text:
WOOD Radio Local News
Study: GR has $6M illicit massage parlor industry
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — We have all seen them: the sketchy massage parlors with the blacked-out windows and the parking in back. There have long been suspicions about how many of them are actually fronts for human trafficking, and we now have a better idea of just how prevalent such illegal operations are.
Solutions to End Exploitation, a Grand Rapids-based group dedicated to combating human trafficking, recently decided to try to quantify the size of the illicit massage parlor industry in the area. Illicit massage parlors are part of a larger framework of trafficking and exploitation that also includes street and online prostitution.
"How do we bring to light a problem that's very hidden, yet known?" said group co-founder Rachel VerWys, who is also a Calvin University instructor and the co-chair of Kent County Human Trafficking Task Force.
A group of researchers and Calvin students used methods developed in other states to answer that question, visiting websites that cater to illicit massage parlor customers to determine which are legitimate and which aren't. They identified 16 illicit parlors in the Grand Rapids area and staked them out around the clock for two months to gather data.
The researchers observed the businesses, the people who work there, customers and when they visited. They found that most customers were middle-aged white men and that there were 128 daily visits to the illicit businesses.
"There are no neighborhood demographics that say this is the neighborhood a message parlor will be in," VerVys said.
As a result of the research, the group concluded that the illicit massage parlor industry in Grand Rapids generates at least $6 million annually.
"I was very surprised," said Kim Richardson, a senior attorney with the Kent County Prosecutor's Office. "I did not realize it was so high in the Grand Rapids Area in the amount of money going into it. It was quite an eye-opener."
"That number is daunting and I think it calls all of us to collectively respond," VerWys said.
Part of the goal of her coalition is to talk to the parlor workers, understanding their trauma and that they are victims rather than criminals.
"In this industry, most women are foreign-born, often from Asia," VerWys said.
The women are recruited overseas and their entry to the United States is paid for. They then enter a kind of indentured servitude during which time they live where they work under the control of the employer until they "pay off" their "debt."
"That is trafficking," VerWys said. "Because we have not had accountability measures in place, the businesses have been able to exist and grow."
Law enforcement at the state, federal and local level has been able to shut some illicit parlors down, like Mystic Massage Parlor near Eastern Avenue and 28th Street in 2009 and the Rainbow Massage Spa just down the street in 2013.
Solutions to End Exploitation is housed on S. Division Avenue near Burton Street, where the Esquire Massage Spa operated for decades in plain sight before it was bought out.
More news at WOODTV.com


When the quake hit, Nadia had tried to run out of the ravine. She was halfway up the crude concrete steps that led to the street when she heard screaming from near her house. She ran back, and saw her neighbor lying dead under the pile of cinder blocks. The neighbor had a seven-month-old boy. "I said, 'Where's the baby, where's the baby?' and we saw him lying there on the ground." She had managed to toss the child clear just as she was buried by the blocks. "A woman picked him up and gave him to me," Nadia said. "He was covered with blood, and there was also blood on his socks. One arm looked dislocated, and one of his legs, too, and he had a swelling on his head. I was scared he would die in my hands. He kept trying to go to sleep, and I was trying to wake him up." Nadia went looking for his relatives and found his aunt, who lived in Ravine 75, a few blocks away from Fidel.


text:
Environmentalists call for plan for photovoltaics to protect nature
By Annette Chrysostomou November 23, 2020 November 23, 2020 0905
BirdLife Cyprus and Terra Cypria on Monday welcomed the decision by the government to freeze the process of creating photovoltaic parks until a strategic environmental impact study has been carried out.
"The environment department have taken the position to draw a line on examining all applications and make a full assessment of the situation, which is exactly what we wanted," BirdLife Cyprus director Martin Hellicar told the Cyprus Mail.
"Renewable energy sources (RES) are a key tool in tackling the climate crisis, which, together with the loss of biodiversity, is the most important threat to our planet today. However, without a meaningful and comprehensive policy of placing them in the countryside, this can have serious consequences for biodiversity, soil and the natural environment," the environmental groups warned.
"Given the great sunshine that Cyprus enjoys, the installation of photovoltaic parks is -reasonably – the first line of defence of our country against the climate crisis. However, the large number of applications for photovoltaic parks in the countryside combined with the lack of a holistic and scientifically substantiated spatial policy have led, in many cases, to their inappropriate location within protected natural and agricultural areas with a high number of natural habitats."
The two conservationist organisations have repeatedly raised concerns regarding the matter over the years, stressing the location of the parks should be chosen in synergy with other government policies such as the strategy and biodiversity action plan, the national energy and climate plan 2021-2030, the protection and conservation of Natura 2000 sites and the safeguarding of agricultural areas.
"The current practice of locating photovoltaic parks leads to fragmentation of the countryside, alteration of the landscape and its geomorphology, loss of valuable agricultural land, change of land use and endangers biodiversity."
The statement warned the main goal of renewable energy sources, the protection of the environment, is being cancelled out by current practices.
"We expect the immediate formulation of a strategic environmental impact study for 2021-2030, the adoption of an institutional framework and the completion of spatial planning for RES with clear criteria and maps that exclude Natura 2000 protected areas, areas rich in flora and fauna, forest areas, wetlands (natural or artificial), agricultural areas of high natural value and areas with good, irrigated agricultural land but also other parameters and areas of cultural value such as archaeological sites," they said.
photovoltaicPHOTOVOLTAIC PARK
Pasyno makes urgent call for more nurses
Police employ financial crime experts

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Step 1. Pour two tablespoons of olive oil in a medium to large skillet then place meat into the pan. Cook on medium/high heat. Once the meat is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink, dump the meat into a colander to drain the fat out.
Step 2. Then very carefully transfer the meat to a medium/large pot and return to heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
3. Next, add salt, pepper, water, crushed tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, beans, chili powder, cayenne, and cumin.
Step 4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease heat to low and simmer for 20 min. If you would like a thicker chili mix add ⅓ cup water and 2 Tablespoons of flour together and add to the chili after it has simmered 20 minutes and cook an additional 5 minutes.
I often use my kitchen sink dispose of the fat as I find it so much simpler and to prevent my sink from clogging up I place a small/medium glass bowl under my colander.
I know that moving hot food from one pot to another can be nerve-racking for some of you. Especially, if you don't have a lot of upper body strength due to your physical limitations. I totally understand how you feel. Since I do have Cerebral Palsy, I know what it's like to be uneasy to carry a hot pot from one section of the kitchen to another. However, because I've been doing this for awhile, my discomfort with taking a hot pan off of the stove and transferring it has gradually decreased.
Although, If you are a beginner cook and you frequently feel nervous whenever you carry a hot pot from the stove to the sink and back. Then I have a few recommendations I want to share with you I often use. I hope it will help you feel more at ease transferring hot meat.
I often put an oven mitt on my dominant hand then I'll pick up the handle of the pan and cautiously transfer the hot pan to my colander. Next, using my non-dominant hand, I slowly dump the meat out with a slotted turner. If you don't prefer dropping all of the meat all at once into your colander, you can also use a large solid spoon to scoop it out.
I have another chili recipe cooking with the crockpot and will be posting it on my blog pretty soon. That one is not as complex and doesn't have as many ingredients like this one does.
Keep up the good work. I know you'll be an excellent chef someday.


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Loud Explosion, Gunfire Rock Downtown Kabul
by Naharnet Newsdesk 20 April 2019, 11:16
A loud explosion and follow-up gunfire were heard near the Afghan communication ministry in central Kabul on Saturday, officials said.
The blast occurred a day after talks collapsed between the Taliban and Afghan representatives, but no one claimed immediate responsibility and there was no immediate word on casualties.
Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said an explosion was heard near the communication ministry around 11:40 am (0710 GMT), followed by sporadic gunfire.
Intermittent firing could still be heard more than 30 minutes after the blast, and the area had been cordoned off by security forces.
The communication ministry is located in downtown Kabul, about two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the green zone.
The explosion comes the week after the Taliban announced their annual spring offensive and amid ongoing fighting across Afghanistan.
The Afghan branch of the Islamic State group has also previously carried out multiple deadly attacks in Kabul.


Israel's foreign minister brushed off a call for restraint from Egypt's president, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a direct appeal to Gaza's people to pressure their leaders to stop the barrages. But the attacks showed no signs of ending. By nightfall, three rockets and 15 mortar shells had exploded in Israel.
"I am telling them now, it may be the last minute, I'm telling them stop it. We are stronger," he said.
Thursday's rocket fire was far less than the barrage of 80 rockets the previous day, and there were no reports of injuries. But Israeli leaders said the continued fire - the most intense since Egypt brokered a cease-fire last June - was unacceptable.
One mortar shell hit at Israel's passenger crossing with Gaza just as a group of Palestinian Christians was going through on their way to the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations, the military said. Another rocket exploded after nightfall in an industrial park south of the coastal city of Ashkelon, police said.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Cairo to discuss the possibility of renewing the truce, which expired last Friday. But by the time Livni arrived, she was in no mood to discuss a cease-fire, and she dismissed Mubarak's pleas for restraint.
"Enough is enough," she said afterward. "When there's shooting, there's a response. Any state would react that way."
In Israel, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned: "Whoever harms the citizens and soldiers of Israel will pay a heavy price."
He did not elaborate. But defense officials, speaking on condition on anonymity because they were discussing classified information, said the Israeli operation would likely begin with surgical air strikes against rocket launchers and continue with a land invasion. Bad weather is hampering visibility and complicating air force missions, so the operation won't be launched until the sky clears, they added.
Another complication is the national election set for Feb. 10. Both Barak and Livni are running for prime minister, and they are under heavy pressure from opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to act. Netanyahu, who advocates tough action against Palestinian militants, is the front-runner in the election, according to polls.
Despite the tough talk, Israel has been reluctant to embark on an offensive liable to exact heavy casualties on both sides. Gaza's militants operate in crowded civilian areas, and past invasions have not halted the barrages.
Despite the rocket fire, Israel's Defense Ministry said late Thursday that it would open two cargo crossings Friday to allow a limited amount of vital supplies to enter.


Look at the goal rather than the tool. The Send Selection service is an inadequate tool not only because it doesn't bring a new e-mail message to the fore, but also because it works only with Apple's Mail. When I want to mail a chunk of text automatically, I use Script Software's $30 macro utility, iKey. It gets the job (and any number of other jobs) done, and it does so with any e-mail client you want to use.
With iKey, I created a macro for copying text to an e-mail message; the macro copies the selected text, launches my e-mail program, hides other applications to ensure that the e-mail client is the foremost app, creates a new message, and pastes the copied text into the message body.
By default, no. You can, however, choose a different spelling checker and use it to check your text. I suggest the free CocoAspell, Kevin Atkinson's Mac OS X implementation of the popular open-source spelling checker. After installing CocoAspell and its supplemental French dictionary, you can ask it to use that dictionary in any OS X application that uses Apple's spelling checker (including Mail).
("The monkey is in the tree"), Mail signals its ignorance of the whereabouts of le singe by placing a red line under l'arbre. Simply control-click on the underline, choose Spelling from the resulting contextual menu, and choose Française (Aspell) from the Dictionary pop-up menu. Mail will then come to grips with the fact that le singe has made himself at home in a nearby tree. For finer control—such as a French-Canadian dictionary and the ability to assign particular dictionaries to specific applications—try Rainmaker Research's $40 Spell Catcher X.
Yours is a two-part problem. Sometimes movie previews don't load because of a failure on Apple's end. In such cases, you can wait until Apple fixes it, or you can simply click on Sherlock's Movie Information For link, which will whisk you to the Moviefone site, where you can view the trailer (See screenshot). If Apple has managed to get the feature working again, vaporize not only that .plist file (found at your user folder /Library/Preferences), but also Sherlock's cache folder ( your user folder /Library/Caches/ Sherlock). If that doesn't work, create a new user account, switch to that account, copy its com.apple .Sherlock.plist file and Sherlock cache folder to the root level of your hard drive, switch back to your primary account, and replace that user's files with the ones from the account you just created.
OS X doesn't support the Dial Phone script step. All is not lost, however. Automated Workflows' $15 Dial Phone From X, an AppleScript-based program, can dial the phone from applications including Address Book, Microsoft Excel, and FileMaker, with the assistance of Macron Soft's $12 ABDialer 2.
PowerPoint 2004 displays this error message when it's missing an Asian font that's installed with OS X or a font that Microsoft Office installs when it first runs. The missing Apple font is likely to be Hiragino Kaku Gothic Pro, and the Microsoft font is MS PMincho.
At this point, you have a couple of options. You can enable the fonts (or install them if they're missing), or you can tell PowerPoint to live without them.
To instruct PowerPoint to proceed without certain fonts, open your PowerPoint presentation and choose Format: Replace Fonts. Select the Asian font in the Replace pop-up menu, choose something more appropriate in the With field (Times, for example), and click on Replace. The new font you've selected will replace all instances of the old one.
With luck, these fonts may still be on your Mac. To find out, launch Panther's Font Book, select All Fonts from the Collection column, and peer into the Font column. If one or both fonts are disabled, select them and click on Enable.
If the Hiragino font is missing, you could get it back by reinstalling OS X, but there's an eas-ier way. Download Charles Srstka's $20 share-ware utility Pacifist, and use it to extract the font from the Panther installer disc(s). You'll find the font by following this path: Contents of OSInstall.mkpkg/Contents of EssentialSystemSoftware.mkpkg/Contents of Essentials.pkg/ System/Library/Fonts.
Note that the font's name includes a series of Japanese characters that you might not be able to read. The font you want has a name that ends with Pro W4.otf, and it weighs in at 9.6MB. It normally lives in the Fonts folder within the System folder—a folder for which you lack permissions. If you'd rather not change those permissions, simply add the font to your user account's Font folder ( your user folder /Library/Fonts).
If the Microsoft font is missing, insert your Office 2004 disc, open the Microsoft Office 2004 folder, the Office folder therein, and then the Fonts folder inside that folder. Copy the MS PMincho font to your user account's Fonts folder.
Incredible as it may seem, clicking on Sherlock's Movie Information for a link may be the only way to view movie trailers in Sherlock.


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
The Catalogue of Life, 3rd January 2011

#### Published in
null

#### Original name
Cassia scandens G.Don

### Remarks
null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Posted February 28, 2017 .
A dental avulsion caused by a hard blow to the face that knocks out or severely damages a tooth often causes a significant amount of pain. The trauma associated with this type of dental injury often results in the loss of the tooth. Even if the tooth is whole and alive, the damage to the socket might not make it possible to implant the tooth again.
To treat a problem of this magnitude, Drs. Royzman and Zaygermakher might suggest extracting the remnants of the tooth. The gums can then be sutured over the socket. This will prevent an infection from forming in the injured tissues and allow the pain to gradually abate.
When you're ready, our dentists can help you understand the dental replacement solutions available to you. If you're not comfortable with the oral surgery required for a dental implant restoration, they might recommend a dental bridge in New York, New York.
This is basically an artificial tooth that mimics the appearance of a natural tooth. It is fused into a solid piece of dental work with an open crown at each end. It will eventually be anchored onto abutments that are formed out of the healthy core of the two closest teeth. To form the abutments, Dr. Royzman and Dr. Zaygermakher will remove the tooth enamel from each tooth, leaving behind a sheath of dentin around the healthy pulp and root of the tooth.
Our dentists will make an impression of the abutments, the void, as well as any other relevant teeth. This will be sent to a dental lab as a guide while the technicians create your new bridge. Your dentists will then secure temporary crowns over each abutment to protect them while the lab technician completes their work.
When it's ready, Drs. Royzman and Zaygermakher will secure your new bridge onto the abutments with a strong dental cement.
If you've suffered a dental avulsion or other form of dental trauma, you should call (212) 579-0552 to seek treatment at Professional Dental & Implant Center.


text:
«Джамиля» — художественный фильм 1968 года режиссёра Ирины Поплавской по одноимённой книге Чингиза Айтматова, снятый на киностудиях «Мосфильм» и «Киргизфильм».

Сюжет
Действие происходит в Киргизии во время Великой Отечественной войны, когда женщины, старики и дети пахали в поле и отправляли пшеницу фронтовикам. В маленьком ауле Каркурау живёт семья, у них есть два дома, малый и большой. В семье главой считается мать; так как характер у нее сильный, она и является авторитетом для других. В семье также есть 2 брата, и Сеит младший из них, и также их сестрёнка. Старший Садык, после того как женился на Джамиле, прожил с ней только 4 месяца, потом его забрали на фронт. Джамиля тосковала по нему. После того, как ранили Садыка, он пишет письмо о том, что возвращается домой через 2 месяца, чему все радуются. Но к тому времени в ауле оставалось мало людей, которые могли бы отвозить зерно с тока до станции. И поэтому бригадир попросил Кичи-апа, чтобы она отдала свою невестку на работу. Сначала она противилась, но потом всё-таки разрешает ей и Сеиту заняться делом. К ним ещё присоединяется Данияр, и отсюда начинается их история. Сначала Джамиля даже не замечает его, хоть они всегда работают вместе. Но иногда они могли и пошутить с Сеитом над ним. Но однажды они даже пожалели о своей шутке.

Съёмочная группа

 Режиссёр — Ирина Поплавская
 Автор сценария — Чингиз Айтматов
 Художник — Анатолий Кузнецов
 Композитор — Николай Сидельников
 Оператор — Кадыржан Кыдыралиев
 Звукорежиссёр — Виктор Беляров

Роли исполняли
 Наталья Аринбасарова — Джамиля
 Суйменкул Чокморов — Данияр
 Болот Бейшеналиев — художник
 Мухтар Бактыгереев — Осман
 Алиман Джангорозова — Джаныл, мать
 Муканбет Токтобаев
 Бакирдин Алиев

Награды
Награды режиссёра Ирины Поплавской за фильм «Джамиля»:
 Приз «Калимэ» — за лучший иностранный фильм мира в Иэре, Франция («Джамиля»)
 Приз «За лучшую режиссуру» на МКФ в Картахене, Колумбия («Джамиля»)
 Почетные дипломы на внеконкурсных показах к/к «Джамиля» на Карфагенском мкф (Тунис) и в Кёсеге (Венгрия)
 Фильм «Джамиля» включен кинокритиками Бразилии в число лучших десяти картин мира (Сообщение ТАСС от 1 мая 1973 г.)

Примечания

Ссылки

 Журнал «Новый мир». — 1972. — С.244.

  Со ссылкой на журнал «Искусство» (1970).
 Журнал «Москва». — 2005. — С.178.
 http://culture.akipress.org/news:1485695?from=portal&place=last&b=2
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3GPCxCy78Y

Фильмы СССР 1968 года
Фильмы студии «Мосфильм»
Фильмы студии «Киргизфильм»
Исторические фильмы СССР
Экранизации произведений Чингиза Айтматова

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Covering a horizontal "line" with 3 same sized textviews in android I was trying to create a layout which will "divide" a horizontal line by 3 and fill it with 3 text views. Even though the following is not what I want to achieve the sample is following.
Sample design
So I started to write this and saw some problems.
1)I managed to write the headers next to each other but there are space between them.
2)They dont cover the whole screen
3)The colors and the background shape is different but I can correct it from my activity using ids.
So here is what I tried so far.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingRight="16dp"
    android:paddingLeft="16dp"
    >
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/sports"
        android:text="Sports"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/science"
        android:text="Science"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/sports"
        />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/music"
        android:text="Music"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/science"
        />
    </RelativeLayout>

A: You need to use weight property.
 <LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

   <LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="100dp"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

     <TextView
        android:id="@+id/sports"
        android:text="Sports"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/science"
        android:text="Science"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/music"
        android:text="Music"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />
    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="100dp"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

     <TextView
        android:id="@+id/sports"
        android:text="Sports"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/science"
        android:text="Science"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/music"
        android:text="Music"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />
    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Better technology and affordable data have helped over-the-top (OTT) or online video services explode throughout the world. These new services have caused a large paradigm shift in content consumption patterns.
The television screen is the natural home of long-form video content. Most consumers who sign-up for online video services on their smartphones eventually switch to viewing on the TV screen over the mid- to long-term. This is both, a threat as well as an opportunity for carriers & operators.
Cannonball from 18th Parallel is a cutting-edge comprehensive software & interactive services platform for Android set-top-boxes. It enables TV service providers to not only offer innovative interactive services such as Android console gaming but also enables a uniform viewing, billing, and management experience across linear TV & OTT.


Modern Family is the four-time defending champ. They are however, receiving less nominations this time around than in previous years, so perhaps their time is up.
The Emmy record for Best Comedy Series is Frasier (1994-1998), with five wins in a row.
The Big Bang Theory is the most popular comedy on US television at present. Usually shows don't win so late in their run (Big Bang Theory is in its 7th season), but Friends won in its 8th season back in 2002.
This is the second Best Comedy nomination for Louis, which stars the comedian Louis C.K, who also directs, writes and edits it. I wan't seen it Has any one viewed it? If so, what are your thoughts?
Orange is the New Black (streamed on Netflix) is the first online TV show to be nominated in this category.
Silicon Valley is a new show this season, screening on HBO in the US.
Who will win: Veep. Modern Family has lost its buzz, while Veep is on the up and up. Veep has acting nominations as well as for writing and directing, and it has been well received this season by the critics.
Who should win: Orange is the New Black. I love this show, it is one of my favourites. The second season of OITNB was released right around the time that Emmy members were voting, so hopefully that reminded a lot of voters what a great show this is. The first season of Orange is the New Black screened in the dead of night on TV2 so I don't know if a lot of kiwis will have even heard of it, but I recommend getting the DVD, or accessing it through other means if you get the chance.
What do you think? Who will win? Who should win?
Thanks! All updated. Have you watched it before? Is it any good?


text:
by JCPenney Company on July 6, 2020 July 6, 2020 in Beauty, Corporate Social Responsibility, Philanthropy
Syamala proudly rocked a pixie cut after cutting 14 inches off her hair last month
The first time Syamala Samanthula, an analyst on the JCPenney Customer and Supply Chain Engineering team, donated her hair to children with cancer was by chance. Having moved to Fort Worth, Texas, from Portland, Oregon, in 2000, she quickly discovered that Texas heat and her below-the-waist locks weren't compatible.
"It was too hot for me to manage my long hair," she laughed. While at the salon, a hairdresser asked if she'd be interested in donating her 17 inches of hair they'd cut off, and she agreed.
While that was the first time she'd ever considered the idea, it wouldn't be the last. In 2016, Syamala's daughter began growing out her hair for her upcoming arangetram, a recital focused on the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam. She asked Syamala to grow hers out as well so they could donate together. Sold on the idea, Syamala donated her hair for a second time in 2018.
"In the back of my mind, I wanted to try and donate again one more time after that," she said. "I wanted to do it for a third time."
Turn of Events
Syamala's plan was simple enough: In 2018, she began growing out her hair with the intention of cutting and donating it in the summer of 2020. Her plans changed, though, after being diagnosed with breast cancer on April 1, 2020.
"The entire world is dealing with the Coronavirus, and I was dealing with my own illness," Syamala said. "I don't know if it was denial or shock, but it wasn't something I expected at all."
The news was tough for Syamala's team members as well. "Being diagnosed with breast cancer is difficult on its own," said Diane Padgett, director for Customer and Supply Chain Engineering. "Being diagnosed and having to start treatments during a pandemic, it just made my heart sink for her."
Though her world had been turned upside down, Syamala remained steadfast in her plan. "I really wanted to donate before I lost my hair," she said. "For two years I'd been thinking of how to donate my hair. There are kids out there who'd really enjoy having a wig from my hair."
With chemotherapy beginning in early May, Syamala wanted to have her hair cut as quickly as possible. The trouble was, salons in Texas were still closed at this time due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) – not to mention the fact that Syamala is immunocompromised and must avoid being out in public as much as possible. That's when she turned to Diane for advice to see if a JCPenney Salon associate might be able to help, and Diane sprang into action.
VIP Experience
After working with internal Salon partners, Diane had some good news for Syamala: They'd received personal approval from CEO Jill Soltau to open the JCPenney salon at our store in Fairview, Texas, a day early so Syamala could have the place to herself.
"That was the moment when I felt extra special," Syamala said. "You feel wanted. That was the priceless thing for me."
The team in Fairview ensured everything was squeaky clean prior to Syamala's arrival on May 15, the day after her second chemotherapy session. "I wanted to donate the maximum amount possible since I knew I'd be losing my hair," Syamala said. Working with Salon Manager Oscar Tienda, the pair decided on a pixie cut after cutting 14 inches of Syamala's hair.
"Some of my friends asked why I didn't just keep my hair to make a wig for myself," Syamala said. "But I've been thinking this whole time about making a wig for another child. Not even once did it strike me to keep the hair for myself."
It's that generosity of spirit that strikes Oscar. "I was very impressed with how positive she was," Oscar said. "I felt so much in my heart when she still wanted to help someone else that was in the situation she is in now."
These days, Syamala wears a buzz cut after losing large portions of her hair, yet the experience she had with her JCPenney family most definitely left a mark. "When I'm done with cancer, I want to go back and take pictures with Oscar and tell him again how special I felt," she said. "No matter what, my motto is 'pray, fight, win' and this could be for all walks of life, for anything – not just cancer."
Pride Profile: JCPenney Leader Connects the Personal and Professional


Attend and participate in class one day each week, or find a qualified substitute.
Attend the monthly parent meetings to assist with the business of the preschool, vote on preschool issues, be notified of upcoming events and participate in parent education. Important parenting topics are discussed during the parent education portion of the meeting. Topics might include discipline, brain development, child temperament, sibling issues, and anything parents have questions about. Parents receive the support of their peers and the Parent Educator while relating individual and shared experiences and challenges. Meetings are generally two hours and are listed on the school calendar handed out at the beginning of the year.
Become a board member or hold one of the available parent jobs necessary for preschool operations.
Provide the class snack on a rotating basis.
Be responsible for periodic weekend preschool cleanings and a group "all school clean" at the end of the school year.
Pay tuition and fundraising amounts on time and in full.
Participate in the business of the preschool by electing a board comprised of members from both classes. The board meets monthly to facilitate operations of the preschool and communicate with the families and the college. The meeting dates are announced and open to all members of the preschool.
Parents of newly enrolled students will receive copies of the MCP by-laws and the Parent Handbook as well as detailed information about the requirements discussed in this section. If you would like more information please contact us.
There is a specific private share for each school year. Parents have access to the years their children were enrolled.


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text:
Monaco Brings Good Old-Fashioned Thievin' To The Switch
Joshua Rivera
Filed to:Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
I love a good heist, and I wish more video games let me pull one off. Sure, Grand Theft Auto: Online lets you plot them if you have enough friends, there's also Payday 2, and if you squint a little bit and don't mind all the murder, Hitman is technically a heist game, sure. We could use more, though—specifically, more heist games that feel like a party game. The Mario Kart of heist games. Games like Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine.
I love Monaco's full title, the way it glibly asserts that yes, this is a video game about smug thievin'. A top-down stealth game that only kind of cares about stealth, Monaco is a playground for doing whatever it takes to grab some cash and get away clean. Choosing one of four character classes (with more to unlock as you play), you play either solo, with friends locally, or online. Each class has their own unique perk. The Locksmith can pick locks twice as fast, The Lookout can see enemies without having them in his line of sight, The Cleaner can knock out unaware guards, and so on.
Playing the game is extremely simple—you use the left thumbstick to move, the other to aim whatever item you may have, and the R2 button to use that item. That's it! Interacting with objects—hacking security systems, picking locks, looting vaults—is all done by just tilting your thumbstick in the direction of the object of interest while a timer ticks down. It's an incredibly simple game for something as complicated as heists.
While you have a general sense of every map's layout, you don't know what's actually in a room unless it's in your line of sight, which both allows for some great tension and also effectively shows off the game's art style. Levels are mostly grayed out in areas you can't see, but your characters' sightlines are illuminated in cones of vibrant color, as your little dudes and the guards trying to stop them wobble around the map as little blobby pixel-people.
Monaco is clearly meant to be played with friends, which I am eager to do now that the game is live on the Nintendo eShop and my Switch-having friends can now join me. I slept on Monaco when it came out on PC and Xbox 360 in 2013, and so I'm looking forward to having a whole mess of people coming to this game for the first time to have a blast together.
It ain't bad solo, either—there's a light story to play through, which is spare but witty and playful, and supports drop-in, drop-out co-op. The Switch version also comes with all the DLC that developer Pocketwatch Games released for the previous versions, which includes new levels and a Zombie mode. I haven't yet toyed with it, but taken in conjunction with the PvP modes, there's a generous amount of game here, and it all holds up extremely well, despite being six years old, nearly an entire console generation ago.
Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine has a manic energy that makes it feel like a really good board game where everyone can take their turn at the same time as they all scramble to win. In other words, it's a game for low-down, dirty crooks. A whole party full of them, even.
The Wonderful, Rare Sloppiness Of The Monaco Soundtrack
How My Game Cuts Down On Online Gamer Obnoxiousness
Monaco: The Kotaku Review


My spouse and I have been getting outstanding care from Blanco Dental starting days after they took over this practice (almost 10 years ago). We have had several crowns, repairs, a partial plate, plus several cleaning per year. Not only has all of this work went well, but also the insurance / billing management also continues to work well.
One issue I need to cite is that my spouse is weak and has severe RA pain in most of her body. This is recognized. Extraordinary care is always provide to expedite her work, and keep her as comfortable as possible. She always dreads having to go through any procedure because of her poor health, but in every case she reports that the care really worked extremely well and any discomfort was really minimized. Any patient who needs extra care and patience should consider only having Blanco Dental do their work.
The Blancos Family Dental is "hands down" the best dental experience I've ever had! I am not sure what Rikki C. is writing about, lol. All I know is that if you click on any of her Yelp reviews, they're all "1" star. To me, it shows her character maybe. The Blancos (husband and wife) have had the same staff for years and are all treated like family. They treat their patients as you would want to be treated and go the "extra steps" to make sure you are always comfortable. I can't say they're able to do this routinely, but I know they helped me financially with services due to my personal hardships. They are kind, extremely professional, and above all, experts in their field.
Dr. Wolf is very professional and handled my stubborn tooth beautifully. My crown was made in her office and was done same day. I'm very appreciative of her taking her time and being so thorough with my sensitivities. I booked my follow up and will travel to see her and have her work on my teeth.
I am not the type to write a review, but I just wanted to share the great experience I had at Blanco Family Dentistry. The staff were very welcoming and nice.I was a bit nervous when I first arrived but I have to say the Drs were very comforting. It was definitely a five star experience and I will be recommending all my family and friends.


QuickBooks programming program is one of the great bookkeeping programming which has demonstrated leverage for both little notwithstanding huge scale organizations. Be that as it may, alike different programming applications, QuickBooks likewise involves a few errors. In accordance with this, Error 324 is a standout amongst the most widely recognized error that most QB clients juggle with. Be that as it may, such error messages can be immediately wiped off by interfacing with our experts. This particular group of QuickBooks specialists is accessible round the clock to offer a befitting answer for your concern. In accordance with this, Error 324 is a standout amongst the most widely recognized error about which you have to mindful about.
QuickBooks Error 324 is a managing an account error which implies that QuickBooks can't look through your record. This error fundamentally happens when your Financial Institution issues another record or charge card number, including when there is an adjustment in account name or if the record has been shut.
Inadequate establishment of QuickBooks programming program.
Defilement in windows registry (set up or uninstall).
Infection or malware disease that has adulterated windows machine archives or QuickBooks-related programming records.
Each application perniciously or erroneously erased QuickBooks – related archives.
It shows up and crashes the energetic programming window.
Your workstation every now and again crashes with error 324 while running the equivalent application.
QuickBooks Error 324 is shown.
Home windows run drowsily and react gradually to mouse or console input.


text:
Q: Multiple string parse to loop I currently have some code which returns a sites header content back:
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
require IO::Socket;

my @header;
my $host = shift;

my $socket = new IO::Socket::INET(
    PeerAddr => $host,
    PeerPort => 80,
    Proto => 'tcp') || die "Could not Connect $!\n";

print "Connected.\n";
print "Getting Header\n";

print $socket "GET / HTTP/1.0\n\n";
my $i = 0;
while (<$socket>) {
    @header[$i] = $_;
    $i++;
}

$i = 0;
print "--------------------------------------\n";
while ($i <= 8) {
    print "@header[$i++]";
}

print "-------------------------------------\n";
print "Finished $host\n";

What I would like to do, is to be able to read from a file open (FILE, '<', shift); and then every IP in the file, to pass into a the header retrieve loop, which saves me from manually doing one by one.
What I mean by this is to have a file containing (example ips): 1.1.1.1 2.2.2.2 on each line and then parsing all of them through the get header function.

A: Replace
my @header;
my $host = shift;
...

with
while (<>) {
   chomp( my $host = $_ );
   my @header;
   ...
}

A: You would just open your file, read the contents into a list, then iterate over the list:
open my $fh, '<', $file or die "$!";
my @ips = <$fh>;
close $fh;
foreach my $ip ( @ips ) {
   chomp $ip;
   ...
}


text:
Gmail to get better at mining emails and displaying ads
For years, Gmail has been reading users' emails to display relevant ads, but soon it'll go a step further by learning users' habits.
By Jared Newman |PC World | 31 Mar 11
For years, Gmail has been reading users' e-mails to display relevant ads, but soon it'll go a step further by learning users' habits.
Under the existing system, Gmail ads are based solely on keywords in the message you're currently reading. In the coming months, Gmail will get smarter, borrowing methods from Priority Inbox to learn which ad topics are most important to each user.
A Google support page, first spotted by TechCrunch, says Gmail will pick up on signals, such as the number of e-mails you read on a given topic, to show fewer, but better ads. For instance, if you read a lot of e-mails about food and dining, you might see more ads for local restaurants. E-mails that you delete or ignore will factor less into the ads you see down the line.
Like the original Gmail advertising that rolled out in 2004, the new system could be kind of creepy at first. Gmail won't just be spitting back ads in the moment. It'll be building a profile of the things that are most important to you based on your personal correspondences.
But Google says the system is fully automated, and shares no personally identifiable information with advertisers. You'll also be able to turn off the ranking system under Gmail settings, although it will be enabled by default when it starts rolling out in a month or so. For these reasons, I'll bet the people who don't care will eventually drown out those who think these ads are a privacy outrage. And in any case, they'll be easier to ignore than display ads, which Google has also been testing recently.


text:
Q: Upper Bound to PoS of a congestion game with max λ players using a resource Good morning everyone, I've been reasoning on this problem for severeal days, but I couldn't end up with a solution.
Consider a congestion game for which we have the following guarantee:
The cost functions $c_r$ are such that no resource is ever used by more than λ players.
Use Rosenthal's potential to show that the Price of Stability of such a game is at most λ.
Where Rosenthal's potential is $$ \phi (\alpha) = \sum\limits_{r \in R} \sum\limits_{i = 1}^{\#(r, \alpha)} e_r (i) $$.
$\alpha$ is a strategy profile $(\alpha_{1}, . . . , \alpha_{n})$, r ∈ R is a resource, $c_r$ is the cost function of resource r and #(r, α) is the
number of players using resource r in profile $\alpha$.
The hint given with the exercise is:
Try to use the observation that by starting from a state that produces the optimal social cost, in case this state is not a Nash equilibrium, then there is at least one player that by deviating can decrease the potential function.
I tried to use the fact that the Price of Anarchy is always greater than the Price of Stability PoA > PoS for this type of games.
At this point i tried to put an upper bound on the PoA, looking around for something I found that in the case of smooth games, the upper bound for the PoA is $$ PoA < \lambda / (1- \mu)$$
This is valid for $smooth(\lambda, \mu)$ games, thus these games for which the following condition is satisfied.
$$SC(s) = \sum\limits_{i=1}^n c_i (s) \leq \sum\limits_{i=1}^n c_i ({s_i}^* , s_{-i} ) \leq \lambda SC ( s^*) + \mu SC(s)$$
So my idea was to use the assumption than no resource is ever used by $\lambda$ players to prove that our game is a $smooth-(\lambda, 0)$ game and so have that:
$$PoS \leq PoA \leq \lambda/(1-0) = \lambda$$
But I'm stucked, and I don't have any idea about how to prove that or if this is a feasible solution.
Can someone help me please? Thank You!


In life I believe there are no mistakes, only life lessons. My name is Brittany Brown. I am a daughter, a friend, a student, a mother of a beautiful four-year old son, and last but not least, a survivor of Domestic Violence. I wear that badge with honor and am not ashamed to tell others the journey I have made to be here today with you. Growing up I didn't know much about domestic violence. I was raised in a middle class family, went to a good school, graduated, and was accepted to San Francisco State where I had plans to help others and make my mark in the world.
In high school I never had a serious relationship. About a year into my college years I met a man who swept me off my feet. In the beginning he didn't ask much of me but slowly I started to lose myself. My world became what he needed and wanted. The abuse started on the emotional and mental level by tearing up all my self-esteem. He could make me feel on top of the world, like a queen, or make me feel like a piece of trash on the floor.
He first became physically abusive six months into the relationship. He was especially abusive after he drank. He would punch me in my stomach and throw me into walls. He would always apologize with a big gift and promises he never planned to keep. I thought if I just worked hard enough and prayed hard enough he would change for me so we could be happy together.
I found out the fall of 2007 that we were pregnant with our child. We would argue more and he had no regard for my life or his child's life. There were many times he would tell me he let me have our son and I should consider myself lucky. The further along I became, the worse the physical and emotional abuse got.
Six months into the pregnancy, we got into an argument. I was tired and hungry because he left me in the house all day while he took my car. By the time he picked me up, I was irritated and he was drunk. While in the car, he got tired of hearing me complain. He pulled out his gun and put it to my temple. Then he pistol whipped me in the head. I pulled the car over and jumped out. He ran after me then started to drag me while I was on the ground. He scratched and hit me but at least this time he didn't hit my stomach. The police came that night and I begged them not to arrest him. I was scared of what he would do when he got out. They didn't take him in, but he was furious. He blamed me for the reasons he had to beat me. He told me that if I would just listen to him, these things would never happen.
The months leading to my child's birth were pleasant and I had hope for us again. When my son was born he supported me the best way he could. I was happy, but my happiness only lasted until our son was a month old. On our way home from a doctor's visit, the father of my child took my phone and started questioning me about texts and names. I told him it was my phone and didn't give him the answers he wanted. He reached over and choked me in the car until I blacked out.
Our child was in the back seat. Even though he couldn't see anything, he could hear his mother's cries for air and life. When we stopped at a red light, I went into action. I jumped out of the car, grabbed my baby, and ran to safety.
After that incident, I took a break from my abuser. I didn't see him for a full month. That was the longest we were ever apart. It was a very calm and peaceful time without him.
My first interaction with STAND! was in the spring of 2009. I was working with East Bay works when my abuser came and made a scene. He yelled and cussed at me. One of the facilitators at East Bay Works directed me to Roxanne Ward, who works for STAND!. She encouraged me to come to my first STAND! support group meeting. I didn't take it seriously. I thought I wasn't like the other women there and believed that their stories were worse than mine. I went to a few meetings and left thinking I could manage without the safety net the STAND! support group provided.
When my abuser tried to come back into my life, he came armed with apologies and promises. I didn't feel the same about him that I once did, and his words didn't mean more than a grain of salt to me. Still, I wanted my family. I let myself believe him when he told me I couldn't and wouldn't do better than him—words that still haunt me to this day.
After we reunited, I tried hard to love him and show him the love he wanted, but it wasn't there anymore. He proposed to me and tried to make us a family and give me the dream of marriage that I always wanted. When I started trying to become more independent, more problems erupted between my abuser and me. My abuser was losing control as I was gaining a sense of control in myself. I finally could identify myself as a victim of domestic violence and was okay with that title. Even though I could identify being a victim of domestic violence, I didn't know how to resolve this problem and break away.
Although no one was asking him why he abused me, for so many people it was easy for them to ask me, "Why did you stay?" I stayed because I loved my family. I stayed because I wanted my son to have a father and mother. I stayed because I didn't want to be alone. I stayed because I didn't want to be another statistic: a baby's mother. The man that you call my abuser was once a beautiful man who I believed loved me but now that man is gone, never to return.
For these many reasons I stayed, optimistic that things would one day change. The summer of 2010 was my living hell. I was always arguing and fighting with my abuser but he was winning these fights. For three months straight I had black eyes that I couldn't even cover with make-up. I felt like my situation was hopeless and I would pray that he would wake up one day and just leave me alone and move on with his life.
let loose and be the happy go lucky person I once was. We decided to go dancing but it wasn't my night. All I wanted to do was to go home and watch a movie with my son. He was getting angry and threatened me: if we didn't have a good night, I would pay for it. He didn't lie.
We left the club and got in the car. Before I could even put on my seatbelt, he started to punch me in my face, on top of my head and then moved to my ribs and arms. My abuser was training to be in the UFC. When he hit me it was like a bag of bricks making contact with my body. I decided to take my seatbelt off so I could be more mobile to help protect my body from his punches as best as I could. He pulled over and walked to the passenger side where he proceeded to kick me in the ribs and back. Then he jumped back in the driver's seat crying; in his mind, the only solution was to kill me. I was begging and pleading for my life and the life of our son.
He drove my car into a phone pole. He dragged me out the car by my hair, pulling big chunks out. He flagged a car for a ride and an unlucky bystander was willing to help. It was a two door Lexus; I was in the front and my abuser was in the back. I sobbed in the front seat while my abuser slapped me in the face telling me to be quite. Two minutes later, the police pulled us over and handcuffed all three of us. The police officer looked at me and through whispers I told him that my boyfriend had hit me. He took off my handcuffs and called an ambulance. Once I was at the hospital, I found out I had two broken ribs and had many contusions on my back as well as on top of my head. That night I decided to press charges against the father of my child. He was arrested and he spent 90 days in jail. He pled guilty. I filed and received a restraining order for both me and my son. The judge gave me a criminal restraining order good for ten years. It was filed when I was twenty-three years old and will stay good until I am thirty-three.
Even though my scars would heal, I felt lost and didn't know what to do with my life. The fall semester was supposed to start in one week. I could barely move and I looked like a monster with all the bruises on my face.
I showed up to STAND! support group, this time still covered in bruises. I knew it would be the one place to go where I didn't have to explain myself. This time, I was that person I thought I was so far from: I was abused and needed help. Once settled into support group, I met other women who didn't judge me and accepted me. For so many people the solutions to my problems seemed so easy but they weren't. They were extremely complex. Before my abuser got out of jail I applied and got accepted to transitional housing where they helped rehabilitate me.
The STAND! staff helped me identify what a healthy relationship was. They gave me parenting classes. They also offered Zumba and nutritious eating classes for me and my son. STAND! also offered the Rainbow room, which was my son's first pre-school experience. There they helped my son identify emotions, as well as his numbers and letters. It was such a happy and healthy environment for a child to grow in.
holiday was a happy holiday for the children. They brought in Santa Claus and gifts during Christmas. They also brought in Easter baskets filled with many goodies. I still remember my son receiving a fireman hat which he wore for two days straight.
STAND! held my hand through this rollercoaster I call life. They pushed and supported me to not just reach for the ceiling but for the stars. I recently graduated from the transitional housing program and now have my own apartment with my son. I graduated Diablo Valley College with an associate degree in administration of justice and certificates in Juvenile Counseling, Community Relations and Law Specialist. I recently have applied to St. Mary's where I am waiting for a response. I plan to receive my BA in sociology. My goal is to spread my story to individuals like you. Hopefully this will impact you to help change your own life or to reach out to another. My dream is to help other women like myself. They are not victims, because victims are helpless, but survivors who fought to live new lives. My dream is to give them the hope that if I can do it, then they can do it, too. I won't lie to them and say that the road will be easy, but what doesn't kill you truly makes you stronger. Many people ask me if I could go back would I change anything. I say no. If I changed one thing in my life, I may not have a wonderful son who adores me or be the strong, powerful woman I am today. I truly believe your life experiences make you who you are and even though I had to experience some horrific things, I am here today and better for it. Not enough thank you's could ever show STAND! how grateful I am for them taking a chance and believing in me when I didn't even believe in myself. Not enough thank you's can go out my mother and family for always letting me come home to them with open arms. It sounds so simple but true love doesn't hurt. If you know anyone that may be in a situation that I was in, please don't judge. Have open arms ready with love for them. Thank you.


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"You can really eat the whole thing?" It was a question worth asking. One day, I am sure people will lie to me.
A dinner out in Japan is a sociable affair. Rather than each individual selecting his or her own dish, you gather as a group around a table to share sushi, hot pots, savoury pancakes or some other form of fare. Not only is this fun, it also guards against over-indulgence from a desire to finish your entire plate. Of course, this does require everyone to agree on the type of food and it helps not to be a fussy eater. The fact I was not a fussy eater was about to be put to a whole new level of testing.
Uo-isshin (whose name is possibly poorly recalled due to google being in denial) is a seafood restaurant with a specialty in crab. Hairy crab. It was originally described to me as 'furry' but since said fur sticks in your fingers like a fine-combed porcupine, I fail to find that description accurate. Still, since I helped devour its interior and than drank sake from its dessicated carcass, I guess I had my revenge.
The crab was served alongside a large plate of sashimi which included large king prawns with all body parts attached. Rather to my relief, since these were raw, the heads and tails were removed before eating. This complacency was short-lived since a short while later a plate of just prawn heads was produced, cooked and ready to be eaten; eyes, front legs and all. A basic rule I learned was that pretty much anything is edible if you fry it.
"The Japanese do not like waste," I was told by the students who were clearly having far too much fun at my expense. Admittedly, my memories of having to sort garbage in Tokyo into half a dozen different piles made me sympathise with this philosophy. I bit into the head. Crunchy.
The shrimp heads were followed by a grilled flounder. This looked totally delicious and I watched as one of the students carefully lifted the bones away from the white flesh.
"Don't throw out the bone!" The call came from down the table. "I want to eat it!"
I studied the fish skeleton. It consisted of almost nothing beside the delicate array of hair-like bones, held together only by the grilled membrane of skin. People were reaching forward, snapping pieces off and popping them into their mouths. I'm pretty sure this contradicted everything I had been taught about eating fish as a child: remove the bones or else THEY WILL CHOKE YOU AND YOU WILL DIE. Apparently, the secret was just to chew them first.
It was maybe a good thing that this meal was served with sake.
From the flounder we moved onto entire individual fish that were eaten like candy sticks. Roughly the size of a sardine, these fish were pencil-long silver lengths that you chewed your way down. I watched to make sure people really did eat the heads and tails, then bit. They were extremely good once you got over looking your dinner in the eye.
A huge salmon complete with extra roe concluded the meal along with a surprise; two pieces of cold flounder sushi for the gaijin to try (that's me, folks!). They tasted of lemon with a firmer, thicker texture than tuna. There was also a pickle-like vegetable that looks like pineapple triangles and humongous squid served in their shells. We drank sake from the shells too. It seems that it looked big enough to be a threat, it was worth toasting your victory by drinking from its remains.
As we walked back to the station, I was told that other westerners had not liked to try so much of the seafood.
"You are very brave." I was told.
Wow! I am an adventurous eater, but eating heads might have been a bridge too far. Eager to hear more!


text:
Q: PHP: Return date time start and date time end for a date range I need to return date time start and date time end for each date in a given range:
The input would be:
$start = '2010-11-07 10:00:00';
$end   = '2010-11-09 19:00:00';

The expected output would be:
Array
(
    Array
        (
            '2010-11-07',
            '2010-11-07 10:00:00' ,
            '2010-11-08 00:00:00'
        )

    Array
        (
            '2010-11-08' ,
            '2010-11-08 00:00:00' ,
            '2010-11-09 00:00:00'
        )

    Array
        (
            '2010-11-09' ,
            '2010-11-09 00:00:00' ,
            '2010-11-09 19:00:00'
        )

)

I managed to divide the time range into separate days using this thread:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/4312630/3132858
However, I cannot get the start and end time for each date. Any help will be appreciated!
Here is a PHP Fiddle with my code.

A: One way to solve this is to simply loop through the days between the start/end dates:
function getRange($start, $end) {
    $range = [];
    $start_date = \DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $start);
    $end_date = \DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $end);
    $diff = $end_date->diff($start_date);
    for($i = 0; $i <= $diff->days; $i++) {
        $event_end = clone $start_date;
        $event_end->add(new \DateInterval("P1D"));
        if ($event_end > $end_date) {
            $range[] = [
                $start_date->format('Y-m-d'),
                $start_date->format('Y-m-d 00:00:00'),
                $end_date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
            ];
            break;
        }
        $range[] = [
            $start_date->format('Y-m-d'),
            $i > 0 ? $start_date->format('Y-m-d 00:00:00') :  $start_date->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
            $event_end->format('Y-m-d 00:00:00')

        ];
        $start_date->add(new \DateInterval("P1D"));
    }
    return $range;
}

See it running here: https://3v4l.org/e85OM


text:
Q: How to design discussion for multiple entities I've got entities like Project, Client, Task, and every one of them should have list of posts(aka discussion). Problem is that since every entity(project, client,..) is mapped to it's own table, i can't refer that entity from discussion by "owner_id" because it'd be ambigious having client with id=1 and project with id=1 and discussion wouldn't know if it belongs to project or client. I'd like to avoid having independent discussion entity for client and another independend discussion entity for project .. (cause later on i might want to add discussion to another entity so it's not really "scalable"). I know that i can add discriminator attribute(column) to discussion that would distinguish between clientDiscussion and projectDiscussion. I'm wondering if that's the right way to do such thing or not. what do you tink?

A: Personally it sounds like you need to create an abstract entity.
EntityType<-Entity<-EntityDiscussion->Discussion

How different are the fields in Project/Client/Task?

A: Can a discussion be only about a single entity? If so then your use of a discriminator is an approach I've seen used, you've outlined why the obvious alternative is not useful for you.
My instinct is that in the real world Discussions don't always refer to a single kind of thing. So you might need a Topics entity too, with Discussions having many Topics, still leaving you with the need for a discriminator.


text:
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All the data from contact and reservation forms will be shared with Arthaus.berlin who are co promoting this workshop.
If you visit the website, leave a comment, fill a form (contact or booking) the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. And we can contact you regarding your question and booking.
Arthaus.berlin will supply their list of addresses of students to promote the program.


The recent eruption of cemetery news has even reached the non-history blogs I read!
If this keeps up much longer, I'm going to have to find something even more obscure in which to specialize. Such is the inclination of the grad student.


Interventions include shorter prescriptions and closer monitoring.
In light of the ongoing opioid crisis, more hospitals are taking action to change their pain management protocols and reduce opioid prescriptions for inpatients.
According to a recent survey of 81 U.S. hospitals, 98% implemented changes to their opioid delivery practices between July 2017 and July 2018. The survey, published in October 2018 by health care solutions firm Vizient, found that prescriber education was the most common change, followed by new technologies to monitor opioid prescribing and alternative therapies for acute pain management.
Hospitalists play an integral role in putting these policies into action, said Shoshana Herzig, MD, FACP, director of hospital medicine research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston. She was also the lead author of an April 2018 Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) statement on improving the safety of opioid use for acute noncancer pain in hospitalized patients.
Among the hospital initiatives are stewardship programs that seek to review current opioid practices and make improvements where necessary, Dr. Herzig said. At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, for example, leaders are evaluating whether inpatients who are not receiving opioids during their final hospital days generally receive an opioid prescription at discharge.
One such opioid stewardship program at Scripps Health in San Diego reduced the average number of tablets per opioid prescription by 25% in its first year. The initiative, which started in 2017, includes online education modules for physicians about opioid prescribing and educational handouts for patients that explain how acute pain can be managed with nonopioid medication and pain relief techniques. Scripps also created new prescribing standards that restrict the number of opioid tablets prescribed and encourage tapering and partial prescription refills.
"We're pleased with the results from the first year of our program, and we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg; there is still a lot of opportunity for further improvement," Valerie Norton, MD, physician operations executive at Scripps Mercy Hospital, San Diego, said in a November 2018 press release.
Limiting the use of opioids to patients who have severe pain or moderate pain that has not responded to nonopioid therapy or for whom nonopioid therapy is contraindicated was among the recommendations in the SHM statement. It also advised clinicians to use extra caution when administering opioids to patients with risk factors for opioid-related adverse events and to educate patients and families about the potential risks and side effects of opioid therapy.
Some hospitals are also focusing their efforts specifically on reducing certain opioid-related adverse events. Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., set its sights on decreasing opioid-induced oversedation and respiratory depression events during hospitalization, which had been occurring more than five times a month.
When administrators surveyed staff hospitalists at the start of the effort, they found notable knowledge deficits regarding the definition of opioid tolerance, dosage adjustment strategies, and the value of monitoring sedation levels and respiratory rate, according to results published in the Feb. 1, 2017, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.
In response, the hospital enhanced sedation monitoring and made adjustments to dosing for high-risk patients. In addition, new clinical decision support and tools were integrated into the electronic health record, including a clearly displayed flowsheet to facilitate informed opioid prescribing.
The series of interventions resulted in a fivefold reduction in oversedation and respiratory depression events, which has been maintained since 2015.
Managing postoperative pain at discharge with little to no opioid therapy was the focus of a multipronged approach at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y. Roswell implemented an ultrarestrictive opioid prescription protocol for ambulatory patients and those undergoing minimally invasive surgery, limiting opioids at discharge unless patients had required more than five doses of oral or IV opioids while in the hospital.
The initiative included a preoperative counseling session for all surgical patients by physicians or nursing staff about postoperative pain management, including information about expected discharge pain medications, adverse effects of opioid pain medications, and alternative pain control methods. Patients leaving the hospital were prescribed a seven-day supply of ibuprofen and acetaminophen as needed.
The changes were linked to a significant reduction in opioids prescribed to patients at discharge, without changes in pain scores, complications, or refill requests, according to a study published Dec. 7, 2018, in JAMA Network Open. The mean number of opioid tablets for patients who underwent laparoscopic or robotic surgery decreased from 38.4 before the protocol to 1.3 after implementation, while the mean number of tablets given to ambulatory surgery patients went from 13.9 to 0.2.
The protocol illustrates a promising strategy for reducing postoperative opioid prescribing without increasing pain, said Jennifer Hah, MD, an anesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist at Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, Calif. Dr. Hah, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study, emphasized the importance of patient counseling in the initiative.
Hospitals' efforts to decrease opioid prescribing are not without challenges.
In the Vizient study, the majority of hospitals that responded reported increasing their investment in opioid management in the last 12 months. For some, that investment meant a tradeoff, with nearly 30% of hospitals diverting resources from other areas to address the opioid epidemic and about 10% of hospitals reporting increased spending associated with the opioid crisis. While the majority of hospitals that reported adding staff to address the opioid epidemic said it was a very effective strategy, this solution was applied by only 7% of the survey respondents.
There's no doubt that changes to improve opioid management can be expensive, said Jim Lichauer, PharmD, a project manager for performance improvement collaboratives and advisory at Vizient. While some new technology may be integrated into existing electronic systems at fairly low expense, other changes such as expanding staff or utilizing pain management alternatives can mean significant cost for hospitals, he said.
"Unfortunately, the alternatives to solving this problem aren't inexpensive or free," Mr. Lichauer said. "Alternatives, whether you're looking to improve your physical therapy or occupational therapy programs, offering acupuncture, or new psychosocial management programs, those resources do cost more money." Changing the mindset of physicians and patients about pain and pain management can also be challenging, Dr. Calcaterra said. Frustration from patients who want more pain medication can create tension between doctors and patients, she said. At the same time, physicians who are used to more liberal prescribing of opioids may have difficulty modifying their practices.
There's also the challenge that the pendulum of opioid prescribing could swing too far in the other direction. "Finding the right balance in any given patient is tricky, and it's really a judgment call," Dr. Herzig said.
Physicians must continue to reassess patients if they report ongoing pain and potentially change the treatment plan if severe pain persists and affects function, she added. Dr. Meisenberg noted that his health system kept an eye on this concern by tracking ED visits and patient satisfaction scores as part of the reduced prescribing initiative.
Alicia Gallegos is a freelance writer in South Bend, Ind.