagle [a guerrilla group] counted with a large number of members with most of the prominent citizens holding key positions. All of these guerrilla organizations were under Lt. Colonel J. D. Vanderpool, the guerrilla coordinator. [The United States Army's General Guerrilla Command was under Colonel Jay. D. Vanderpool10.]
Sometime in 1944, two Zero Japanese fighters made a forced landing at the beach. They were hurriedly repaired but were spotted by U.S. airplanes. These Zero fighters were strafed and totally destroyed. During this time, the Japanese were becoming fiercer. People suspected of being anti-Japanese were apprehended and beaten up in their [i.e. the Japanese] garrison in Lumbangan.
Fresh off the Nasugbu Landing in 1945, American soldiers examine a fallen Japanese fighter plane.
At about the second week of January, 1945, the people woke up and one early morning were surrounded by Japanese soldiers. All the people found in houses and streets were herded to the plaza. They were tied, loaded onto trucks and taken to their garrison for questioning.
Some of them were unfortunate as they were found red-handed with evidence of guerrilla activities. After thorough questioning and beating, many were released but eight of them were retained, highly suspected of guerrilla activities. These eight were sentenced to die.
On January 18, 1945, they were taken by the Kenpetai [the military police corps of the Japanese Imperial Army11] to their mountain headquarters in Aga, a barrio of Nasugbu, 25 kilometers away from the poblacion. They were Jose Rustia, a surveyor by profession and father of six girls; Felipe Oliva, the Municipal Secretary and nephew of the Mayor; Fidel Vargas, an ex-USAFFE (soldier); Antonio Alix, son of the chief sacristan of the local parish church and father of many small children; Antonio Zabarte, son of the administrator of one of the haciendas in Nasugbu; Marcelo Sobreviñas, a student; Gelasio Cupo; and Roming, nephew of Jose Rustia.
It was late in the evening when they were taken to the coconut groves and were made to dig their own graves. All of them except Roming, who was able to escape miraculously to tell the tale, were brutally murdered by the vicious and cruel Kenpetai.
A light plane being carried on a truck through a street in Nasugbu, 1945.
On January 31, 1945, the 11th Airborne Division under General (Joseph May) Swing landed on (the beaches of) Nasugbu. The American forces landed without any resistance from the Japanese. Nasugbu became the evacuation center of thousands of people from neighboring towns. Mayor Oliva was arrested for having collaborated with the enemy and a military mayor, Major Basilio Fernando [after whom Fernando Air Base would later be named] was appointed.
1 "Historical Data of the Municipality of Nasugbu," online at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections.
2 "History of the Philippine Army," Wikipedia.
3 "Fort Stotsenburg," Wikipedia.
4 "Blackout (wartime)," Wikipedia.
5 "Fighting Bolo Battalion Unit," online at the Philippine Archives Collection.
6 "Battle of Bataan," Wikipedia.
7 "Family Dynasties Rule Business," by Efren S. Cruz, published 2014, online at the Philippine Star.
8 "The Empire of Japan & The Invasion of The Philippines In WW2," by Andrew Knighton, published 2017, online at The War History Online.
9 "Straughn's Regiment, Fil-American Irregular Troops (FAIT)," online at the Philippine Archives Collection.
10 "Raid on Los Baños," Wikipedia.
11 "Kenpeitai," Wikipedia.


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Showbiz Meets Politics in Boston
BOSTON – Cut the lights. Cue the music. And, don't drop the balloons and confetti too soon. The Democratic National Convention (search) is a made-for-TV spectacle with the scripted glitz of Hollywood, which shouldn't be a surprise since the man behind it is a show business veteran.
"It's not an entertainment show," insists Don Mischer (search), the convention's executive producer and a Los Angeles veteran of everything from Olympic ceremonies to a Barbra Streisand (news) concert.
"We are trying to create, and make as interesting as possible, four days of history," he said Sunday from his perch in the operations nerve center overlooking the convention floor at the FleetCenter. "We tried to project a sense of humanity and activity and energy."
The convention set inside the converted FleetCenter sports arena is massive, with dark wood panels and faux peach marble that try to project a presidential image.
Yet, the effect is intimate and welcoming, too. Producers worked to bring Sen. John Kerry closer to the bustling activity on the convention floor, rather than have the already towering candidate — at 6-foot, 4-inchs tall — hover above on an otherwise empty stage.
Blue-carpeted steps lead up the center of the stage from the convention floor, allowing choirs, including one children's group singing "This Land is Your Land," easy access and proximity to the delegates.
Several dozen maroon chairs ascend the back of the stage, where rotating groups of delegates will sit to get up-close views. Movable screens separate the front of the stage from rows of computer terminals at the back where Democratic National Committee staffers will work each night.
Two podiums — each decorated with silver seals of an American flag — will be raised and lowered throughout.
Behind the podiums, banks of flat-panel television screens — and above the stage a giant 90-foot by 18-foot screen — will project thousands of live and taped images to delegates on the convention floor and television viewers at home.
Each night, vignettes by a documentary film maker will feature everyday people testifying that Kerry changed their lives. On Monday night, footage of supporters in four cities — Canton, Ohio, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Little Rock, Ark. — will be beamed in via satellite.
Later, the cameras will cut to a firehouse in New Hampshire to discuss concerns of firefighters and emergency workers. Then, it's to Iowa to talk about issues facing farmers.
Just as Kerry finishes his acceptance speech Thursday, a 13-piece band will be cued. From the rafters, 100,000 balloons and 1,000 pounds of confetti will drop.
Cameras will capture it all — a picture-perfect, made-for-TV event.
Although he insists the show is not entertainment, Mischer does allow that with 31 hours of content mapped out from Monday through Thursday, "I'm hoping some of the things we have created will encourage more television coverage."
After all, free media coverage is largely what political conventions have become now that much of the suspense is gone.
"There are thousands of people in the audience right there," said Jim Mulhall, a Democratic media consultant. "But there's an audience that's in the millions watching this from home."


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I've been getting my slides and code samples together over the past few weeks for the upcoming conferences. The next one I'll be at is at the end of this month in Boston at VSLive talking about transactions. The session is titled Lightweight Promotable Transactions using System Transactions and ADO.NET 2 and is at 2pm on June 30th. Below is the synopsis of the session and the agenda from my slide deck … please drop by and say hi if you are attending.
The.NET Framework v2 includes the System.Transactions namespace that enhances transactional support for managed code. We'll discuss how System.Transactions can handle transactions without using other common practices such as deriving from a ServicedComponent, using interception, or using reflection. Designed to integrate with SQL Server 2005, System.Transactions supports the intelligent and automatic promotion of local lightweight transactions to fully distributed transactions. It also introduces a new class called LightweightTransactionManager, which is a faster alternative to using the DTC for local transactions. We'll walk through examples that modify the default transactional settings of the implicit local transaction and modify the isolation level, timeout period, and transaction's context, and more.


Young astronomers will enjoy sorting celestial objects and discovering properties of space rocks (meteorites) through hands-on investigations. They will begin to grasp the great size and distances of these dynamic bodies in our Solar System. Children will then get to create a model of their very own planet.
Presented by Children's Museum Tucson.
Ages 6 & Up. Space is Limited. Tickets will be available 1 hour before event.


A hypotrochoid template is a geometric drawing tool that produces mathematical curves. The mathematical term used to describe these curved patterns are hypotrochoids.
There are two categories within the HYPOTROCHOID COLLECTION. A Hypotrochoid Template is a fully functional drawing tool that assembles to become wearable. The Hypotrochoid Pattern jewellery mimics the mathematical patterns the templates create, featuring layers of hand-woven structures.


Human beings are More Than Flesh & Bones and have inherent value and dignity. This series explores what it means to be a body-soul composite being and how to take care of the whole person; body, mind, and soul, not to prove our value, but to respect our value.
Want to keep growing deeper in your faith? Join us for small group!
We will meet in the Faith Center Main Office.
SUMMER 2018 SAVE THE DATES!
St. Pius X Life Teen (formerly known as the St. Pius X Youth Group or "SPYG") is the youth group at St. Pius X Parish in Fairfield, CT.
We meet Sundays from 6-8pm* (but not all, so please check the website for up-to-date info) and anyone in high school is welcome, even if you've never shown up before! We're a Catholic group, striving to grow in our relationship with God, grow in friendship with one another, and doing all we can to serve those who are less fortunate.
The mission of Life Teen is to provide teenagers with opportunities to grow in their faith and have real encounters with Christ through prayer, service and authentic friendship. Started in 2003, a talented and creative leadership team plan the meetings, as well as organize fundraisers, retreats, and service projects. In 2015, we implemented LifeTeen and our ministry has grown tremendously since then. We hope that you will consider sharing in the journey with us. Drop by for a night and check us out!
This page will be updated regularly with our events, meetings, etc. Get more information by signing up to receive our regular e-mail notices. Send an e-mail to ppena@st-pius.org.
*During the months of July and August, we meet from 7-9pm.
This is what happens when teens encounter Christ. This is a peek into the passion of a young Church on fire. This is where teens learn to be disciples. This is Life Teen.


The Florida Senate spent hours debating a bill to increase school safety and restrict gun purchases in a rare Saturday session that often turned into a debate on gun control and arming teachers in the aftermath of last month's Parkland school shootings.
Tallahassee, Fla. – The Florida Senate spent hours debating a bill to increase school safety and restrict gun purchases in a rare Saturday session that often turned into a debate on gun control and arming teachers in the aftermath of last month's Parkland school shootings.
The Senate spent nearly eight hours debating dozens of amendments to the 100-page bill before finally approving the legislation for a final vote on Monday. Democratic proposals to ban assault rifles and large-capacity magazines were rejected, as was a Democratic proposal to strip language from the bill that would create a program to arm teachers who have gone through law-enforcement training if school districts choose to take part in the so-called marshal plan.
The Senate began the session at 10 a.m. and was originally supposed to wrap up discussion by 1 p.m. But senators extended the session and didn't wrap up until after 6 p.m.
It was clear that senators were divided on the bill, and not just on party lines. While crafted by Republicans, some GOP senators still opposed it because they don't agree with raising the minimum age to guy a rifle from 18 to 21 or requiring a waiting period to buy the weapons.
Democrats believe the legislation doesn't go far enough in some ways and too far in others. And while some oppose the bill, others believe it's at least a first step toward gun safety.
Democrats want to ban weapons such as the AR-15 assault-style rifle, which was used to kill 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. Many also oppose arming teachers. The bill also includes provisions to boost school security, establish new mental health programs in schools, and improve communication between schools, law enforcement and state agencies.
But much of the debate Saturday revolved around gun control and whether people should have a right to own an assault rifle.
Republicans argued that banning such weapons would violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
"Our founding fathers weren't talking about hunting, and they weren't talking about protecting themselves from the thief down the street who might break in," said Republican Sen. David Simmons. Simmons said people need guns to protect themselves from a tyrannical government.
The Legislature wraps up its annual session on Friday. Lawmakers are scrambling to take some kind of action before then. The full House has yet to take up its version of the bill.
Republican Gov. Rick Scott has been lobbying lawmakers to pass his plan to assign at least one law-enforcement officer for every 1,000 students at a school. Scott is opposed to arming teachers.


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The Taliban and pigeons
I live in a small part of a big world. Where I live, if someone want to raise pigeons, they do, if doing so is permissible by local zoning ordinances. Religion, or politicized religion cannot forbid us the joy of pigeons. I enjoy watching the birds race around and around. Pigeons bring a small measure of joy to our lives. When I read that the Taliban banned raising pigeons while ruling Afghanistan, I was baffled. Why would the Taliban do something so pointless? What possible reason could be offered to justify banning raising pigeons? Does it offend Allah?
I got here today via a photo and it's small blurb.
In this photograph taken on October 22, 2014, Afghan pigeon fancier Habibullah looks on as his birds take flight at his home on the outskirts of Jalalabad. Habibullah has a flock of fifty-five pigeons which he releases daily from the roof of his home for recreation, a practice which was banned during Taliban rule.
Politics and religion are an evil combination. Why is this so hard to see? I've always felt that we can detect intent by looking at the small things like hat does religion attempts to control or ban, or how religion trys to control our behavior. I ask a lot of questions as I read the news. Why is it wrong for me to buy alcohol on a Sunday morning? Why can't our children learn the facts about birth control? Why must we pray before city council meetings? Why must we accommodate religions traditions? These questions weigh on my mind.
Islam|Religion|
Labels: Islam, Religion
Top Scientology leaders caught on video harassing an ex member at L.A. airport
Scientology's true believers are nuts.
Top Scientology leaders caught on video harassing an ex member at L.A. airport:
"A former executive of the Church of Scientology has posted video footage showing high-ranking members of the church yelling obscenities and harassing him in a Los Angeles airport.
The video is the first public glimpse of the secretive church's top management in four years. The footage, posted by Mark Rathbun this Sunday, shows Marc Yager, Dave Bloomberg and Jennifer Linson Devocht — three executives who report to church president David Miscavige. The church members can be seen yelling at Rathbun, telling him to 'get a life,' that his criticism of the church has had 'no effect,' and 'nobody gives a f*ck about you.'"
I've met a few in my time, they all scare me. Crazy always scares me.
Cults|
Labels: Cults
This is why I don't trust Texas
If Texans willingly elect nutball Dan Patrick as lieutenant governor, well, the diverse what they get.
Man Who Believes God Speaks to Us Through "Duck Dynasty" Is About to Be Texas' Second-in-Command:
"A former sportscaster who once defended a football player who'd thrown a reporter through a door (Patrick believed it wasn't the journalist's job to do 'negative reporting'), Patrick became a conservative talk radio host in the early 1990s—Houston's answer to Rush Limbaugh. In 2006, he parlayed his radio fame into a state Senate seat—and kept the talk show going. In office, he proposed paying women $500 to turn over newborn babies to the state (to reduce abortions), led the charge against creeping liberalism in state textbooks, and pushed wave after wave of new abortion restrictions. For his efforts, Texas Monthly named Patrick one of the worst legislators of 2013."
I've come to the point in my life where I think that our democracy has failed. This hater should not be on the ballet, yet he's about to win. I am not proud or our process. It needs to be fixed. We elect the worst possible candidates as if we are proud of it. Any one of the things listed below should disqualify this nutball extremest, but he wears them like a badge and people still vote for him.
He's an intolerant Christian.
He's xenophobic.
He's an egotist.
He's a racist.
He's a fervent right to lifer.
He does not support the separation of church and state
He believes creationism should be taught in school as science.
He thinks God talks to him.
Christianity|Only in Texas|Politics|
Labels: Christianity, Only in Texas, Politics
Got to love them nutballs
Religious nutters are always entertaining.
Woman arrested claiming Jesus Christ will pay her restaurant tab… with cash!
"When asked about her husband, she told them she was legally married to Jesus Christ, but had no marriage license. She also told management that Jesus would be able to walk in and produce U.S. currency to pay for her bill. "
(Via. KSWO.com)
Remember when a pastor's arrest was a good thing?
I remember when I used to look up to pastors like James H. Bryant. It was not that long ago. I miss those days. Religion can be a force for good.
Bryant was arrested in Ferguson protesting against police brutality and misconduct.
Bryant was on the front lines of a crowd of hundreds of protesters and faith leaders marching from a church to the Police Department in Ferguson, the town where unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by police two months ago.
In a tweet posted Monday afternoon, Bryant said he had been released.
"Just released from St Louis county!" the message read. "We are being charged with assaulting police & disturbing the peace #NoJusticeNoPeace"
Baltimore pastor arrested at Ferguson protest by Justin George & Justin Fenton. The Baltimore Sun.
It is a rare thing for me to promote the arrest of a pastor as a good thing, but I do so willingly. Go pastor James H. Bryant!
Christianity|Culture|Good News|Politics|Religion|
Labels: Christianity, Culture, Good News, Politics, Religion
Mark Driscoll's resignation and institutional hypocrisy
Mark Driscoll, the former head pastor of the Seattle-based Mars Hill mega church, has resigned. But in doing so, his former church lost an opportunity to hold a stinky turd of a christian pastor accountable for his misdeeds.
"The investigation by a group of elders at the church, Mars Hill, found that Mr. Driscoll 'has, at times, been guilty of arrogance, responding to conflict with a quick temper and harsh speech, and leading the staff and elders in a domineering manner.' But the board also declared that some unspecified accusations against Mr. Driscoll were 'altogether unfair or untrue' and said that 'Pastor Mark has never been charged with any immorality, illegality or heresy.'"
Mark Driscoll Resigns as Pastor of Mars Hill Megachurch - Michael Paulson. N.Y. Times. 10/16/2014
Driscoll admitted to pride, anger and a domineering spirit. He left out the well-documented sexist pig and imperialist bully parts of his tenure. So did Mars Hill. In fact, it would seem that Driscoll and Mars Hill can only agree that he may have done a few things that he had already apologies for… so lets just forget the whole mess. Great job Mars Hill! Way to lead! I'm sure Jesus would be proud.
How about a real investigation run be independent investigators unaffiliated with Mars Hill? How about offering protection to the alleged victims so that they can speak freely about allegations of abuse without fear of retaliation. It's hard to speak freely in front of your peers, but I think Mars Hills knows this because exactly ZERO victims testified during their investigation and this does not seem to bother them at all.
This is institutional hypocrisy. Mars Hills has a reputation to protect. They have skin in the game. They are at least partially responsible for the alleged abuses of Mark Driscoll. How can we expect anything honest in this scenario? At best, we can be thankful that with power-mad pastor is out of a job, but it will only last until his next posting. Mars Hill should have put a stake in Driscoll's empty heart. Now, some other wannabe mega church will hire him and the cycle will start anew.
Christianity|Hypocrisy Watch|
Labels: Christianity, Hypocrisy Watch


text:
Q: Variable Number Limit This is a game that I have created in C# 2010, but values for Attack and Health for comp become negative when user inputs [1] Increase your Defense.
        bool jet = false;

        int userinput;

        Console.WriteLine("Pick your team color, Blue or Green. ");
        string userName = Console.ReadLine();

        if (userName == "blue")
        {
            user.Name = "Blue Fighterjet";
            comp.Name = "Green Fighterjet";
        }

        else
        {
            user.Name = "Green Fighterjet";
            comp.Name = "Blue Fighterjet";
        }

        Console.Clear();

        Console.WriteLine("You are now the {0}.", user.Name);
        Console.ReadLine();

        Console.Clear();

        Console.WriteLine("What do you want to do for your first move?");
        Console.ReadLine();

        while (jet == false)
        {
            Console.Clear();
            Console.WriteLine("Your stats:");
            Console.WriteLine("Health {0} \n Defense {1} \n Attack {2}", user.Health, user.Defense, user.Attack);

            Console.WriteLine("Comp stats:");
            Console.WriteLine("Health {0} \n Defense {2} \n Attack {2}", comp.Health, comp.Defense, comp.Attack);
            Console.ReadLine();

            Console.WriteLine("[1] Increase your Defense.");
            Console.WriteLine("[2] Regain some of your Health.");
            Console.WriteLine("[3] Attack the {0}.", comp.Name);
            userinput = int.Parse(Console.ReadLine());

            if (userinput == 1)
            {
                user.Defense = user.Defense + random.Next(1, 10);

                if (userinput == 1)
                {
                    comp.Attack = comp.Attack - user.Defense + random.Next(1, 10);
                }
            }

            if (userinput == 2)
            {
                user.Health = user.Health + random.Next(1, 10);

                if (userinput == 2)
                {
                    comp.Defense = comp.Defense + random.Next(1, 10);
                }
            }

            if (userinput == 3)
            {
                user.Attack = user.Attack + random.Next(1, 10);

                if (userinput == 3)
                {
                    comp.Health = comp.Health - user.Attack + random.Next(1, 10);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
class jet
{
    private string name;
    private int health = 100;
    private int defense = 0;
    private int attack = 5;

    public string Name
    {
        get { return name; }
        set { name = value; }
    }

    public int Health
    {
        get
        {
            return health;
        }

        set
        {
            if (value <= 100)
            {
                health = value;
            }
            else
            {
                health = 100;
            }
        }

    }

    public int Defense
    {
        get
        {
            return defense;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value <= 10)
            {
                defense = value;
            }
            else
            {
                defense = 10;
            }
        }
    }

    public int Attack
    {
        get
        {
            return attack;
        }
        set
        {
            if (value <= 5)
            {
                attack = value;
            }
            else
            {
                attack = 5;
            }
        }
    }
}

Any tips on how i can easily fix this?
are my userinputs incorrect?

A: This will give you 0 or a positive number...Math.Max(0,variable)
Also, you don't need a nested if statement when it is the same condition
if (value ==1)
{
  //Do Something
    if (value == 1) //This will always happen unless DoSomething has changed value.
    {
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
You are here: Home1 / Summer Concerts 20212 / PRAM
Summer Concerts 2021
July 28, 2021 /by cafe-musique
https://www.cafeheritage.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PRAM.jpg 1080 1920 cafe-musique https://www.cafeheritage.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Cafe-Heritage-final_800.jpg cafe-musique2021-07-28 15:32:592021-07-28 15:52:50PRAM
Heart to Home 2021
Gavan RousseauSeptember 9, 2021 - 2:22 am
Johnny WilliamsSeptember 9, 2021 - 2:19 am
Chuck LabelleSeptember 9, 2021 - 2:18 am
Edouard LandrySeptember 9, 2021 - 2:16 am
Twenty-OneSeptember 9, 2021 - 2:15 am
The TremonicsSeptember 9, 2021 - 2:14 am
Rodney MeilleurSeptember 9, 2021 - 2:12 am
Chicks with PicksSeptember 9, 2021 - 1:59 am
Beyond IrelandSeptember 9, 2021 - 1:58 am
Andy LoweSeptember 9, 2021 - 1:54 am
Claude LecuyerSeptember 9, 2021 - 1:51 am
Dave McNabSeptember 9, 2021 - 1:47 am
Chuck LabelleAugust 27, 2021 - 12:05 am
Viv & LeoAugust 20, 2021 - 1:43 pm
Claude LecuyerAugust 13, 2021 - 2:53 pm
Gavan RousseauAugust 7, 2021 - 10:59 pm
Rodney MeilleurAugust 3, 2021 - 6:50 pm
PRAMJuly 28, 2021 - 3:32 pm
Leather & JeansJuly 22, 2021 - 5:55 pm
The TremonicsJuly 22, 2021 - 5:54 pm
Stef Paquette et Edouard LandryJuly 15, 2021 - 5:53 pm
Les CompagnonsJuly 15, 2021 - 5:53 pm
Ashley WoodruffJuly 8, 2021 - 5:52 pm
Coldcut DuoJuly 8, 2021 - 5:51 pm
Leather & Jeans Rodney Meilleur


Stone Crabs. You see the signs all over the keys. When you see the price, you have to wonder if they are worth it. Oh yeah. They are.
The Stone Crab is found in more places than Florida but it is certainly very popular here. Crab season is from mid October to May. There are regulations for both commercial and recreational trapping of crabs. Commercial fishermen can put out as many as 100 traps while a recreational fisherman is limited to five traps. Once the crab is caught, one or both claws can be harvested. The crab will have more chance of survival if only one is harvested.
The amazing thing is that the claws are regenerated. It takes anywhere from a few months to a couple of years depending upon the age of the crab. Of course the removing of the claw needs to be done correctly as well.
Female crabs with eggs are not allowed to be harvested. If they have an orange sac on the underside, they must be returned to the water without harvesting the claws.
So how does the crab survive without its claws? It becomes a scavenger keeping to places where they can conceal themselves since they are defenseless until new claws form. Apparently though, the main predator, the octopus, can easily prey upon them whether they have claws or not.
How are they prepared for eating? Unless you are catching your own, the places selling Stone Crab claws will have cooked them (I'm assuming steaming) and put them on ice. They will crack them for you or sell you a mallet. The claws are thicker than most other crab and lobster claws we've encountered.
A mustard sauce is a popular condiment for the claws.
Mix together a cup of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons horseradish, 1 teaspoon mustard (brown spicy works best), 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice and salt to taste.
A pound of claws sells for anywhere from $20 to $35 or more depending upon size and the market you visit. Small claws come 6 or 7 to a pound. We found some delicious good sized ones at The Fisheries in Marathon. Upstairs in the bar, you can order individual claws for $2.50 each. A great place to taste them and decide if you like them.
It was a forty-five minute drive one way for a light lunch of claws but it was worth it. Beautiful day. Wonderful claws. Great outing.
Love The Zoo! Any Zoo!


At a young age I began my trek of being a Krafty Kreator. I remember getting gifts such as candle makers and looms; some sort of creative activity. I even took ceramic classes before the age of ten.
As I grew, so did my Kreative side. I began spending time in hobby/craft stores, walking around waiting for an idea to pop into my head. With aisles and aisles of ribbons, flowers, stencils and so on I was like a kid in a candy store. I would end up leaving with 2 or 3 projects in mind with the items I purchased.
Now I collect trash, yes trash so I can recycle into treasures. I have boxes of so many different items, baby food jars, glass jars, baskets, buttons and tin cans and more. When I see certain things I think, Oh I could make something out of that, and that is how my collection of trash starts.
I have made pen/make up brush holders out of little plastic containers, new clothes out of old clothes. The possibilities are endless when you collect and save.
As my daughter ages I am hoping to turn her wild imagination into Krafty Kreations.
These days I am constantly searching the web for new Ideas and adding to my boards on Pinterest. Watch for some of my new Kreations in the New Year.
Are you a DIY person? What's your Hobby?
Tagged crafts, creative crafts, DIY, hobbies, projects, recycled treasures. Bookmark the permalink.
I'm not really a DIY person. Baking is more my thing. I love the fall wreath that you made though. Pretty and bright.


White gold wedding bands are in a league all their own, and 14k white gold wedding bands are both modern and timeless in appearance. Making a lifelong commitment to someone special while wearing a 14 karat white gold wedding band is a memorable experience. Perhaps it's the gleam of the white metal that make these rings such a popular choice. We admit it's hard to avoid noticing such stunning metallic beauty. Photos barely do these rings justice, which is why you'll be happy to learn we offer fast delivery on all our fine ring selections. While we won't be there when you open your package, we'll gleefully imagine your twinkling eyes and positive comments the moment you lay eyes on your desired ring.
For those who desire to wear a white gold band, but don't want too much ring width, we offer slender and light 14k bands in 1mm, 2mm and 2.5mm ring widths. Slip this ring on your finger and admire how elegant it looks from all angles. These rings are so delicate you might forget you're wearing it at times, but then you'll glance down and be reminded once again of how much you love your ring and what it represents.
Enjoy the look and feel of a classic width 14k white gold wedding band. These rings range in width from 4mm to 6mm. Choose a ring in this category if you want an affordable gold ring that is easy to notice whenever you wear it on your ring finger. Some ring styles feature a contemporary matte finish with flat or beveled edges, while others feature high-polished light-reflective surfaces for a traditional look.
Because we're a premier online wedding bands shop, we want to make sure you have as many white gold choices as possible. Do you love chunky rings? Great! We've got you covered. Chunky white gold rings tend to be a bit heavier than classic designs, and they come in widths ranging from 7mm all the way up to 12mm. Choose this type of ring when you want a 14K white gold band ring that makes a bold statement. If these rings could talk, they'd say, "Look at me, I'm gorgeous!"


text:
Stranger Things: 6 Questions After Season 3, Episode 8
by Thomas Bacon
The final episode of Stranger Things season 3 saw the Mind Flayer defeated - and raised a lot of questions for the inevitable season 4. This has been a short season, focused on exploiting the show's Cold War context for the first time, and Stranger Things season 3, episode 8 wraps all that up pretty neatly - for now. Meanwhile, it finally reveals the Mind Flayer's true plan; it wants to incorporate Eleven into itself, thus neutralizing its only threat and potentially gaining the ability to open Gates itself.
The bulk of "The Battle of Starcourt" is divided between three settings: Starcourt Mall, where the kids battle to keep Eleven safe; the Russian lab, where Hopper and Joyce must overload the Gate generator; and the highest point around Hawkins, where Dustin uses his Cerebro unit to coordinate everything. For all the action and adventure, Stranger Things season 3, episode 8 is absolutely packed with character, and it features some of the most unforgettable scenes in Stranger Things to date. Dustin gets his best moment yet, singing a hilarious duet with Suzie, while Eleven manages to reach Billy and help him fight against the Mind Flayer's control.
Related: Stranger Things Learned The Wrong Lessons From Season 2's Backlash
This time around, however, the heroes of Stranger Things must pay a terrible price if they're going to save the world from the Mind Flayer. When the dust settles from Stranger Things season 3, episode 8, there are more questions than answers. Is Hopper really dead? What happened to the Russians? And is the Hawkins Gate closed for good?
6. Is Hopper Really Dead?
Hopper has always been focused on protecting his loved ones, and in Stranger Things season 3, episode 8, that means he has no choice but to sacrifice himself in order to save Eleven. An ill-timed brawl with the Russian Terminator leaves Hopper stranded in the Gate room, with the generator primed to overload. Hopper gives Joyce one last, lingering look, and a nod to trigger it - even though he believes it will result in his death. But when the energy flare is over, it's unclear if Hopper is really dead. Alexei had warned that the energy flare would reduce anybody to dust, but that's frankly a little too convenient - and there is a well-placed ladder he could have used.
5. Who Is The Russians' American Prisoner?
The Russians manage to evacuate the lab before it was captured by the US military, and Stranger Things season 3's post-credits scene reveals that they also extracted some biological samples from the Upside Down - including at least one Demogorgon. Dialogue reveals that they have an American prisoner. Did they take an unconscious and injured Hopper with them while evacuating? Or could it be the continuously absent Dr. Brenner?
4. What Will Happen To The Hawkins Gate?
Dr. Owens, former director of Hawkins Lab, leads the American forces who capture the Russian Gate project. In one chilling scene, he approaches the Russian Gate and learns that it isn't entirely closed; clearly the fabric of reality at Hawkins has suffered lasting damage. Given Owens is shown back in Hawkins, it's safe to assume he will lead a US team who guard the Gate. Hopefully they don't resume experiments with it as well.
Related: Stranger Things Complete Timeline Explained
3. Why Is Everyone Acting Like The Mind Flayer Is Beaten For Good?
Still, the Gate is closed enough for the Mind Flayer to lose its connection to Earth once again, and the body it has created for itself collapses. Everyone acts like this is a big victory in Stranger Things season 3, episode 8, but it really isn't; in episode 5, the kids realized that the threat of the Mind Flayer will remain so long as a part of it is on Earth. With the Gate still partly open, the Mind Flayer can return.
2. Why Did Eleven Lose Her Powers?
Curiously, in Stranger Things season 3, episode 8, Eleven completely loses her powers. This doesn't seem to be a temporary thing, either; three months later, she's shown still powerless. It's unclear what happened, but the most reasonable explanation is that she's simply burnt out. Just as pressing is how she'll get them back, likely a plot point in the upcoming Stranger Things season 4.
1. Where Have The Byers Family & Eleven Moved To?
Stranger Things season 3, episode 8's ending appears to changes the show forever, with the Byers family taking Eleven in - and leaving Hawkins. It's unclear whether Eleven has been formally adopted, or whether Joyce just considers herself Eleven's most appropriate guardian following Hopper's death. Naturally, all this leads to some pretty tearful goodbyes, but the gang are all planning to stay in touch - with Thanksgiving and Christmas both name-dropped, making them likely settings for season 4.
More: How Old Are The Stranger Things Kids in Season 3?
Tags: stranger things


text:
How social media is crippling democracy, and why we seem powerless to stop it
Tech-assisted gaslighting is destroying truth, justice, and the American way. Can anything be done?
By Jason Perlow for Tech Broiler | January 19, 2017 -- 13:47 GMT (05:47 PST) | Topic: Government
Image: ZDNet
So, how is everyone's anxiety doing? Are our coping mechanisms firing on all cylinders? Are we being mindful and living in the present moment? Great. Because we're all going to need to be experts on it, for at least the next four years or even longer.
A few years ago, I wrote about a phenomenon I called "Technology Augmented Autism." I argued that our over-reliance on social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter has amplified the existing personality characteristics of persons who already reside on the autism spectrum, including ADD/ADHD and other socially developmental related issues, such as Asperger's.
If only the most unscrupulous outlets -- those willing to conform to the will of a corrupt presidency -- are the ones granted access...then we need to reconsider the actual value of social media.
Because so many of us that "are on the spectrum" work in technology, and so many of us use these tools for business and not just for recreational purposes, we all have to work extra hard to hone our "soft" skills, as all of these tools are not particularly helpful in developing our interpersonal relationships and how we interact with people in the real world.
The more disconnected from face-to-face relationships we become, the more our soft skills atrophy. And these tools not only make the soft skills deteriorate, but they also reinforce bad habits and amplify our negative personality traits.
We all know someone whose personality traits are amplified in this way.
These tools can do much more than alter and distort the way we perceive our relationships with others and how others perceive us. These tools can alter our very sense of reality.
How we perceive communications from public sources and so-called news outlets is very different in the age of social media than from previous decades.
Mixed in with traditional news outlets, whether they lean to the right or the left -- such as the legacy broadcasters and newspapers -- is an entire class of publication that does not respect the mores of traditional journalism and that have a distinct and politically skewed agenda. Breitbart, for example, operates in this category.
Or they may be looking simply to generate page views through flat-out prevarication and inflammatory exaggerations. In other words, fake news.
There are other sites that straddle the line between entertainment/media snacking and real journalism -- such as Buzzfeed. Some of the material is valuable, highly informative, well-researched, and peer reviewed by investigative journalists who have come from legacy media backgrounds.
Sometimes they respect the mores of traditional journalism and sometimes they don't. You have to accept this at face value.
This graphic, which went viral on the image sharing site imgur during December of last year, was submitted by an anonymous user. While some of the quadrant placements here are certainly up for debate and by all means not all-inclusive (Buzzfeed for example is not placed here, as well as a number of other voices in conservative, moderate, and liberal new media and alternative press), it is not a bad starting point for discussion.
Image: Imgur
It should be fairly straightforward to evaluate these sources. An educated reader with a general understanding of the interpretive lens of each of the news sources above is already empowered to make an informed judgment.
The problem is most of us don't just seek these sources out directly and consume them in a careful and deliberate manner.
Will Donald Trump's first 100 days as president include a cybercrisis?
Trump's cybersecurity plan is a bit vague — to say the least.
We are now living in the information age, and we're all victims of Technology Augmented Autism. We all have tiny little attention spans, and we consume news by information snacking. In all likelihood, most people looking at this article right now probably did not get past the first 200 words.
More and more Americans are using Facebook and Twitter as primary news sources. If you've spent any time on them, you will immediately notice that the noise-to-signal ratio on those services is unbelievably high, fed with a mix of sources ranging from the legitimate to completely fake news into a sausage casing of dubious origin and expiration date.
In the case of Facebook, the service's algorithm will ensure that you will read shared news from viewpoints similar to your own. Your feedback loop is in essence, self-curated based on what you actually "like." And if you don't like your friends and what they share, you can unfollow and unfriend them, thus whittling down the echo chamber to an even smaller sample size, depending on how many friends you have.
With Twitter, you're getting a raw feed. Compared to Facebook, all the information you receive is opt-in, because you are subscribing to read tweets from specific people, and you might not be aware of the biases of those people immediately. But, in a sense, it is also curated, because if you don't like what people are saying, you just unfollow them. And thus your sample size, much like on Facebook, becomes a reflection of what you want to hear.
So, everyone is seeing things through their own filter. Here's the fun part: Your filter is also filtered. And you have no control over that whatsoever. It can be edited and changed, and you might not even realize it.
If this is starting to sound like we've always been at war with Eastasia, well, it is.
Twitter, Instagram, Vine: Fast track to nitwit
There are those who would call our social media streams a new form of consciousness and the future of computing. I would suggest they spend more time interacting with actual human beings.
Traditionally, the legacy news outlets -- that big gray circle in the middle in the above graphic -- has had a working relationship with the US government, particularly the Executive Branch.
It hasn't always been rosy, but typically, they have been allowed to ask questions, and they've had enough access using their on-site staff at the White House to be able to accurately report, with some level of transparency, on what is exactly happening in the highest levels of our administration.
That tradition looks like it is about to be discarded. The White House now appears likely to determine which sources will have access at all, and what level of scrutiny will be permitted.
Which outlets are chosen for preferred access and what is to be told to them is going to greatly impact what information is relayed to us, what form it will take, and how it is consumed. Because when it comes to operating in an agile fashion on social media, the outlets in the gray circle are heavily disadvantaged. The ones that are highly agile aren't necessarily fair and balanced either.
If things continue on this path, then we have gone past simple Technology Augmented Autism, which is entirely self-inflicted, and instead into what I now call "Technology Assisted Gaslighting," or TAG.
And this is far more nefarious than anyone could have possibly imagined.
Well, perhaps Philip K. Dick imagined it. But those were works of sci-fi. Nobody truly believed such things of dystopian nightmares would be realized in the United States of America.
Through systematic and persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, and using social media as the platform for this activity, if such a scenario where traditional outlets are not given equal access, we would all be the unwitting subjects of mind control experiments.
Perhaps not in a strictly North Korean or Soviet sense, where the government itself is the media. But if only the most unscrupulous outlets -- those willing to conform to the will of a corrupt presidency -- are the ones granted access, and those same outlets happen to be the most adept at using social media, then we need to reconsider the actual value of social media in the first place.
We need to go old school. As American citizens, we need to shed our Technology Augmented Autism to become free thinkers and to choose our sources wisely.
We need to read beyond the first 200 words and all become critical thinkers, question every single thing we read on social media, read the story from as many sources as possible, and learn to recognize which sources to disregard and classify as the enemies of American journalistic values, which are dividing and lying to us.
I will refuse to be gaslighted through social media. And I hope my readers will as well.
Everyday ways your personal privacy is under threat
Everyday ways your personal privacy is under threat If you think the government cannot get its hands all over your personal data, then think again.
After Hours CXO Security Innovation Smart Cities
More from Jason Perlow
Why Apple's iPhone 11 may be the most boring upgrade ever
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FTC reportedly approves $5B settlement with Facebook
The settlement would easily surpass the FTC's largest financial penalty to date.
Brazil gears up to enhance data analytics to tackle benefit fraud
Interoperability and workforce training to use more data in decision-making are at the core of projects underpinning the reform of the country's pension system. ...
Sweden and UK's surveillance programs on trial at the European Court of Human Rights
Last chance for Europe's top human rights court to rule against dragnet surveillance programs.
Microsoft Office 365: Banned in German schools over privacy fears
State of Hesse says student and teacher information could be "exposed" to US spy agencies.
US mayors vow not to give in to more extortion demands following ransomware attacks.
US Coast Guard warns about malware designed to disrupt ships' computer systems
US Coast Guard also shares a list of cybersecurity best practices for commercial vessels.
Estonia's new e-residency security focus: 'You can't launder money with a digital ID'
Instead of the goal of gaining 10 million e-residents by 2025, Estonia is now focusing on security and usability.
Brazil to add digital data protection to fundamental rights
A proposal has been approved to put protection of personal information in digital platforms in the individual guarantees secured by the constitution.